The Girl Behind the Hidden Door Called Him Daddy
CHAPTER 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE IVORY BLOUSE
Mark stood up so fast his knee hit the panel.
"No," he said.
Vanessa had never heard that tone from him. In twelve years of marriage, he had raised his voice only a handful of times. This was not loud. It was worse. It was final.
Lily looked from one parent to the other, confused now.
The hidden girl flinched at Vanessa's voice and tried to pull back into the dark. Mark turned and blocked the opening with his body, not letting the panel shut.
"Get me a blanket," he said without looking away from the child.
Vanessa did not move.
"Mark, please. You don't understand."
"Then explain."
Lily tugged his sleeve. "Her name is Rose," she whispered. "She cries when it's cold."
Mark shut his eyes for half a second. Rose.
He took off his suit jacket and laid it over the girl. She clutched it with both hands, then stared at him as if she knew the smell of it.
Vanessa finally spoke. "Lily, go to your room."
"I don't want to."
"Lily." This time Vanessa's voice cracked.
Mark looked at his daughter. "Sweetheart, go with Mrs. Greene downstairs and stay there until I come get you."
Their night housekeeper appeared at the far end of the hall, pale and silent, as if she had heard enough already. She led Lily away.
Then Mark faced his wife.
"Who is she?"
Vanessa folded her arms tightly over herself. "She is not what you think."
"That child just called me Daddy."
Vanessa's eyes filled, but Mark could not trust tears anymore.
He reached for his phone. "I'm calling the police."
That made her move. She grabbed his wrist.
"If you do that, you'll destroy a woman who saved your life."
Mark stared at her.
"What woman?"
Vanessa swallowed. "Her mother."
He looked back down at the little girl in his jacket. Rose was still holding the edge of the fabric in her fist.
Then Vanessa said the name he had not heard in seven years.
"Elena Marquez."
Mark felt the floor shift under him.
Elena had been the nurse on the night of Lily's birth.
And the woman who vanished after telling him his baby might have been switched.
