“It won’t be easy. Adoptions are delicate and sealed tight for a reason. But if there’s something to find, I’ll find it.”
The following day, Tina waited in a bustling café for Megan.
While discussing the details of the case with Detective Harris, Tina realized how little she knew about Shawn’s adoption. She’d arranged this coffee date to rectify that. Tina sat at a small table near the window, nervously tapping her fingers on the tabletop.
She watched as Megan approached, weaving through the clusters of patrons with a casual grace. “Sorry I’m late,” Megan said as she slid into the chair across from Tina, placing her bag on the floor. “Traffic was a nightmare.”
“It’s fine,” Tina replied, attempting a smile.
Her eyes briefly followed a barista carrying a tray of steaming drinks to a nearby table, but then Megan reached across and took her hands. “I’m so sorry about nagging you to come and meet Shawn,” she said. “I-well, I’ve been so happy since he came into my life, and you’re my best friend, and I thought that somehow, being around him might help you… but it was too soon,” Megan sighed.
“I realize that now. Can you forgive me, Tina?”
“Of course,” Tina replied, completely taken aback. “I honestly didn’t think it would be so…”
A waiter arrived then and took their order, saving Tina from having to complete her thought.
She swiftly steered the conversation to lighter topics, but once their coffee came, Tina knew she couldn’t avoid questioning Megan any longer. Tina took a deep breath, her hands wrapped tightly around her cup for comfort. “So, tell me about the adoption,” she began, trying to sound casual.
“Oh, we don’t have to talk about that.” Megan chuckled uncomfortably. “But I want to… please?” Tina said. Megan’s lips pinched together, and she stared into her coffee.
“I don’t know, Tina. I don’t want to upset you, sweetie.”
“But I know how long you’ve wanted to have a child, Meg,” Tina said. “I hate how things have ended up, but there’s a bitter irony to it, don’t you think?
It was tough on you when I fell pregnant. You never said anything, but I saw it in your face. And now our roles are reversed.
I don’t think I can handle the pain as gracefully as you, but our friendship means a lot to me, so I’ll try.”
Megan sniffed and wiped tears from her eyes as she took Tina’s hand once more. Guilt jabbed at Tina’s heart. Although everything she’d said was true, her motives for pushing Megan to discuss Shawn’s adoption weren’t as pure as she made them out to be.
“There isn’t much to tell, to be honest,” Megan said. “It’s a long process, there’s tons of paperwork, and most of the time, you’re just waiting to get that call.”
Vague. Frustratingly vague.
Tina pressed on, her fingers drumming a nervous tattoo on the table. “But how did you find Shawn?” she asked, her voice tinged with a growing urgency. “Through an agency… It was a private adoption,” she replied, her tone still light but a little guarded now.
Her fingers shook as she stirred sweetener into her coffee. “Did they tell you anything about his background? His family history?” Tina leaned forward, her heart racing.
“Was there anything unusual about it? Anything at all?”
“Not much. Just that he was healthy.
They wanted to keep it confidential.” Megan’s eyes narrowed. “Tina, why are you really asking all these questions? Is something going on?”
Tina hesitated, then blurted out, “I think Shawn might be my son.”
The café seemed to fall silent around them.
Megan’s smile faltered, replaced by a flicker of unease, her spoon clattering against her cup. Tina reached into her purse, removed the photograph of Liam, and showed it to Megan. “Look at the birthmark, Meg.
It’s identical to Shawn’s,” she said. Megan stared at the photo, then back at Tina, her expression a mixture of disbelief and growing discomfort. “You see it too,” Tina said, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Megan shook her head. “It’s a birthmark, Tina. Thousands of people have them… even I have one.
Sure, they look a bit similar, but that doesn’t mean Shawn is your son! That’s crazy, Tina. It’s the grief talking.”
“It isn’t!” Tina snapped.
“I don’t know how, but Shawn is my son. I felt it when I held him; the birthmark confirms it, Meg. I know you see it, too!
Just admit it.”
Patrons at nearby tables began to glance their way, drawn by the increasing volume of their conversation. Megan’s face flushed with embarrassment and frustration. “Tina, this is insane,” Megan hissed.
“Shawn is my son. I adopted him legally.”
“Megan, please!” Tina grabbed Megan’s wrist. “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t see that it’s exactly the same as Liam’s!”
Megan glared at Tina and tugged her wrist free of her grasp.
Each word was like a drop of poison when she spoke, “They are not the same, Tina. You are out of your mind with grief and seeing things that aren’t there.”
Tina recoiled. “No.
They’re literally identical, Megan. Stop lying!”
Megan’s face paled, her composure crumbling like sandcastles under a rising tide. Her gaze skittered away, refusing to meet Tina’s.
In the depths of her gaze, Tina saw a flicker of recognition, a dawning horror that mirrored her own. “No,” Megan choked out, her voice barely a whisper. “Shawn is mine.
He’s my son. You… you have no right…”
The manager, a burly man with a mustache, approached their table, his frown a silent warning. “Ladies,” he rumbled, “we need to keep things civil in here.
Raise your voices again, and—”
“We’ll ask him,” Tina interrupted, pointing to the manager. “Show him a picture of Shawn’s birthmark, and I’ll show him Liam’s—”
“Enough, Tina!” Megan shouted, her voice drawing everyone’s attention. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you lost Liam, but this?
You need to see a therapist, honey. This is crazy talk.” She then turned to the manager. “I’m sorry for the commotion, sir.
Don’t worry about kicking us out because I’m leaving.”
Megan shot Tina a hurt, angry look as she rose from her chair. Tears streaming down her face, she stormed out of the cafe, leaving Tina alone in the wreckage of their friendship. Tina sat there, stunned and alone, the weight of the surrounding glances pressing down on her—shame burned in Tina’s cheeks, a bitter counterpoint to the icy knot in her stomach.
The photograph of her son lay on the table, a silent witness to the chasm that had just widened between two friends. She picked it up slowly, her fingers tracing the outline of her son’s face. Was Megan lying?
Or was she clinging to a desperate hope, a love that blinded her to the impossible truth etched on Shawn’s skin? “They’re the same, exactly the same,” Tina muttered. She was perched on the edge of her sofa, Liam’s photo in one hand and her phone in the other.
She’d searched through Megan’s social media profiles the moment she got home and tagged her ex-husband, Mark, in every photo of Shawn she’d found. Megan had then blocked her, but she still had the images she’d screenshotted and downloaded. One of them was on her screen right now, zoomed in to focus on the birthmark.
The phone, silent for hours, suddenly blared, jolting her from her spiraling thoughts. It was the detective, his voice gravelly even through the receiver. “Ms.
Collins, it’s Detective Harris,” the voice on the other end said. “I’ve found something about Shawn’s adoption.”
Tina held her breath. “Yes?”
“It was a private adoption.
The woman who arranged it was a nurse at the hospital where you gave birth,” the detective revealed. “Nurse Hayley.”
Tina felt the room spin around her. “Nurse Hayley?
I remember her, tall woman, curly blonde hair… she’s the one that took Liam from me…”
Detective Harris was still speaking, but Tina didn’t hear a word he said. Her mind was filled with the memory of Nurse Hayley wheeling Liam away in his hospital bassinet so Tina could rest. The next time she’d seen him, she’d had her hands pressed against the glass viewing window of the NICU, listening to his heart monitor bleeping urgently as his lips turned blue.
“That witch stole my baby.” A surge of adrenaline coursed through Tina’s veins, galvanizing her with a new sense of purpose. “I have to go,” she said abruptly, ending the call. Tina rushed out of the house, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts and fears.
She drove to the lawyer’s office, barely noticing the blur of the city passing by her window. The lawyer, a sharp-faced woman with steely eyes, listened intently as Tina poured out her story, punctuated by choked sobs and desperate pleas for clarity.
