{"id":31646,"date":"2026-10-06T18:05:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=31646"},"modified":"2026-10-06T18:05:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:05:59","slug":"part-9-arthur-agreed-to-search-marthas-records-for-the-truth-but-the-first-confirmed-fact-made-rebecca-step-away-from-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=31646","title":{"rendered":"PART 9 \u2013 Arthur Agreed to Search Martha\u2019s Records for the Truth, but the First Confirmed Fact Made Rebecca Step Away From Him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Arthur did not touch the ledger again.<\/p>\n<p>He stood beside Martha\u2019s desk with both hands hanging at his sides, staring at the line about a related placement as though the ink might rearrange itself if he waited long enough.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca remained across the room.<\/p>\n<p>No one moved toward him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat exactly does \u2018connected by blood\u2019 mean?\u201d Arthur finally asked.<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn answered carefully.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt could mean several things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cName them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA cousin. A half sibling. A nephew. A child born to another member of Anna\u2019s family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur gave her a hard look.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the possibility everyone is avoiding?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn did not pretend not to understand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat Anna was your biological mother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s breath caught.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>She looked back.<\/p>\n<p>Neither spoke.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel broke the silence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s laugh was thin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, we just have my adoption file carrying the same internal code as Anna\u2019s maternity record, Mom writing that the code meant related placement, and a dead employee saying I was connected to Anna by blood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is evidence,\u201d Evelyn said. \u201cIt is not proof.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur turned toward the shelves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want proof.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca folded her arms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo do I.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked at her sharply.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me or for you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou already know who your mother was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know who raised me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat isn\u2019t the same problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur waited.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s voice softened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut if my mother was also your mother, then nearly everything she told me about that year was incomplete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur looked away.<\/p>\n<p>The possibility hung between them with an intimacy neither had asked for.<\/p>\n<p>Brother.<\/p>\n<p>Sister.<\/p>\n<p>The words were still too large to use.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel picked up the Margaret Ellis ledger copy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan we verify this notation?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecords from St. Agnes were scattered when the institution closed. Some went to a diocesan archive. Some were transferred to hospitals. Some adoption files went to the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur turned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen we request all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn did not move.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur noticed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere may be sealed records.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen unseal them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt should be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt rarely is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s frustration sharpened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sixty-one years old. My mother is dead. My father is dead. The people who arranged the adoption are probably dead. What exactly is the state protecting?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn\u2019s expression did not change.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes the answer is no one. Sometimes systems keep doing what they were designed to do long after the original reason disappears.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca stepped toward the desk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould DNA be faster?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel glanced between them.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we\u2019re trying to determine whether Arthur and I share a mother, we don\u2019t need an archive to tell us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur did not answer.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel said, \u201cA sibling test could show whether you\u2019re closely related.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s face closed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat quickly?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot instantly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t ask about time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel understood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou mean that simply.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn principle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur stared at Rebecca.<\/p>\n<p>She did not push him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s your decision,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>He gave a bitter smile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFunny. Mom spent half her life making sure everyone else got to make decisions, then arranged all this after she was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat sounds like Martha.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur glanced at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re enjoying that line too much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly a little.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the first time since we opened the room, some tension left his shoulders.<\/p>\n<p>Then Daniel found another folder.<\/p>\n<p>It was thinner than the others.<\/p>\n<p>The label read:<\/p>\n<p>AUGUST 1968 \u2014 PICNIC.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur saw it.<\/p>\n<p>His face changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOpen it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel did.<\/p>\n<p>Inside were three photographs from the same afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>In the first, Martha held baby Arthur while Henry stood beside her.<\/p>\n<p>Anna was visible in the background, turned partly away.<\/p>\n<p>In the second, Anna stood alone near a tree.<\/p>\n<p>In the third, Martha and Anna faced each other.<\/p>\n<p>Even in a faded photograph, their posture was unmistakably tense.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca picked it up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother looks furious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur leaned close.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMom looks scared.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn found a note paper-clipped behind the photograph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMartha wrote about the afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur held out his hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGive it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn passed it over.<\/p>\n<p>He read silently at first.<\/p>\n<p>His mouth tightened.<\/p>\n<p>Then he began aloud.<\/p>\n<p>Martha had invited Anna because she hoped they could repair their relationship.<\/p>\n<p>Anna had returned from Ohio unexpectedly.<\/p>\n<p>She saw Arthur.<\/p>\n<p>She immediately asked where he came from.<\/p>\n<p>Martha told her they had adopted him through St. Agnes.<\/p>\n<p>Anna became agitated.<\/p>\n<p>She asked which caseworker handled the placement.<\/p>\n<p>When Martha said Helen Price, Anna reportedly went pale.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca whispered, \u201cOh God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur continued.<\/p>\n<p>Anna demanded to see the adoption papers.<\/p>\n<p>Henry refused.<\/p>\n<p>She accused Martha of breaking a promise.<\/p>\n<p>Martha assumed Anna was referring to the old plan for Martha and Henry to adopt Rebecca.<\/p>\n<p>Anna said, \u201cNot her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur stopped reading.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n<p>He looked down again.<\/p>\n<p>The next sentence was underlined twice.<\/p>\n<p>She said, \u201cThe boy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca stepped backward.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel reached for her elbow.<\/p>\n<p>She shook him off, not angrily.<\/p>\n<p>Just needing room.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur read the sentence again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe boy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His voice sounded distant.<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn leaned closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur continued.<\/p>\n<p>According to Martha\u2019s account, Anna then asked whether Arthur had been born at St. Agnes.<\/p>\n<p>Martha said the file did not specify.<\/p>\n<p>Anna asked whether the infant had been transferred from another facility.<\/p>\n<p>Martha could not remember.<\/p>\n<p>Henry ended the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>He told Anna she was upsetting Martha and frightening the baby.<\/p>\n<p>Anna left.<\/p>\n<p>They did not speak for almost four years.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur lowered the page.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe stopped the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat could mean many things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt means he didn\u2019t want her asking questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOr it means he saw his wife distressed and intervened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur rubbed both palms over his face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hate every reasonable explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca stared at Anna\u2019s photograph.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe said not her. The boy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel said what we were all thinking.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe knew something about you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur looked toward him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen don\u2019t say it like you do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stiffened.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca stepped between them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s trying to help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t need help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo. You need answers. So do I.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur stared at her.<\/p>\n<p>Her voice lowered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Anna knew something about your birth, I have to know what.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s expression shifted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause she was my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd if she was mine?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca stopped.<\/p>\n<p>The question hurt them both before either understood why.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur looked away first.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s voice shook.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t apologize for asking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked back.<\/p>\n<p>She continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf she was your biological mother too, then I need to know that as much as you do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That was the first time either of them had said it directly.<\/p>\n<p>Biological mother.<\/p>\n<p>The room went still.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur sat on the edge of the desk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we test.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca nodded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel exhaled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur pointed at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re not included unless necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel blinked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wasn\u2019t volunteering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca almost smiled.<\/p>\n<p>Then Evelyn picked up another note.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is dated three days after the picnic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur leaned forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMartha tried to call Anna.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo answer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She turned the page.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHenry asked her to leave it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s face hardened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn kept reading.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMartha wrote that Henry believed Anna resented the adoption because of what happened with Rebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn\u2019t explain \u2018the boy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur stood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs there anything from Dad himself?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We searched.<\/p>\n<p>At first, nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Then I noticed a narrow wooden box behind the cassette tapes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHENRY\u201d had been written on the lid.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur stared at it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t see that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were looking at the files.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He opened the box.<\/p>\n<p>Inside were letters tied with string.<\/p>\n<p>Receipts.<\/p>\n<p>A pocketknife.<\/p>\n<p>An old watch.<\/p>\n<p>At the bottom was a small black notebook.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur picked it up.<\/p>\n<p>The first pages contained ordinary things.<\/p>\n<p>Hardware measurements.<\/p>\n<p>Car repairs.<\/p>\n<p>Telephone numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Then a date appeared.<\/p>\n<p>August 17, 1968.<\/p>\n<p>The day after the picnic.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s face went pale.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He read silently.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca came closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArthur.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father met Anna the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone froze.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlone?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA diner outside Richmond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe called him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur turned a page.<\/p>\n<p>Henry had written only a few lines.<\/p>\n<p>Anna says there has been a terrible mistake. I told her not to speak to Martha until she can prove what she believes. Martha has waited too long to be a mother. I will not let suspicion destroy this family.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s fingers tightened.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca whispered, \u201cHe knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur shook his head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew Anna believed something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He kept reading.<\/p>\n<p>Another entry.<\/p>\n<p>Two days later.<\/p>\n<p>Met H.P. She insists records are correct. Says Anna is confused. Warned me that reopening case could jeopardize placement.<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn inhaled sharply.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cH.P.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHelen Price,\u201d Arthur said.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stepped closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour father met the caseworker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd she told him questioning your placement could jeopardize the adoption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur looked toward Martha\u2019s baby blanket.<\/p>\n<p>His voice changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe chose not to ask more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s face softened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was afraid of losing you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur turned on her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat doesn\u2019t make it right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t say it did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe knew there was a question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd said nothing to Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApparently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor decades.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s eyes filled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur looked at Henry\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n<p>Then he laughed once, harshly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody in this family loved each other so much they couldn\u2019t tell the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nobody contradicted him.<\/p>\n<p>He turned another page.<\/p>\n<p>The next entry was weeks later.<\/p>\n<p>Anna has gone back to Ohio. Martha believes she was angry over Rebecca. Let it remain so.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur stopped reading.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDad lied to her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at the notebook.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe let her believe the wrong thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur shut it.<\/p>\n<p>His face was flushed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll because he was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca said, \u201cFear seems to have done a lot of damage in this family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd yours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That stopped him.<\/p>\n<p>They stood facing each other across Martha\u2019s room, both carrying evidence that the people who raised them had made choices out of fear and then protected those choices with silence.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel broke the moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s another entry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel pointed to a loose paper tucked inside the back cover.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur pulled it out.<\/p>\n<p>It was not Henry\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n<p>It was Martha\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>She had found the notebook.<\/p>\n<p>The note was dated only fourteen months earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur read.<\/p>\n<p>Henry, you knew.<\/p>\n<p>His voice cracked.<\/p>\n<p>He stopped.<\/p>\n<p>I took the page gently.<\/p>\n<p>Martha had written several paragraphs.<\/p>\n<p>She had discovered Henry\u2019s notebook years after his death while cleaning a cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time, she understood that Anna\u2019s anger at the picnic had never been about Rebecca.<\/p>\n<p>She had confronted Helen Price by then.<\/p>\n<p>Price denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n<p>Martha tried to locate old St. Agnes employees.<\/p>\n<p>That investigation eventually led to Margaret Ellis.<\/p>\n<p>And Margaret had told her something worse.<\/p>\n<p>I looked up.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s eyes were fixed on me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I continued.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret remembered the R-14 designation.<\/p>\n<p>Related placement.<\/p>\n<p>She remembered Helen Price using it in cases where infants were placed within extended families.<\/p>\n<p>But she also remembered one unusual case.<\/p>\n<p>A young woman had delivered a baby girl in January.<\/p>\n<p>Months later, another infant connected to the same family was brought into care.<\/p>\n<p>A boy.<\/p>\n<p>No mother was named in the surviving ledger.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur\u2019s face tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo Anna wasn\u2019t necessarily my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca stepped closer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut someone in her family was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel looked at the family photographs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Martha had asked the same question.<\/p>\n<p>At the bottom of her note, she listed possibilities.<\/p>\n<p>Anna.<\/p>\n<p>Anna\u2019s older sister, Margaret.<\/p>\n<p>One of Anna\u2019s cousins.<\/p>\n<p>Then one name was underlined.<\/p>\n<p>I read it aloud.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElizabeth Lane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca\u2019s face changed.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur noticed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho\u2019s Elizabeth?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca did not answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She took the page from me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy grandmother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur stared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnna\u2019s mother?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca looked ill.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel whispered, \u201cThat would make Arthur\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnna\u2019s brother,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur stepped backward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd your uncle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca looked at him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the first time, the possibility of being siblings disappeared and was replaced by something even stranger.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur sank into the chair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy biological mother could have been your grandmother?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca pressed one hand to her mouth.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel stared at the floor.<\/p>\n<p>Evelyn said quietly, \u201cThat is one possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur looked up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy would a married woman with a nineteen-year-old daughter secretly have a baby?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No one knew.<\/p>\n<p>Then Rebecca looked at the ledger date.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeven months after I was born.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She began counting backward.<\/p>\n<p>Her expression changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Arthur was seven months old at placement\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel understood first.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen he was born around January too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca looked at Arthur.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe same month I was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Arthur froze.<\/p>\n<p>Two infants.<\/p>\n<p>Same extended family.<\/p>\n<p>Same institution.<\/p>\n<p>Same period.<\/p>\n<p>One publicly acknowledged.<\/p>\n<p>One hidden.<\/p>\n<p>Arthur looked toward Martha\u2019s boxes.<\/p>\n<p>Then he whispered, \u201cFind the birth dates.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=31647\">Click here to continue reading: PART 10: Two January Birth Records Appeared to Solve Arthur\u2019s Identity Until One Missing Name Suggested Someone Had Deliberately Rewritten the Family History<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arthur did not touch the ledger again. He stood beside Martha\u2019s desk with both hands hanging at his sides, staring at the line about a related placement as though the &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31681,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31646\/revisions\/31681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}