CHAPTER 4 — Someone Had Been Inside Our Home
CHAPTER 4 — Someone Had Been Inside Our Home
"No..."
The word escaped before I realized I'd spoken.
Owen grabbed the keys.
"We're leaving. Now."
The drive home felt endless.
I kept replaying the camera footage.
The blanket.
Juniper's blanket.
I had folded it myself yesterday morning.
No one had been inside the nursery since.
No one.
Unless...
"No," I whispered again.
"There has to be another explanation."
But there wasn't.
When we pulled into the driveway, Lydia was gone.
The front door was locked.
Nothing appeared broken.
At first glance, everything looked normal.
Too normal.
Owen checked every room while I stayed near the entrance.
"Clear."
I walked toward the nursery.
The blanket was gone.
So were three tiny newborn outfits.
The stuffed elephant my grandmother had sewn.
The framed ultrasound picture.
And the journal.
Our baby journal.
Every page documenting my pregnancy.
Gone.
Someone hadn't broken into our home looking for valuables.
They had taken memories.
I felt dizzy.
Owen immediately called the police.
This time they treated it differently.
An officer photographed every room.
Dusted for fingerprints.
Asked whether anyone besides us had ever possessed a key.
I laughed bitterly.
"My sister."
The officer nodded.
"The locks were changed?"
"Yesterday."
He frowned.
"Then she either copied a key before the change..."
"...or someone let her in."
Those words hit me harder than anything else.
Someone.
Who?
Mom?
Dad?
A relative?
One of our neighbors?
My phone rang.
Dad.
For one foolish second, I hoped he was calling to apologize.
Instead he sighed heavily.
"Your mother is very upset."
I stared at the ceiling.
"Really?"
"Lydia's having a hard time."
"I don't care."
"You should."
His voice hardened.
"She's family."
I almost laughed.
"My nursery was robbed."
Silence.
Then—
"Lydia says she was only borrowing a few keepsakes."
Borrowing.
Borrowing.
I repeated the word in disbelief.
"She stole my unborn daughter's belongings."
"They'll be returned."
"Dad..."
My voice shook.
"Did you know about Erin?"
The silence on the other end stretched so long that I had my answer.
"You knew."
"Lena..."
"You knew she tried to take someone else's baby."
"It wasn't like that."
"Then tell me what it was like!"
He couldn't.
Because there was no innocent explanation.
Finally he whispered,
"She was going through something."
"So am I!"
I screamed.
"I'm about to give birth while my sister breaks into my home!"
For the first time in years, I hung up on my father.
The responding detective approached us.
"We recovered something outside."
He handed over a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a folded piece of pink paper.
My name was written across the front in Lydia's handwriting.
Hands trembling, I unfolded it.
It wasn't a letter.
It was a birth plan.
My birth plan.
The exact one I'd kept inside my hospital folder.
Except someone had crossed out my name.
Above it, written in thick pink marker, were five horrifying words.
Mother: Lydia Brooks
My knees gave out.
Owen caught me before I hit the floor.
The detective's face changed instantly.
"This is no longer a simple burglary."
He looked directly at us.
"I strongly recommend notifying your hospital immediately."
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Because if Lydia believed she was Juniper's mother...
There was no telling what she might try when the baby was finally born.
