Chapter 5 - The Second BabyAmelia read the note three times before the words made sense.
Ask Eleanor what happened to the second baby.
Victoria leaned over her shoulder and went completely still.
“There was no second baby,” she whispered.
Amelia looked at her. “You’re sure?”
Victoria’s face had gone pale. “I was born four years later. I only know what Mother told us. Elise was her first child. She vanished. That’s all.”
Amelia looked down at the cracked jade piece. Unlike her pendant, this one was unfinished, raw on one side, polished on the other. It looked like half of something that had once been whole.
A twin piece.
A matching token.
A warning.
Downstairs, voices rose behind the ballroom doors. Bennett was arguing with Charles. Eleanor was crying. Judge Reed was calling someone from the district attorney’s office.
But the real secret had just moved upstairs.
Amelia folded the note and tucked it inside Bennett’s jacket pocket.
“We need to go back down.”
Victoria caught her arm. “Not yet. Amelia, if this is true—”
“If what is true?”
Victoria swallowed. “If there was another baby, then everything Mother told us is incomplete.”
Amelia’s smile was sad and sharp. “I think that was already clear.”
When they returned to the ballroom, conversations stopped again.
Amelia no longer looked like a humiliated bride.
The ivory gown Victoria found fit her like armor. Strips of lace from the destroyed wedding dress now framed the neckline and sleeves, transformed by Amelia’s own hands. Bennett’s jacket still rested over her shoulders. The jade pendant hung visibly at her throat.
Bennett looked at her as if he had forgotten how to breathe.
“You’re beautiful,” he said.
Amelia’s eyes softened for one second.
Then she looked at Eleanor.
“Was there another baby?”
Eleanor froze.
That was answer enough.
Charles’s head snapped toward Amelia. “Where did you hear that?”
Bennett turned slowly. “Mother?”
Eleanor’s hand went to her chest. “I can explain.”
Victoria whispered, “You said Elise was your only baby.”
Eleanor shook her head. “I said she was my only daughter.”
The room changed again.
Bennett stepped back.
Amelia’s heartbeat thundered.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
Eleanor looked at Bennett with unbearable grief.
“The night Elise was born,” Eleanor whispered, “there was another child.”
Bennett went very still.
“A boy,” Eleanor said.
Charles’s expression hardened. “Eleanor, stop.”
But Eleanor did not stop.
“The doctors said he didn’t survive.”
Mrs. Hargrove let out a sob.
Amelia turned toward her. “Did he?”
The old nurse pressed both hands to her mouth.
Bennett’s voice was barely audible. “Did he?”
Eleanor looked at Mrs. Hargrove.
The nurse cried harder.
Bennett took one step back as if the floor had cracked beneath him.
“No,” he said.
Charles laughed softly. “Careful, Bennett. You may not like the next part.”
Judge Reed stepped between them. “Charles, I strongly advise you to remain silent.”
But Charles’s eyes were on Bennett now.
“My poor nephew,” he said. “Always so proud of being chosen.”
Bennett’s face went white.
Amelia reached for his hand.
He did not move.
Eleanor shook her head violently. “No. No, Bennett, listen to me. I did not know.”
“Know what?” he asked.
His voice had become empty.
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Charles smiled wider.
Mrs. Hargrove whispered, “He was alive.”
Bennett closed his eyes.
The room tilted.
Eleanor stumbled toward him. “They told me my son died. I was sick. I had a fever. They wouldn’t let me see him. Charles arranged everything. He said there was no body because the hospital had made a mistake with records during the storm.”
Judge Reed’s voice was cold. “And years later you adopted Bennett.”
Eleanor nodded, tears falling freely. “Charles brought him to me. He said the boy had been abandoned. He said it was fate.”
Amelia’s hand tightened around Bennett’s.
Bennett finally looked at Eleanor.
“Who am I?”
No one answered.
He turned to Charles.
“Who am I?”
Charles shrugged. “A useful replacement.”
Eleanor made a sound of pure anguish.
Bennett lunged again, but this time he stopped himself inches from Charles. His hands shook at his sides.
Amelia stepped beside him.
Charles looked at both of them and laughed.
“Oh, don’t look so wounded. It’s almost poetic. The stolen daughter and the stolen son nearly married each other because Eleanor Ashford built a family on grief and never questioned the gift I placed in her arms.”
Eleanor screamed, “You monster!”
Charles’s face turned cruel. “No, Eleanor. I was practical. Your father’s will gave power to children. So I moved the children.”
Judge Reed lifted his phone. “The police are five minutes out.”
Charles smiled.
Then every light in the ballroom went black.
A woman screamed.
Glass shattered.
Bennett grabbed Amelia and pulled her behind him.
May you like
In the darkness, Charles Ashford whispered from somewhere near the exit.
“You should have let the wedding end quietly.”
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