Chapter 8 - THOMAS'S NOTEBOOK
Diane brought Thomas’s papers.
The hospital letter said:
In response to your inquiry, the newborn identification concern involving your granddaughter was reviewed and resolved according to hospital policy. We have no evidence supporting discharge error.
Ryan read it twice.
“What made Dad contact them?”
Diane answered:
“Emily’s blood type.”
Thomas donated blood regularly and understood basic inheritance.
At a pediatric visit, he saw Emily listed as B positive.
Ryan was A positive.
Claire was O positive.
That combination did not fit ordinarily.
Thomas contacted the hospital.
Then accepted their answer.
“Why didn’t he tell us?”
Diane said:
“He thought Claire would panic.”
Claire closed her eyes when Ryan told her.
Again, one adult deciding another should not know because the truth might be upsetting.
Then Diane admitted she found the letter after Thomas died.
It changed how she looked at Emily.
Every difference became evidence.
Features.
Mannerisms.
Hair.
She built an affair story around Claire without asking a single honest question.
Then she found Emily’s abandoned swab kit.
And turned suspicion into a DNA test.
Ryan said:
“You punished a child for something you imagined her mother had done.”
Diane cried.
“I know.”
Thomas had also left a notebook.
One page read:
EMILY / BLOOD TYPE QUESTION.
Hospital says resolved.
Could request independent test.
Do not put Ryan through this without cause.
Then:
Spoke to Evelyn Grant in parking lot.
Everyone froze.
Melissa’s mother.
Thomas and Evelyn had spoken.
The next page had been torn out.
Forensic imaging recovered partial impressions:
Evelyn says baby returned wearing...
photo from delivery may show...
do not contact children yet.
May you like
Evelyn Grant was still alive.
And she had kept every photograph from Ava’s birth.
