NOTE: This part introduces the young mother, her newborn daughter, the tense relationship with her mother-in-law, and the mysterious blood-stained letter that suggests someone has been hiding a dangerous family secret.
The first thing I noticed was the blood.
Not the crying.
Not the overturned bottle.
Not even my mother-in-law standing beside the fireplace with a look on her face I had never seen before.
It was the small red smear across the corner of the white envelope in her hand.
For several seconds, I simply stared at it.
Then my daughter screamed.
I turned so quickly that my shoulder struck the doorway.
"Mia!"
My newborn lay on the folded blanket beside the fireplace, kicking her tiny legs and crying with the exhausted fury only a hungry, frightened baby seemed capable of producing. Her white cap had slipped sideways. One sock was missing.
I rushed toward her.
My mother-in-law, Eleanor, stepped back.
"Don't touch that letter," she said.
I stopped.
"What?"
"The envelope."
My eyes moved from her face to the paper.
There was another smear of red near the bottom.
"Why is there blood on it?"
She didn't answer.
I bent toward Mia.
She was crying hard but breathing normally.
I lifted her.
Her tiny body curled against my chest.
"It's okay," I whispered. "Mommy's here."
Eleanor remained beside the fireplace.
"Where is David?"
I looked at her.
"My husband?"
"Yes."
"Upstairs."
"Call him."
Something in her voice made me uneasy.
I pressed the baby against my shoulder and called toward the staircase.
"David!"
My husband appeared seconds later.
"What happened?"
Then he saw his mother.
His expression changed.
"Mom?"
Eleanor held out the envelope.
"Your father left this for you."
David stared at it.
"My father has been dead for six years."
"I know."
"Then why are you holding a letter from him?"
"Because he told me not to give it to you until the right time."
David walked downstairs.
"What right time?"
Eleanor looked at Mia.
"Now."
I felt a chill.
"What does that mean?"
She ignored me.
David reached for the envelope.
Eleanor pulled it back.
"Not here."
His voice hardened.
"Mom."
"I said not here."
"Then where?"
She glanced toward the windows.
"The house isn't private anymore."
I looked around.
We were alone.
"What are you talking about?"
She finally looked at me.
"You need to leave with the baby."
My stomach dropped.
"Why?"
"Because someone knows about her."
The room seemed to shrink.
David stepped between us.
"Who?"
Eleanor shook her head.
"I don't know."
"You came here without telling us, brought a blood-stained letter, and now you're telling us someone knows about our daughter?"
"I came because I was afraid."
"For whom?"
She looked at Mia.
"For all of you."
I didn't know what to believe.
For months, Eleanor had been difficult.
She criticized everything.
How I fed Mia.
How I dressed her.
How I arranged the nursery.
How often David worked.
But fear was different.
This was not the sharp irritation I had grown used to.
Her hands were shaking.
"Where did you get the blood?" I asked.
She looked down at the envelope.
"I don't know whose it is."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
"Then give me one."
She swallowed.
"Your father-in-law."
David froze.
"What about him?"
"The blood came from the last night I saw him alive."
Silence filled the room.
David stared at her.
"You told me Dad died in the hospital."
"He did."
"You said he collapsed at work."
"He did."
"Then why are you talking about blood?"
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"Because that wasn't the whole story."
I watched my husband's face.
Something inside him broke.
"Mom."
"I wanted to protect you."
He laughed bitterly.
"Everyone always says that."
She looked at me.
"Take the baby upstairs."
I tightened my arms around Mia.
"No."
She frowned.
"What?"
"I'm not leaving you alone with my daughter."
David looked at me.
I could see the hurt in his eyes, but he didn't argue.
Eleanor slowly lowered the letter.
"You don't understand what you're standing in."
"Then explain it."
She looked toward the fireplace.
The old brickwork was darkened near the bottom.
I had always hated that fireplace.
It was original to the house.
David had told me it had been there since his grandfather bought the property.
We had never used it.
There was something about it that made me uncomfortable.
Eleanor walked closer.
"Your father discovered something here."
"What?"
"Documents."
"About what?"
She didn't answer.
David stepped forward.
"Mom, enough."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You deserve to know."
She looked at me.
"And so does your wife."
Then the front door slammed.
All three of us jumped.
Someone had entered the house.
David immediately moved toward the hallway.
"Stay here."
I held Mia tighter.
"Who is it?"
He didn't answer.
Footsteps came from the entryway.
Slow.
Heavy.
Then a man's voice called out.
"David?"
Eleanor went pale.
"Who is that?"
She whispered the answer.
"Your father's lawyer."
The man entered the living room carrying a leather case.
He stopped when he saw Eleanor.
"You weren't supposed to be here."
She stared at him.
"Neither were you."
David stepped between them.
"What's going on?"
The lawyer looked at the envelope.
Then at the baby.
His expression changed.
"Oh."
I felt my stomach tighten.
He had seen the baby.
He knew something.
"What?" I demanded.
He looked at David.
"Your mother didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
The lawyer opened his case.
Inside was a folder.
He removed a photograph.
It showed this house.
But it had been taken decades earlier.
A young man stood beside the fireplace.
David's father.
Beside him was another woman.
I didn't recognize her.
The lawyer turned the photograph over.
There was handwriting on the back.
"She knows where the child is."
I stared at the words.
"What child?"
Nobody answered.
Mia began crying again.
The lawyer looked at her.
Eleanor suddenly stepped forward.
"That's not the child."
My blood ran cold.
"What?"
She covered her mouth.
She realized what she had said.
David stared at her.
"Mom."
"I didn't mean—"
"What child?"
Eleanor backed away.
"Not here."
David's voice became quiet.
"Who is the child?"
The lawyer closed his folder.
"I think we've waited too long."
Eleanor looked at him.
"No."
"You can't keep doing this."
"No."
"He's dead."
The lawyer shook his head.
"That's exactly why we have to tell them."
I looked from one to the other.
"Who is dead?"
The lawyer finally answered.
"Your father-in-law's first wife."
David went completely still.
"My dad was married before Mom?"
Eleanor said nothing.
The lawyer continued.
"Her name was Rachel."
I felt Mia's fingers curl around my shirt.
"Where is she?"
"Dead."
"When?"
"Twenty-nine years ago."
David looked confused.
"Then why does she matter?"
The lawyer stared at the fireplace.
"Because she had a daughter."
The room became silent.
David whispered, "My sister?"
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"Yes."
My heart began pounding.
David had never had a sister.
At least, that was what everyone had told him.
The lawyer placed the photograph on the table.
"Your father believed she was alive."
Eleanor suddenly snapped.
"She isn't."
"How do you know?"
"Because I watched them take her."
My blood went cold.
"Take who?"
Eleanor looked directly at me.
"The baby."
Mia screamed in my arms.
And for the first time, I understood why Eleanor had been staring at my daughter since she entered the room.
She wasn't looking at Mia like a grandmother.
She was looking at her as though she had seen her before.
Click Here to continue read next: PART2: Eleanor Finally Admitted the Baby Was Connected to a Forgotten Daughter, but the Old Photograph Revealed Someone Had Been Watching Us
My Baby Began Crying Beside the Fireplace, but the Blood on the Letter in My Mother-In-Law’s Hand Made Me Forget Everything Else
Part 1 of 8
