The Baby Who Chose a Stranger

Chapter 2 - A Name She Had Never Heard

“Who hired this girl?” Aunt Beatrice asked.

The question was sharp enough to make Oliver stir.

Lena instinctively drew him closer. Adrian noticed.

“The agency,” she answered. “It's my first evening here.”

“Then the agency made a mistake.”

Adrian stepped between his aunt and Lena.

“What mistake?”

Beatrice looked at the portrait.

“This is a private memorial. Surely you can see how upsetting this is.”

The woman in the painting was Adrian's younger sister, Celia. Tonight marked two years since her death. Oliver, his adopted son, had been born more than a year afterward. Celia had never held him.

Adrian explained this quietly as he led Lena into a sitting room away from the guests. He did not want the resemblance turned into entertainment.

Oliver remained asleep against her.

“Do you have sisters?” he asked.

“Not that I know of.”

Lena had grown up with foster families. Her records named a maternity home, a birth date, and a mother who had supposedly relinquished her. There were gaps she had spent years trying to understand.

Adrian asked her birth date.

She told him.

He went very still.

“That was Celia's birthday.”

Beatrice entered without knocking.

“Coincidences happen.”

Lena looked at her. Until that evening, the name Vale meant nothing to her. Yet this woman seemed to know exactly what she feared.

“You should go home,” Beatrice said. “We will pay you for the night.”

Lena glanced down at Oliver.

His sleeve had slipped upward. Just above his wrist lay a small crescent-shaped birthmark.

The room seemed to tilt.

“Where did you get him?” she whispered.

Adrian misunderstood at first.

“Oliver?”

“Where was he born?”