A handwriting I had seen on birthday cards, recipe notes, holiday tags.
My stomach sank.
“It’s Vivian’s,” I whispered.
Ethan’s face hardened.
“I thought so.”
“But why sign my aunt’s name and list herself?”
“I don’t know.”
We both looked at Maya.
A horrible thought moved through the room without either of us saying it.
Finally, Ethan spoke.
“Chloe, when you switched practices, did you tell anyone where you were delivering?”
“No. Only Marianne.”
“No friends?”
“My coworker Tara knew the hospital, not the exact date.”
“Any mail forwarded?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
He dragged a hand over his face.
“I need to report this formally.”
“Against your mother?”
“Yes.”
The word came without hesitation.
I stared at him.
This was the man I had waited for.
Not because he turned cruel.
Not because he suddenly hated Vivian.
But because he finally understood that love without boundaries could become a door left open in a storm.
Before I could answer, the door opened.
Aunt Marianne rushed in wearing a wrinkled coat over pajamas, her gray-blond hair escaping a loose braid. Her face crumpled when she saw me, then again when she saw Maya.
“Oh, my sweet girl,” she whispered.
She crossed the room and kissed my forehead.
Then she turned and saw Ethan.
Her expression cooled by several degrees.
“Dr. Chen.”
“Marianne.”
“I’d say congratulations, but I’m still deciding whether to throw something at you.”
“Fair,” he said.
That surprised her enough to pause.
I almost laughed.
Almost.
Then I held up the copied form.
“Aunt Marianne,” I said, “did you sign anything at this hospital?”
She frowned.
“What? No.”
“Did anyone call you?”
“No. Chloe, what’s going on?”
Ethan explained.
Briefly.
Carefully.
With no attempt to soften his mother’s role.
Marianne listened without interrupting, but her face changed in a way I had never seen before. Not shock.
Recognition.
“Aunt Marianne?” I said.
She sat slowly in the chair.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Her eyes moved to Maya, then to me.
“I didn’t want this tonight.”
My chest tightened.
“Didn’t want what?”
She looked at Ethan.
“I think you should leave.”
“No,” I said.
Both of them turned to me.
“He stays.”
Marianne’s mouth opened, then closed.
