…you. She was born to a woman named Jenna Hart, on the same floor, forty minutes after Sophie.”
The bracelet on the baby in my husband’s arms said “Baby Girl Hart.”
I’d never heard of Jenna Hart. But my husband, Mark, had. When I showed him the video, he sat down on our bed and didn’t speak for a long time. Then he told me he’d been having an affair with Jenna for two years. She’d given birth the same morning I had.
Jenna didn’t want to raise the baby. Mark’s mother, Linda, convinced her to sign over custody to her, not to Mark, so I would never find out. The video showed Mark carrying his other daughter down the hallway to the room where Jenna was signing the papers.
For six months, Linda had been raising that baby as her “foster grandchild.” She’d told me she was volunteering with a foster agency. I’d even bought the baby a Christmas present.
I asked for a DNA test for Sophie. She was mine and Mark’s, without any doubt. That was the only part of the story that didn’t hurt.
I filed for divorce. Linda sent a long letter accusing me of “destroying the family.” I didn’t reply.
The other little girl’s name is Rose. She’s Sophie’s half-sister. I’ve decided she didn’t do anything wrong, so when Linda brings her to Sophie’s birthday parties, I let her come. Sophie and Rose love each other. Someday, they’ll learn the whole story. I hope they’ll understand that the adults lied, and the children didn’t.
