Promise You Won't Tell?

Chapter 39

“According to the live birth records Mona had in her possession, which I now have in mine, Ethan Clark was born twice.”  

“Fine,” I say, pouting. “Don’t tell me.”

“I just did.”

“Right. Thanks for nothing.”

“Dani? I’m serious.”

“So what are you saying? That Ethan’s the world’s first documented case of reincarnation?”

She laughs. “Indulge me.”

 “I thought I was.”

 “Story time. Allison Bennett came from the wealthiest, most prestigious family in Memphis, Tennessee. Gavin Clark knew he hit the mother lode when he knocked her up. Fearing the family name could never handle the scandal, they managed to pull together a legendary wedding in the space of ten weeks, which was really pressing it, since Allison was five months pregnant at the alter. After the wedding, she and Gavin went on a prolonged honeymoon, courtesy of Allison’s parents. They were taking six months to travel the world. Over the next six months, family and friends received letters postmarked from the world’s most exotic locations. In truth, Allison wrote all the letters beforehand, gave them to Mona, and Mona traveled to the destinations and sent the letters.”

 “That seems like a lot of trouble to go through. The Bennett family couldn’t have been that concerned about people finding out their daughter had sex before marriage. This wasn’t that long ago.”

 “High society, Dani. As they say, the rich are different than you and me.”

 “No kidding. So what happened?”

 “Gavin and Allison were tucked away on the Bennett’s private estate in California. The plan was to have a midwife deliver their baby at the estate. Four months later, Allison’s father would secure a live birth certificate from a small hospital in Nevada, in return for a generous contribution. Instead of going back to Memphis, the young couple would begin their new life together here in Nashville, where Gavin’s marital connections would quickly earn him a full partnership in a local law firm.”

 “So what went wrong?”

 “Toward the end of Allison’s pregnancy, she became violently ill, and nearly died from dehydration. They had to call an ambulance. She was rushed to the hospital, where, two weeks later, she gave birth to a little boy. She named him Ethan.”

 “Then what happened?”

 “They stuck to the original plan. Four months later they got the phony birth certificate from Nevada, and they’ve been using that one ever since.”

 “How did they hide it from friends and family? The fact they were raising a four-month-old instead of a newborn?” 

 “They were in a different city, remember? And they kept a low profile that first year. After that, no one questioned their kid looking a few months older than the others his age.”

 “Mona told you all this?”

 “She did.”

 “So let’s see if I understand. Ethan has two birth certificates, four months apart, from two different states.”

 “That’s right. And both show a live birth delivered to the same parents.”

 “Which is impossible.”

 “Exactly.”

 “And Ethan and his parents used the newer one, which is phony, because it kept Memphis society from finding out Allison got knocked up before the wedding.”