Chapter 2: The Woman With the Black Handbag
The woman introduced herself as Angela Brooks.
She didn't look like someone who had just walked into the middle of a family scandal.
She looked like someone who had accidentally opened the wrong office door.
Her fingers tightened around the strap of her handbag.
Daniel stood in front of her.
"Are you a doctor?""
Angela swallowed.
"I'm a patient coordinator.""
"At which clinic?""
She glanced at Claire.
"Claire, perhaps we should talk privately.""
"No," Daniel said.
His voice was so quiet that everyone heard it.
"You're going to talk right here.""
My mother moved closer.
"Daniel, please. There are children here.""
He turned toward her.
"Then perhaps someone should have remembered that before lying to me for seven months.""
The room fell silent again.
Angela placed her handbag on the nearest table.
"I'm not sure what Claire has told you.""
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"That's interesting. Because I've been told quite a lot.""
He held up the plastic wrapper.
"Apparently, my wife has been wearing this.""
Angela looked at it.
Then she closed her eyes.
"Claire...""
Claire shook her head.
"Don't.""
"Don't what?"" Daniel demanded.
"Don't tell me you didn't know about this.""
Angela looked between them.
"I don't think I should discuss another person's medical information.""
"Medical information?"" Daniel repeated.
"Is my wife pregnant?""
Angela didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Daniel stepped backward as though someone had pushed him.
I had never seen my brother look so lost.
He stared at Claire's stomach.
Then at the wrapper.
Then back at Angela.
"Seven months," he whispered.
Claire rushed toward him.
"Daniel, please listen to me.""
He stepped away.
"Don't touch me.""
Her face crumpled.
"I can explain everything.""
"Then explain it.""
She looked at the guests.
"Not here.""
Daniel pointed toward the room.
"You invited forty people here to celebrate a baby that apparently doesn't exist. You spent months making me believe I was going to be a father. You let me sell my motorcycle. You let me build that nursery.""
His voice cracked.
"And now you're telling me we can't discuss it here?""
Claire started sobbing.
My mother immediately took her side.
"She is your wife! Whatever happened, you owe her a little dignity.""
Daniel turned toward her.
"Mom, I asked you one question. Did you know?""
Margaret looked down at her bracelet.
"I knew Claire had been having difficulties.""
"That's not what I asked.""
She sighed.
"Daniel, marriage is complicated.""
"Did you know she wasn't pregnant?""
Silence.
Then my mother said something that made my stomach turn.
"I knew there were things you didn't need to know until the right time.""
Daniel stared at her.
"What things?""
My mother glanced toward Claire.
Claire was crying into a napkin.
Angela stood beside the table, visibly uncomfortable.
I had the strange feeling that everyone in the room knew something except Daniel.
And me.
I crouched to check on Sophie.
"Sweetheart, why don't you sit with Grandma's friend for a minute?""
Sophie shook her head.
"I want you.""
"Okay. Stay right beside me.""
I lifted her onto my hip.
Daniel approached Angela again.
"Show me your identification.""
She hesitated.
"Why?""
"Because I want to know who has been helping my wife deceive me.""
Angela slowly opened her wallet and handed him a business card.
*Angela Brooks Patient Services Coordinator Lakeside Women's Fertility Center*
Daniel read it twice.
"Lakeside?""
I recognized the name.
It was a private fertility clinic on the northern side of Dallas.
Claire had mentioned it months earlier.
She had said she was seeing a specialist because of complications with her pregnancy.
Daniel had told me that the doctor wanted her to limit stress.
He had even stopped inviting her to family gatherings because he didn't want her to feel overwhelmed.
"Is that where you've been going?"" he asked Claire.
She nodded through her tears.
"Yes.""
"Then why did you tell me you were seeing an obstetrician?""
"I was.""
"Who?""
She didn't answer.
Daniel looked at Angela.
"Did you ever examine my wife?""
Angela shook her head.
"No. I'm not a physician.""
"Then why are you here?""
Angela glanced at Claire.
"I brought something she requested.""
"What?""
"The second prosthetic.""
Daniel went completely still.
"The second what?""
Angela looked as if she wished the floor would open beneath her.
Claire grabbed her arm.
"Angela, stop talking!""
Angela pulled away.
"You told me he already knew!""
Daniel's eyes widened.
"Already knew what?""
Angela pressed her lips together.
I saw the exact moment she realized how badly she'd exposed herself.
Daniel leaned forward.
"Tell me.""
Angela took a shaky breath.
"The belly wasn't intended to deceive you permanently.""
A bitter laugh escaped my brother.
"Then what was it intended to do?""
She hesitated.
Claire whispered, "Please.""
But Angela continued.
"Claire said she needed time. She told me she was arranging a private adoption and wanted to surprise you.""
Daniel stared at her.
"An adoption?""
"She said you had discussed becoming parents before. She wanted to make the announcement when everything was finalized.""
"That's a lie!"" Daniel shouted.
Angela flinched.
He turned toward Claire.
"Did you arrange an adoption?""
Claire wiped her face.
"I was trying to give you a family.""
"You already had a family. You had me.""
"I know!""
"Then why invent a pregnancy?""
She looked at him desperately.
"Because you wanted a child so badly.""
Daniel shook his head.
"I wanted a child with my wife. I wanted honesty. I wanted a family built on something real.""
He pointed toward the nursery.
"I painted that room with my own hands. I assembled that crib at two in the morning. I sold the one thing I loved most because you told me our baby needed the money.""
Claire covered her mouth.
I remembered Daniel coming to my house six weeks earlier.
He'd been carrying a small wooden rocking horse.
He'd spent hours sanding it down and painting it white.
He'd told me he wanted his child to have something handmade.
Now I understood why he had looked so proud.
He hadn't been preparing for a possibility.
He'd been preparing for a person he believed already existed.
My mother stepped forward.
"Daniel, perhaps Claire was frightened. Women sometimes make desperate choices.""
He looked at her.
"Why are you defending this?""
Margaret's face tightened.
"Because I know what it feels like to want something so badly that you make mistakes.""
"Did you help her?""
My mother said nothing.
Daniel turned away.
Then Angela suddenly spoke.
"There is something else.""
Everyone looked at her.
Claire's head snapped up.
"No.""
Angela looked at Daniel.
"I really think you need to hear this from her.""
Daniel's expression hardened.
"Go on.""
Angela reached into her handbag and removed a small white envelope.
She placed it on the table.
Claire lunged for it.
But Daniel grabbed it first.
The front read:
*Lakeside Women's Fertility Center — Confidential Patient Correspondence.*
He opened it.
Inside was a printed document.
He read the first paragraph.
Then he stopped breathing.
I watched his eyes move down the page.
"Claire," he whispered.
She covered her face.
"What?""
Daniel looked at Angela.
"Is this authentic?""
Angela nodded.
"Yes.""
He turned the paper around.
I could see several medical terms, a date, and a patient's name.
But the sentence Daniel read aloud was what made the entire room freeze.
"Patient has not been pregnant at any point during the documented period.""
Claire began shaking.
Daniel looked at her.
"Then why did you tell me you had an ultrasound last week?""
She cried harder.
"Daniel, I was scared.""
"Of what?""
She opened her mouth.
No words came out.
Then Angela quietly added:
"There's another reason you should read the second page.""
Daniel turned it over.
His expression changed.
Not to anger.
To disbelief.
Because the second page contained the name of another person.
A person Daniel knew.
A person who had supposedly been helping him prepare for fatherhood.
May you like
And that name was Margaret Hayes.
Our mother.
