Chapter 2: The Baby Nobody Was Allowed to Mention
For several seconds, nobody moved.
A balloon tapped gently against the wooden fence. Somewhere near the house, an ice cube fell into a plastic cup.
Then Camille whispered, “What baby?””
Simone straightened immediately.
“Ava doesn't understand what she's saying.””
Ava looked confused.
“Yes, I do.””
“Honey, please,” Simone said, lowering herself to Ava's height.
“You heard something you weren't supposed to hear.””
“You said there was a baby.””
“I said—”
“You said the lady couldn't tell Grandma.””
Mrs. Carter stepped away from the gift table.
“Simone, look at me.””
Her daughter didn't.
“Look at me when I'm talking to you.””
Simone's shoulders rose with a sharp breath.
“Mother, this is not the place.””
“Then tell me where the place is! Because apparently everybody knows something except me.””
Camille placed one hand over her pregnant belly.
“Can we slow down?”” she asked.
“Ava, sweetheart, what lady are you talking about?””
Ava looked toward her father.
Terrence knelt beside her.
“You don't have to answer anything if you don't want to, baby.””
“But I want to.””
He nodded.
“Okay. Just tell us what you remember.””
Ava looked at Simone again.
“The lady came when it was raining.””
Simone closed her eyes.
“She had a brown bag,” Ava continued.
“And she cried in the kitchen.””
Mrs. Carter's face changed.
“What did she look like?”” Camille asked.
“Her hair was short. She had a little scar here.””
Ava touched the skin beneath her left eyebrow.
“She kept touching it when she talked.””
Simone rose abruptly.
“That's enough.””
Her voice cracked across the yard.
Ava flinched.
Terrence stood at once, moving between them without raising his voice.
“Don't talk to her like that.””
“Don't tell me how to speak to my daughter!””
“Then stop frightening her.””
Mrs. Carter pointed toward the driveway.
“Terrence, you need to leave.””
He looked at her in disbelief.
“My daughter was invited here.””
“And now she's making accusations about her mother in front of the entire family.””
“She's answering questions you all asked her.””
“Because you taught her to disrespect us!””
Ava reached for her father's hand again.
Terrence squeezed it gently.
“No one is going to make her apologize for telling us what she remembers.””
Simone stared at him.
“You don't understand what you're doing.””
“Then explain it.””
She glanced at the relatives gathered around them.
Several people immediately looked away, pretending to study the decorations or rearrange their plates. Others watched openly.
Camille stepped forward.
“Simone, I need you to tell me what this is about.””
“Camille, please don't.””
“I'm carrying a baby. You're my cousin. And your daughter just said there's another baby nobody is allowed to talk about. What am I supposed to do with that?””
Simone's hands began to tremble.
Mrs. Carter moved beside her.
“Your cousin is confused. This is between family.””
Camille gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
“We are family.””
Terrence watched Simone carefully.
He had seen her angry. He had seen her exhausted, disappointed, and stubborn enough to turn a simple disagreement into a weeklong silence.
He had never seen her afraid of a seven-year-old's memories.
“Simone,” he said, “was someone pregnant when you came to my house?””
She stared at the grass.
“Answer me.””
“Not here.””
“Then where?””
“Stop asking me questions!””
Ava squeezed his hand.
“Daddy, you're making Mommy mad.””
Terrence's expression softened immediately.
“I'm sorry, sweetheart.””
He crouched beside her.
“None of this is your fault. You haven't done anything wrong.””
Ava nodded, but her eyes remained fixed on Simone.
“Mommy said the baby was little.””
Simone covered her mouth.
Mrs. Carter grabbed her daughter's arm.
“What baby, Simone?””
“Let go of me.””
“Tell me!””
“Mother, you're hurting me!””
Mrs. Carter released her so abruptly that Simone stumbled backward.
The relatives nearest them shifted uneasily.
Camille stepped between the two women.
“Everybody needs to calm down.””
Then she looked at Simone.
“Is this about a child you gave up for adoption?””
The question struck the yard like a dropped glass.
Simone stared at her cousin.
“No.””
“Then what is it about?””
“I said no!””
Camille's eyes filled with tears, though she seemed more confused than angry.
“I'm trying to help you.””
“Then stop asking me to explain something you don't understand.””
Terrence felt an old memory stirring.
Years ago, before Ava was born, Simone had told him she wanted children but feared becoming the kind of mother who carried every mistake her own mother had ever made.
He remembered sitting beside her on a hospital bed when Ava was born, watching Simone cradle their newborn daughter with a look of absolute wonder.
He had believed that moment meant they were beginning something new.
Now he wondered whether there had been something before it that he had never been allowed to see.
He turned toward Mrs. Carter.
“Did you know about this?””
Her chin lifted.
“I know my daughter.””
“That wasn't my question.””
“I don't answer to you.””
“I'm not asking as your former son-in-law. I'm asking because my daughter just told us she witnessed something that frightened her, and every adult here seems more interested in silencing her than understanding what happened.””
Mrs. Carter's lips pressed together.
Then she said something that made Simone recoil.
“Your daughter shouldn't be repeating conversations she was never supposed to hear.””
Terrence went still.
“Which conversations?””
Mrs. Carter realized her mistake a moment too late.
Simone grabbed her mother's wrist.
“Stop talking.””
But Terrence had heard enough to know that the family wasn't surprised by the existence of a secret.
They were surprised that Ava had exposed it.
He looked at Simone.
“How long have you been hiding something from me?””
She shook her head.
“This has nothing to do with you.””
“You came to my house and asked me to lie. How does that have nothing to do with me?””
“I never asked you to lie.””
“You told me to say I didn't remember something I didn't even know about.””
“That isn't the same thing!””
“Then tell me what I was supposed to forget.””
Simone looked as though she might collapse.
Camille quietly pulled a chair away from the gift table.
“Sit down,” she told her cousin.
“I don't need to sit down.””
“You're shaking.””
“Camille, leave it alone.””
Camille held her ground.
“No. I've spent my whole life watching you and Auntie fight, and every time something happens, everybody tells me to leave it alone. I'm tired of leaving things alone.””
Mrs. Carter turned sharply.
“You need to remember who you're speaking to.””
“And you need to remember that this is my baby shower.””
The words silenced even Mrs. Carter.
Camille drew a slow breath.
“If there's another child in this family, I deserve to know whether I'm being asked to celebrate one baby while everyone pretends another one never existed.””
Simone stared at her cousin.
For a moment, her anger seemed to disappear.
What remained was grief.
“I didn't have a choice,” she whispered.
Terrence took one step closer.
“A choice about what?””
Simone's eyes filled.
Before she could answer, a chair scraped loudly across the patio.
Mrs. Carter had backed into it.
She caught herself against the table, knocking a wrapped gift onto the grass.
Ava looked at the fallen package.
Then she looked at her grandmother.
“Grandma?””
Mrs. Carter didn't respond.
Ava tilted her head.
“Why did the lady say she wanted her baby back?””
Camille slowly turned toward Simone.
Terrence felt his stomach tighten.
Mrs. Carter whispered, “What did you just say?””
Ava looked between the adults.
“She said, 'I don't want money. I want my baby back.''”
Simone made a small, broken sound.
Terrence reached for her, then stopped when she stepped away.
“Who said that?”” he asked.
Ava thought carefully.
“The lady with the scar.””
“And when did she say it?””
“The rainy day.””
Terrence remembered the date of Simone's visit.
Eleven days earlier.
Rain had hammered against his kitchen windows that afternoon, and a woman had apparently stood in his house asking for a baby.
He looked at Simone.
“Did she come to my house with you?””
Simone didn't answer.
“Did you bring her there?””
Still nothing.
Mrs. Carter finally found her voice.
“This conversation is over.””
Terrence turned toward her.
“No. It isn't.””
“You have no right to interrogate my daughter.””
“Then she can answer my questions herself.””
Mrs. Carter moved closer, her face hardening.
“You think you're protecting Ava, but you're putting things in her head that will damage her relationship with her mother.””
Terrence looked down at his daughter.
Ava was watching him with frightened, searching eyes.
He crouched and gently straightened the yellow clip that had slipped from one of her curls.
“Baby, you haven't done anything wrong,” he repeated.
Then he stood and faced the women.
“I'm taking Ava home. But this isn't finished.””
Simone suddenly reached for his arm.
“Terrence, wait.””
He turned.
She glanced at Ava, then at the watching relatives.
“Please don't tell anyone what she said.””
He stared at her hand until she released him.
“You're still asking me to keep secrets.””
“I'm asking you to give me time.””
“How much time have you already had?””
Her lips trembled.
“Please.””
For one brief moment, he saw the woman he had once loved so completely that he would have done almost anything to make her feel safe.
Then he remembered his daughter standing in the middle of the backyard, apologizing with her eyes for telling the truth.
“I gave you time when you came to my house,” he said.
“You chose not to tell me what was happening.””
He took Ava's hand and started toward the gate.
Behind them, nobody spoke.
They were almost at the driveway when Camille called out.
“Terrence, wait!””
He turned.
Camille stood near the gift table, one hand pressed against her stomach.
Her eyes were fixed on Simone.
“I need to ask you something,” Camille said.
“And I need you to answer honestly.””
Simone shook her head.
“Camille, don't.””
Camille ignored her.
“Terrence, when Simone came to your house eleven days ago, did she mention a woman named Renee?””
Terrence stopped breathing for a moment.
He had heard that name before.
Not from Simone.
From a hospital document he had found years ago while searching through a box of Ava's baby records.
He had assumed Renee was a nurse.
May you like
But now, watching Simone's face collapse, he realized that the name meant something else entirely.
And when Mrs. Carter whispered, “Camille, you promised you'd never bring her up again,” Terrence knew the secret had been buried long before Ava was born.
