The Birthmark They Said Died in the Hospital

CHAPTER 3 - ST. CATHERINE'S

Nathan drove Elena to St. Catherine's himself that afternoon.

He did not tell Vanessa where he was going. She called twelve times. He let the phone buzz in the console until it went dark.

Rain streaked the windshield as the old hospital rose ahead of them, smaller than Nathan expected for a place that could hold so much power over strangers' lives.

Elena sat with both hands clenched in her lap.

"I was nineteen," she said. "No husband. No family nearby. I cleaned rooms at a motel. A woman from the hospital came to talk to me before labor. She asked if I had a plan for the baby. I said I would find one. Then after delivery they told me there were complications. They wouldn't let me see him again."

Nathan gripped the steering wheel harder. "Did you sign anything?"

"I remember papers. I was medicated. Crying. I signed because they said it was about my release."

Inside records, they met a gray-haired administrator named Mrs. Barlow, who seemed ready to refuse them before Elena even finished her name.

"We don't release maternal records without proper legal authorization."

Nathan leaned forward. "Then call legal."

Mrs. Barlow stiffened. "Mr. Hale, this is a hospital, not one of your building sites."

Before he could answer, a voice came from the doorway.

"Let them see the file."

A woman in navy scrubs stood there, near retirement age, her badge reading Teresa Wynn, RN. She looked at Elena for a long moment, then at Nathan.

"I remember her," Teresa said quietly. "And I remember that night."

Mrs. Barlow's face tightened. "Teresa, that's inappropriate."

"No," Teresa replied. "What was inappropriate happened six years ago."

An hour later they sat in a private office with a thin file on the desk. Too thin. Suspiciously thin.

Inside was Elena's discharge summary.

And one consent form for private adoption.

The signature at the bottom looked like Elena's name.

But the handwriting was not hers.

Elena touched the page with trembling fingers. "I never signed this."

Nathan looked closer at the witness line.

One witness was unreadable.

The second was painfully clear.

Vanessa Morgan.

His wife's maiden name.

"Vanessa was at your delivery," Nathan said, and Elena went white.