His Daughter Found Her Missing Brother

CHAPTER 2 - The Woman in the Laundry Room

Adrian took Caroline to a private clinic, but she refused to let Ethan leave her sight.

Exhaustion, untreated pneumonia, and months of working double shifts had weakened her. She and Ethan had lost their apartment after medical bills consumed their savings.

"You should have contacted me," Adrian said.

Caroline laughed bitterly.

"I tried."

She explained that she discovered her pregnancy two weeks after Adrian left for New York. She called his family home, but his father answered.

Richard Cole told her Adrian had become engaged to someone more suitable. The following day, a lawyer arrived with a check and a letter bearing Adrian's signature.

The letter called Caroline an embarrassment.

"I returned the money," she said. "Then your father threatened my mother's nursing care. I left because I had nowhere else to go."

Adrian shook his head. "I never wrote that letter."

Caroline looked toward Ethan.

"I sent you his birth announcement. It came back unopened."

Adrian remembered his own letter from Caroline, the one saying she had never loved him. Until that moment, he had believed every word.

After Caroline disappeared, Adrian eventually married Julia, a childhood friend who knew his heart had been broken. Their marriage was gentle and honest. Lily was born two years later.

Julia died in an accident when Lily was three.

Caroline's eyes softened.

"I'm sorry. Ethan and I saw the announcement."

"You knew about Lily?"

"Ethan has always wanted a sister. I just never imagined he already had one."

Outside the room, Lily was teaching Ethan a card game. Their laughter sounded natural, almost familiar.

Then the door opened.

Adrian's sixty-one-year-old mother, Margaret, entered.

She looked at Caroline, then at Ethan.

The color disappeared from her face.

"Richard told me the child wasn't Adrian's."

Caroline reached into her bag and placed a yellowed cashier's check on the bed.

It was still unsigned.

Margaret recognized her late husband's handwriting across the envelope.

For eight years, Margaret had believed Caroline accepted the money - but the untouched check proved her husband had deceived them all.