A nurse had secretly kept a copy of the original birth records.
And according to those records, the third baby was born alive.
A little girl.
Healthy.
But before Maren could even hold her, someone entered the room and took the baby.
The nurse had written down the name.
Tessa Whitmore.
My hands began to shake.
But there was one more detail.
The baby hadn’t been abandoned.
She had been taken to a private residence outside Nashville.
I drove there immediately.
When I reached the house, I saw a small child standing behind the window.
Blond hair.
Blue eyes.
And a tiny birthmark above her eyebrow.
The same birthmark I had.
I could barely breathe.
My daughter was alive.
I knocked on the door.
A frightened woman answered.
When she saw me, her face went white.
“Where is she?”
The woman began crying.
“Tessa told me you never wanted the baby. She said Maren had abandoned her.”
I stepped forward.
“She lied.”
Then I heard a tiny voice from the hallway.
