Rachel knew something was wrong the moment Denise asked her to step into the consultation room again.
She had spent the previous hour beside Samuel, learning how to change a diaper around monitoring wires without tangling anything. The task was ordinary enough to make her feel almost normal.
Then Denise appeared.
“Can we talk?”
Rachel immediately glanced toward Wade.
“Both of us?”
“Your choice.”
Rachel hesitated.
“Both.”
Wade followed.
The moment the door closed, Denise said, “We located Daniel Price.”
Rachel stopped breathing.
Wade looked from Denise to his daughter.
“Daniel?”
Rachel sat abruptly.
Denise pulled a chair closer but did not touch her.
“He is downstairs.”
“No.”
“He came voluntarily.”
“No.”
Wade’s voice hardened.
“She said no.”
Denise turned to him.
“She has the right to refuse contact.”
Rachel stood again.
“He cannot come near Samuel.”
“That can be discussed.”
“He doesn’t care about Samuel.”
“Rachel.”
“He doesn’t.”
Her words came faster.
“He told me to get rid of the pregnancy.”
Wade went very still.
Denise kept her gaze on Rachel.
“Did Daniel hurt you?”
Rachel looked away.
“Define hurt.”
Wade’s chair scraped backward.
Denise immediately raised a hand.
“Wade.”
He sat again, but only because Rachel reached toward him.
“Don’t.”
Wade’s eyes were fixed on her.
“What did he do?”
Rachel wrapped her arms around herself.
“He didn’t beat me.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
“I know.”
She stared at the floor.
Daniel had not been a husband.
He had not even been a long-term boyfriend by the time Samuel was born.
Rachel had met him nearly a year earlier at a restaurant where she was working nights. He was charming, funny, and attentive during the first few months.
Then she became pregnant.
Everything changed.
“He said a baby would ruin his life,” Rachel said. “He accused me of doing it on purpose.”
Wade's hands closed into fists.
Rachel noticed.
“Stop.”
“I’m sitting.”
“You’re planning something.”
“I’m planning to keep sitting.”
Denise intervened.
“Did Daniel threaten you?”
Rachel took a long time to answer.
“He said if I tried to make him responsible, he’d make sure everyone knew I was unstable.”
Denise’s expression sharpened.
“Anything else?”
“He knew I didn’t have family.”
Wade flinched.
Rachel saw it.
“I told him I didn’t.”
Her voice softened.
“Because as far as I knew, I didn’t.”
Wade accepted the blow without argument.
“He said no court would give a baby to someone like me if he fought it.”
Denise asked, “Did he ever prevent you from leaving somewhere?”
“No.”
“Take your money?”
“He borrowed it.”
“Did he repay it?”
Rachel gave her a look.
Denise wrote something down.
“Control your phone?”
“He checked it.”
“Threaten to take the baby?”
“Not exactly.”
“What exactly?”
Rachel rubbed her forehead.
“Near the end, he said maybe he should raise Samuel because I clearly couldn’t handle anything.”
Wade’s voice turned low.
“He went from wanting no baby to wanting custody?”
“I don’t think he wanted custody.”
Rachel shook her head.
“He wanted me afraid.”
Denise asked the next question carefully.
“Did fear of Daniel contribute to you leaving the hospital?”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Wade closed his eyes.
It was the missing piece.
Not the whole explanation, but enough to reshape what he thought he understood.
Rachel had not simply panicked after childbirth.
She had believed someone might come take Samuel.
“When I delivered early,” she said, “the hospital asked for the father’s information. I gave it because I thought I had to.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Then I imagined Daniel getting a call. I imagined him walking in with a lawyer. I hadn’t slept. I could barely think.”
“So you left,” Denise said.
“I thought if I disappeared, maybe I could figure out what to do before he found me.”
Rachel’s face crumpled.
“Which makes no sense because I left Samuel here.”
“It makes sense as a fear response,” Denise said. “That does not mean it was safe.”
“I know.”
The distinction mattered.
Rachel looked at Wade.
“I didn’t leave because I didn’t want him.”
Wade’s eyes were wet.
“I know that now.”
“You thought I did.”
“At first.”
Rachel nodded.
At least he was telling the truth.
Denise explained that Daniel had already been informed that Samuel was hospitalized and that legal paternity had not yet been established.
“What does he want?” Rachel asked.
“He said he wants to see you.”
“No.”
“He also said he wants information about Samuel.”
Rachel’s hands shook.
Wade noticed and slid a paper cup of water toward her.
She took it without comment.
“Can he demand custody?”
“He can pursue legal rights if paternity is confirmed.”
Rachel stared at Denise.
“Then why did you bring him here?”
“We didn’t force him to come. We contacted him because the hospital and child services have obligations regarding a potential parent.”
Rachel looked trapped.
Denise continued.
“But you do not have to sit in a room with him alone.”
Rachel’s eyes shifted to Wade.
He said nothing.
She seemed to be deciding whether his presence would make things better or worse.
Finally she asked, “Will you stay quiet?”
Wade considered the request.
“I’ll try.”
“That isn't confidence-inspiring.”
“I won’t threaten him.”
“Or touch him.”
“I won't touch him.”
“Or do that thing where you stare like you're imagining where to bury someone.”
Hannah, standing just inside the doorway with Samuel’s updated chart, coughed suspiciously.
Wade glanced at her.
“That specific, huh?”
Rachel almost smiled.
Daniel arrived ten minutes later.
He was nothing like Wade expected.
No swagger.
No expensive suit.
No obvious villainy.
He was in his mid-thirties, neatly dressed in a pale button-down shirt and dark trousers. He looked tired.
When he entered the consultation room and saw Rachel, he stopped.
“Rachel.”
She did not answer.
Then Daniel noticed Wade.
“Who is this?”
“My father.”
Daniel blinked.
“You said your father was dead.”
Rachel’s face changed.
Wade felt that sentence hit him.
Rachel kept her eyes on Daniel.
“I said he was gone.”
“That’s not how I remember it.”
Wade leaned forward.
Rachel touched his wrist.
He stopped.
Denise laid out the rules.
No shouting.
No threats.
Anyone could end the meeting.
Daniel sat opposite Rachel.
“I didn’t know Samuel was born.”
Rachel stared.
“You knew I was pregnant.”
“I mean I didn’t know he came early.”
“What would you have done if you knew?”
Daniel looked down.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s convenient.”
“I came, didn’t I?”
Rachel laughed sharply.
“After a social worker called you.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Wade saw the change.
Small.
Controlled.
But there.
“I came because they said my son is in intensive care.”
“You didn’t call him your son when I was five months pregnant.”
“I panicked.”
Rachel stared at him.
The hypocrisy was almost too obvious to discuss.
Daniel noticed.
“Fine. I know how that sounds.”
“How it sounds?”
“I was wrong.”
Rachel looked toward the window.
Daniel took a breath.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I want to see him.”
“No.”
“If he’s mine—”
“He is.”
“Then I have a right to know him.”
Rachel stiffened.
Denise stepped in.
“The immediate issue is establishing paternity and assessing everyone involved.”
Daniel turned toward her.
“I’ll take the test.”
Rachel looked surprised.
So did Wade.
Daniel continued.
“I’m not trying to take him from her.”
Rachel’s expression hardened.
“That’s exactly what you threatened.”
“I said things.”
“You said you’d tell a judge I was unstable.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because I was angry.”
“That isn’t an explanation.”
“No.”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“When you said you were keeping the baby, I felt trapped.”
Rachel stared.
Daniel looked ashamed.
“I decided if I could scare you, maybe you'd stop expecting anything from me.”
Wade’s restraint visibly strained.
Daniel looked at him.
“You can hate me.”
“I don’t know you well enough.”
The answer was colder than hatred.
Daniel returned his attention to Rachel.
“I came because I want to stop being that person.”
“You picked a convenient morning.”
“I know.”
Rachel stood.
“I can’t do this.”
Denise rose too.
“That’s enough for today.”
Daniel looked panicked.
“Rachel, wait.”
She stopped at the door.
“What?”
“I never wanted you to run away.”
Rachel turned slowly.
“You made sure I believed that if I stayed, you would use every fear I had against me.”
Daniel’s face fell.
“That is why I ran.”
She opened the door.
“And if you want anything to do with Samuel, start by understanding that.”
Rachel left.
Wade remained for a second.
Daniel looked at him.
“You're really her father?”
“Yes.”
“Where were you?”
The question was insolent.
It was also fair.
Wade stared at him.
“Too far away.”
Then he followed his daughter.
He found Rachel beside the scrub sink, gripping the counter.
“Don’t say anything.”
“All right.”
“Especially not that you told me so.”
“I didn’t.”
“I know.”
She laughed despite herself, then started crying.
Wade stayed beside her.
After a minute she said, “I lied about you.”
“You thought I was gone.”
“I told people you were dead.”
Wade looked toward Samuel’s room.
“In a way, I made that easy to believe.”
Rachel wiped her face.
“Stop making everything my fault sound like yours.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Then maybe we both have a bad habit of collecting more blame than belongs to us.”
Rachel looked at him.
That sounded uncomfortably accurate.
They returned to Samuel.
Hannah had him ready for skin-to-skin holding.
Rachel sat.
This time her hands shook less.
When Samuel was placed against her chest beneath the blanket, he settled after only a minute.
Rachel stared down in disbelief.
“He knows you,” Hannah said.
Rachel's eyes filled.
“Are you sure?”
“He knows your voice, your heartbeat, your smell.”
Wade watched from nearby.
Rachel lowered her cheek toward Samuel’s head.
For the first time since returning, she looked fully present.
Then Denise came back carrying her phone.
“I just received confirmation from child services.”
Rachel stiffened.
“What now?”
“They will consider Wade for temporary kinship placement once Samuel is medically ready, assuming the home assessment is satisfactory.”
Wade nodded.
Rachel asked, “And me?”
“They want you to participate in a safety plan and ongoing assessment. Returning voluntarily matters.”
Rachel exhaled.
Not relief exactly.
But room to breathe.
Denise was not finished.
“There is another issue.”
Wade looked tired of those words.
“What?”
“Daniel agreed to testing. Until paternity is resolved, the placement process can move forward but may be challenged.”
Rachel held Samuel tighter.
“When will we know?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
“Potentially within days.”
Rachel stared at her son.
Daniel had once wanted nothing to do with him.
Now one laboratory result could give him standing to enter every decision.
Wade watched fear return to Rachel’s face.
He pulled his chair closer but did not touch her.
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
Rachel looked at him.
It was the first time anyone had asked without telling her what the correct answer should be.
She glanced at Samuel.
Then back at Wade.
“I want to stop running.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 7: Wade Opened His House to the Inspectors, but Rachel Found Something in Her Old Bedroom He Had Never Intended Her to See
The Stranger in the Leather Vest Asked About the One Infant Everyone Else Had Quietly Learned Not to Mention
Part 6 of 10
