“She fostered me, loved me, ended up adopting me, and it was the most beautiful, purest love in the world. I don’t want this baby to suffer like I did. I don’t want her to be passed around, to end up broken and unloved. The chances of you getting to keep her are slim, just like with Miss Frances. We never found each other again, and I don’t know what happened to her or if maybe she decided against it, but whatever the case, right now you have a chance to save this child. I think it’s the right thing to do, screw the law!”

Oliver bent down to pick up the worn velveteen rabbit. Then he took the baby from me, gently placed the plush toy under her arm, and snuggled her up to his chest. “It’s settled then. Welcome home, sweet angel.” He swung her gently around to view her new family. “Meet your Nana and Pappy Joe and Uncle Cody. And most importantly, your mommy.”

As I watched my husband fall in love with his first child, I felt the crinkle of that paper in my pocket. The only evidence of my lie. I had indeed spoken to the father. We could have helped him get on his feet instead of pretending he didn’t exist. Some might call me selfish, some might call me selfless. But in that moment I didn’t care about anything but that baby. So I decided then and there that no one could ever find out the truth.

Eventually it would hunt me down.

Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Felicity

The library lights flickered, and Oliver choked on a cloud of dust that hung over us like an apparition. The air in the room was stifling tonight. I set the Russian nesting doll back in its corner of the trunk and sighed resignation. This whole search for answers was hopeless.

“So you knew all along who her biological father was? And you’ve been lying about it ever since?”

I was the kid whose hand was caught in the cookie jar, mouth smeared with chocolate, and yet I still proclaimed innocence.

“I wouldn’t call it lying exactly. I had his license plate number, so if I really wanted to dig, I could have found out who he was probably. But we had all decided to keep her. We all agreed that it was best not to give her back to someone who would leave her on the side of the road.”

“Why didn’t you just tell the truth about meeting the father? We probably would have all still said the same thing—to keep her.”

Could have, would have, should have. It got you nowhere.