There would have had to be paperwork.
***
Three days later, the hospital called. “We found your archived records.”
My hand tightened around the phone. “Both babies?”
“Yes.”
“Were they born alive?”
A pause.
“Yes. Both of them.”
It wasn’t enough to explain how my son had disappeared.
I closed my eyes. “And the second baby?”
“There’s an adoption file attached.”
“Whose consent?”
Another pause.
“Yours.”
We found your archived records.
My stomach dropped. “That’s impossible.”
“Sorry?”
“I never signed anything.”
“Your name is on the form.”
“My name might be. My signature isn’t. And when did Benjamin enter adoption proceedings?”
“The following day.”
There’s an adoption file attached.
Mark hadn’t just let me believe our son was dead.
He had made my choice for me – and put my name beneath it.
