Chapter 3

As dawn approached, I decided to go find Teresa Lambert, the nurse who had delivered my baby years ago.

Teresa Lambert had been a midwife at the Starline Textile Mill's Staff Hospital. She was the one who delivered Niki.

Later she was transferred for some reason, and I heard she'd gone to a clinic out in the suburbs.

In my last life, I never once doubted her, and I never went looking for her.

But in this life, I had to find her.

The next morning, I asked the mill for leave, saying I needed to take Niki to see a doctor.

Bradley didn't suspect a thing. He even made a hypocritical show of handing me two dollars, saying, "Take Niki to the hospital and get her looked at. Don't be stingy with the money."

I dropped Niki off next door with Auntie Zhang and asked her to watch her for half a day. Then I rode my bicycle out to the suburbs.

The clinic where Teresa worked was in a town in the suburbs, more than twenty miles from the mill.

When I found Teresa, I got straight to the point. "Aunt Teresa, I'm Myrtle Sullivan, from Starline Textile Mill. Five years ago, when I had Niki, you were the one who delivered her."

Teresa's face changed at once, and she said quickly, "I don't know you. Please leave, and stop disturbing my work!"

Her reaction only confirmed what I'd guessed.

I said softly, "I'm not here to make trouble for you. I just want to know the truth about what happened back then. Where did my son go?"

"Aunt Teresa, I know you're a good person. What happened back then wasn't something you did willingly, was it?"

"Someone forced you, didn't they?"

Teresa's face twisted, torn, wanting to speak but holding back.

I gritted my teeth and played my trump card.

"Aunt Teresa, if you don't tell me the truth today, I'll go to the police station and report that someone switched babies back then."

"When the police look into it, you, as the midwife from that time, won't be able to keep clear of it."

"Think about it. You have grandchildren at home. If you go to prison over this, what happens to them?"

Teresa went pale in an instant, terrified and ashamed.

Her voice broke into sobs. "Myrtle, I did you wrong on this, I'm so sorry!"

"Five years ago, when you gave birth at the Staff Hospital, what you had really was a boy."

Even though I'd braced myself for it, the moment I heard those words, my tears came pouring out.

I asked in a trembling voice, "Where did that boy go?"

Teresa said, "Your mother-in-law, Old Mrs. Whitney, had been waiting outside the delivery room the whole time."

"After you gave birth, the second she saw it was a boy, she pulled me aside, pressed fifty dollars into my hand, and told me to carry the boy to a woman in the next delivery room."

I froze. "Who was that woman?"

Teresa said, "Your mother-in-law told me the girl was the mill director's daughter."

"Your mother-in-law gave your son to her, and gave her daughter to you."

I was stunned.

Niki, the daughter I'd raised for five years, was actually Lucy James's daughter.

And the boy at Lucy's side, the one Bradley doted on like a precious treasure, was my own son.

My voice shook as I asked, "Why would my mother-in-law do that? That was her own grandson!"

Teresa sighed. "Your mother-in-law said she was afraid that once you had a son, you'd become more valued for it, rise in standing in the family, and she wouldn't be able to keep you under her thumb anymore."

"She also said Lucy was the mill director's daughter, and if she gave her grandson to Lucy to raise, then later Lucy would be his mother, and her son Bradley could climb up by leaning on Lucy."

When I'd heard it all, I found it laughable.

Old Mrs. Whitney, oh, Old Mrs. Whitney, you really did play your hand well.