Chapter 2: What Quincy Saw
Chapter 2: What Quincy Saw
The silence lasted exactly three seconds.
Then Quincy spoke.
"I saw Daddy switch the babies."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Nadine's arm froze above the trash bin.
Garrett looked like someone had punched all the air from his lungs.
Quincy pointed at the newborn in Nadine's arms.
"The nurse brought Mommy Claire's baby."
His voice trembled.
"She was crying."
Tears streamed down his face.
"Then Grandma said something was wrong with her hands."
The room felt smaller.
Colder.
More dangerous.
Garrett whispered, "Quincy..."
But the boy shook his head violently.
"No!"
For the first time in his life, he sounded angry.
Not scared.
Angry.
"You told me not to tell."
A nurse quietly stepped toward the bassinet.
Another moved closer to the door.
Quincy kept talking.
"Grandma said people would talk."
His small body shook.
"Then Daddy took the baby away."
Delphine felt her heart stop.
"What baby?" she whispered.
Quincy looked at her.
"The baby Mommy Claire had."
The room exploded into motion.
The charge nurse immediately removed the newborn from Nadine's arms and placed her beside Delphine.
Security was called.
Hospital administration arrived.
And Garrett's carefully controlled world began to crack.
Because seven-year-olds are terrible liars.
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But they are devastating witnesses.
Especially when they have spent years carrying a secret alone.
