C21 The son she never claimed

Alexander read his father's letter for the fourth time.

One of those boys was supposed to be her son.

Laura's words echoed in his mind, refusing to make sense.

His mother had raised him to believe he was her only child. She had never mentioned another pregnancy, another baby, or a son who might have been taken away.

And yet, there it was.

Another secret.

Another lie.

"Alexander?" Elizabeth touched his arm. "Are you all right?"

He looked at her and almost laughed at the question.

"No. But apparently, being all right is no longer a requirement in my family."

Despite everything, Elizabeth smiled faintly.

"At least you're finally admitting it."

"Admitting what?"

"That your family is a complete disaster."

He stared at her.

"You're enjoying this."

"Not the part where innocent children were separated from their mothers." Her expression softened. "But the part where you're finally realizing that you don't have to defend everyone who shares your surname? Yes. A little."

Alexander shook his head.

"You're impossible."

"And yet, here you are."

For one brief moment, the tension between them eased.

He looked at her for a little too long.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"Alexander."

"I was just thinking that I missed arguing with you."

Elizabeth blinked.

"That's possibly the strangest romantic confession I've ever heard."

"Would you prefer flowers?"

"I would prefer a man who knows how to apologize properly."

"I've apologized."

"You've said the words. We're still waiting for the performance."

Before he could respond, Daniel entered the room with two police officers.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said. "The man who came here has disappeared. The officers are checking the surrounding streets, but they haven't found the SUV."

Alexander's expression hardened.

"Did they get his license plate?"

"Unfortunately, no."

Daniel turned toward Laura.

"The officers would like to take your statement. They can also arrange protection if you're willing to cooperate."

Laura nodded nervously.

"I'll tell them everything I remember."

"Good," Alexander said. "Because I'm going to find out who those boys are."

Laura hesitated.

"There's something you should understand. Your mother may not have known what your grandfather intended to do with the children. She may have been trying to save one of them."

Alexander gave her a cold look.

"She has had five years to tell me the truth."

"Perhaps she was afraid."

"Of what? Losing her reputation?"

Laura lowered her eyes.

"I don't know."

Alexander turned away.

He had spent his life believing his mother was the one person who would never betray him.

Now he wasn't sure he knew her at all.

---

By the time Alexander and Elizabeth returned to Manhattan, it was late afternoon.

Grace was waiting at Elizabeth's apartment with Mrs. Parker, their trusted neighbor, who had agreed to look after her.

The moment Grace saw them, she ran toward Alexander.

"Daddy!"

He caught her in his arms.

"Hello, princess."

Grace studied his face.

"Why do you look like someone stole your birthday cake?"

Elizabeth covered a laugh with her hand.

Alexander glanced at her.

"Is that what you think happened?"

"Yes. Or somebody ate your last biscuit."

"Those are both very serious crimes."

"I know." Grace nodded solemnly. "That's why you should always hide your biscuits from Mommy."

Elizabeth gasped.

"Excuse me?"

Grace buried her face against Alexander's shoulder.

"Please protect me, Daddy."

Alexander's laughter filled the apartment.

For a few seconds, the weight pressing against his chest disappeared.

He kissed Grace's forehead.

"I'll protect you from anything, sweetheart."

"Even broccoli?"

He paused.

"Well…"

"Alexander!" Elizabeth warned.

He looked at Grace.

"Especially broccoli."

Grace squealed with delight.

"You're the best daddy in the whole world!"

Elizabeth folded her arms.

"Wonderful. I've spent five years feeding you, bathing you, comforting you, and teaching you good manners. He buys you one stuffed rabbit and suddenly he's the best parent in the world."

Grace considered this carefully.

"Mommy, you can be the best mommy."

"How generous."

"And Daddy can be the best daddy."

"Thank you."

"And Grandma can be the best grandma."

Alexander raised an eyebrow.

"Which grandma?"

Grace thought for a moment.

"The one who gives me chocolate."

Elizabeth shook her head.

"This child is going to bankrupt you."

Alexander smiled.

"Then I'll have to work harder."

Grace leaned toward his ear and whispered loudly enough for everyone to hear.

"Daddy, you're already rich."

Daniel, who had followed them inside to deliver some documents, coughed to hide his laughter.

Alexander pointed toward the door.

"Daniel, don't you have work to do?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then go and do it."

"Of course, sir."

Daniel left with a smile.

Grace watched him go.

"Daddy, why is Uncle Daniel afraid of you?"

"He's not afraid of me."

"Then why does he run away whenever you look at him?"

Elizabeth burst out laughing.

Alexander closed his eyes.

He was beginning to suspect that raising a daughter was going to be considerably more difficult than running Hayes Enterprises.

---

That evening, Grace fell asleep on the sofa with her stuffed rabbit tucked beneath her chin.

Elizabeth carefully covered her with a blanket.

When she returned to the kitchen, she found Alexander preparing dinner.

She stopped in the doorway.

"What are you doing?"

"Cooking."

"I can see that. Why?"

He looked over his shoulder.

"Because you haven't eaten properly today."

Elizabeth leaned against the counter.

"You know how to cook?"

"I know how to follow instructions."

"That isn't the same thing."

He pointed toward a cookbook beside the stove.

"According to this, I'm doing very well."

She walked over and glanced at the page.

"Alexander, you're supposed to add the salt after the vegetables."

"I know."

"And you're adding it now."

"I'm improving the recipe."

She stared at him.

"You're improvising."

"That's what I said."

Elizabeth laughed, and he watched her with an expression that made her laughter slowly fade.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"I like that sound."

Her heart gave an inconvenient little jump.

"What sound?"

"Your laughter."

For once, Elizabeth couldn't find a clever response.

Alexander turned off the stove.

"I've missed hearing it," he admitted. "I've missed a lot of things."

The warmth in the room seemed to change.

He stepped closer, stopping just short of touching her.

"I know I can't fix what happened five years ago. I can't give you back the nights you spent wondering why I didn't come for you. I can't erase the way you must have felt when you believed I'd abandoned you."

Elizabeth lowered her eyes.

"I did hate you for a long time."

"I know."

"Sometimes, I still do."

He nodded.

"I know that, too."

She looked up at him.

"But sometimes I remember the man I fell in love with, and I wonder if he's still there."

Alexander's expression softened.

"He's here, Elizabeth. He never stopped loving you."

Her eyes shimmered.

"Love wasn't the problem, Alexander. Trust was."

"I understand."

"Do you?"

"Not completely. But I'm trying to."

He slowly reached for her hand, giving her time to pull away.

She didn't.

"I won't ask you to forgive me overnight," he said. "And I won't ask you to forget anything. Just let me prove that I can be the man you needed me to be."

Elizabeth studied his face.

"And if you disappoint me again?"

"Then I'll spend the rest of my life regretting it."

"That's a terrible answer."

"I had a better one, but you looked beautiful, and I lost my train of thought."

She stared at him.

Then she laughed.

"You're unbelievable."

"So I've been told."

He brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face.

For a moment, neither spoke.

Then Elizabeth rose onto her toes and kissed his cheek.

It was a small gesture.

But Alexander looked as though she had handed him the entire world.

"Don't look so pleased with yourself," she whispered.

"Too late."

"Alexander."

"Would it be inappropriate to ask for another one?"

"Extremely."

He sighed dramatically.

"I suppose I'll have to survive."

She kissed his other cheek.

"There. Now stop complaining."

He smiled.

"Yes, ma'am."

---

The next morning, Alexander arrived at Hayes Enterprises with a new determination.

He had barely entered his office when Daniel appeared with a file.

"I found something."

Alexander took the file.

Inside were copies of private medical transport invoices from the night the boys were born. Most of the names had been blacked out, but one document had escaped the damage.

A payment had been made to a private clinic in Connecticut.

The recipient's name was listed as Victoria Hayes.

Alexander frowned.

"Why would my mother pay a clinic in Connecticut?"

"That's what I wondered. I contacted the clinic. It closed three years ago, but I managed to locate a former administrator."

"And?"

"She remembers a woman who arrived with a newborn boy five years ago. The woman used a false name, but she paid for the child's care through a trust connected to your grandfather."

Alexander's pulse quickened.

"Did she remember the woman's real identity?"

"Not initially. But when I showed her a photograph of Victoria, she recognized her."

Alexander stared at him.

"My mother took a baby to that clinic?"

"That's what the evidence suggests."

"Find the clinic's original records. Every single page."

Daniel hesitated.

"There's something else, sir."

Alexander looked up.

"The former administrator said the woman wasn't alone. A man brought her to the clinic and waited outside."

"Who?"

"She couldn't identify him from the old photograph we sent. But she remembered his limp."

Marcus Hale.

Alexander stood.

"Get me everything you can find on him."

Daniel nodded and left.

Alexander turned toward the window, his thoughts racing.

If Victoria had taken a baby to that clinic, perhaps she had been trying to protect him.

Or perhaps she had been part of the plan all along.

His phone rang.

MOTHER appeared on the screen.

He answered.

"Alexander," Victoria said, her voice unusually calm. "I hear you've been asking questions about St. Vincent's."

"Then you know why I'm calling."

"Whatever Laura told you, you must understand that I did what I thought was necessary."

"Did you have another son?"

Silence.

"Mother?"

When Victoria finally spoke, her voice had changed.

"There are things you don't understand."

"Then explain them."

"I can't do that over the phone."

"Of course you can't. You couldn't explain them five years ago, either."

"Alexander, please—"

"Was one of the boys yours?"

Another long silence followed.

Then Victoria whispered, "I never gave birth to another child."

Alexander's grip tightened around the phone.

"Then whose baby did you take to Connecticut?"

He heard her sharp intake of breath.

"Where did you get that information?"

"Answer the question."

"I need to see you."

"No more secrets, Mother."

Her voice broke.

"You think you want the truth. But once you know it, you may wish you had never asked."

Alexander looked down at his father's letter on the desk.

Do not trust the birth records.

"Tell me anyway."

Victoria was silent for several seconds.

Then she said something that made his blood run cold.

"The baby I took to Connecticut wasn't one of the boys born at St. Vincent's."

Alexander stopped breathing for a moment.

"Then whose baby was it?"

His mother began to cry.

"Your brother's."

The call disconnected.

Alexander stood motionless, staring at the phone.

He had never had a brother.

At least, that was what he'd always believed.

And if Victoria was telling the truth, then the mystery didn't begin with the two boys born five years ago.

It began with a child who had existed before them.

A child whose existence his entire family had erased.