Chapter 5 - Not His Mother
Daniel stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa’s eyes moved to Rosa.
Rosa stood slowly.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
Vanessa smiled without warmth. “Why? You’ve wanted this moment for three years.”
Rosa’s face collapsed.
Daniel rose.
“Wanted what moment?”
Noah looked between the adults, sensing the shift.
Vanessa pointed at Rosa.
“Ask your precious housekeeper why she knows how Noah likes his bath water. Ask why she can tell when he’s getting sick before he has a fever. Ask why he calls for her when he has nightmares.”
Daniel’s heart began hammering.
“Rosa?”
She covered her mouth.
Vanessa laughed. “She isn’t just the housekeeper.”
“Stop,” Rosa said.
“She’s his mother.”
The room went silent.
Daniel felt the floor move under him.
“No.”
Vanessa shrugged. “Biologically? Yes.”
Daniel looked at Rosa.
She was crying now.
“Noah was born through a private surrogate arrangement,” Daniel said slowly. “The agency—”
“Was mine,” Vanessa said. “At least on paper.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“You told me the surrogate wanted no contact.”
“She did at first.”
Rosa shook her head violently. “No. I was told the baby went to a couple in California. I was told your names were sealed.”
Daniel’s voice cracked. “You carried him?”
Rosa looked down at Noah.
“Yes.”
Noah climbed to his feet and wrapped both arms around her leg.
Daniel stared at the child and suddenly saw details he had never noticed because he had never known to look: the shape of Noah’s eyes, the curve of his smile, the dimple near his chin.
Rosa had the same dimple.
“How did you end up here?”
Rosa wiped her face. “By accident. I took the job through a domestic staffing agency. I didn’t know who you were. Then I saw him.”
“When?”
“My first morning.”
“And you knew?”
“I suspected. Then he showed me the scar on his ankle.”
Daniel looked at Noah’s right ankle.
A tiny crescent-shaped birthmark sat above the bone.
Rosa whispered, “I kissed that mark the day he was born.”
Daniel turned back to Vanessa.
“How long have you known Rosa was his biological mother?”
Vanessa’s silence answered.
Daniel’s voice dropped.
May you like
“How long?”
“Since before she was hired.”
