Chapter 4: The Name He Already Knew
I read the message twice.
Then I looked at Owen.
"How long have you known Daniel Mercer?"
The color left his face in a single, visible drop.
Not the slow pale of someone caught off guard.
The sudden white of someone who had been dreading a specific question and just heard it spoken out loud.
"Where did you—" He stopped.
Looked at the phone.
"Who is sending you those?"
"Answer the question."
"Rachel—"
"How.
Long."
He sat down.
He didn't choose the chair beside the bed this time.
He chose the one near the door, and I noticed that too.
"We grew up in the same town," he said.
"We weren't close.
I haven't seen him in years."
"But you recognized him.
Tonight.
In the hallway."
"Yes."
"And you didn't think to mention that to me."
"I didn't think it was relevant."
"Our babies were switched — even briefly — and you happened to know the father, and that didn't feel relevant."
"It was a coincidence, Rachel.
People from the same town end up in the same city.
It happens."
I said nothing.
The baby made another small sound.
I didn't reach for him this time.
I kept my eyes on Owen.
"Call the nurse," I said.
"I want to speak to the charge nurse who was on duty tonight.
The one who caught the mix-up."
"That's not necessary—"
"It's very necessary.
Either you call her in, or I press this button and ask for her myself." I held up the call remote.
"Your choice."
He stood again.
Walked to the window again.
His reflection looked back at me from the dark glass — tired, cornered, working through something.
"There's more to this," I said.
"Isn't there."
He didn't answer.
"Owen.
Is the baby in that bassinet our son?"
He turned fast.
Too fast.
"Yes.
Of course he is.
Rachel, how could you even—"
"Because my four-year-old said you were holding a different baby and told her it was ours.
Because a stranger is texting me about a family you claim you barely know.
Because you have been standing at that window instead of sitting next to me for the last twenty minutes." My voice finally cracked on the last word.
I pressed my lips together and held it.
"So yes.
I'm asking."
He crossed the room in four steps and crouched down beside the bed.
He took my hand in both of his.
His hands were warm.
They always ran warm.
"He is our son," Owen said.
"I swear to you.
He is ours."
I looked at him for a long moment.
"Then why are you so afraid of me finding out the truth?"
He opened his mouth.
My phone buzzed a third time.
I pulled my hand back and read it before he could speak.
*The nurse who caught the mix-up was told to stay quiet.
She didn't agree to that.
She's still in the building.
May you like
Room 4 nurses' station.
Her name is Paula.*
