Chapter 3 - THE DOCTOR'S CHART|
Nomi refused to go to the library until a woman from the estate's medical staff had examined her back and confirmed that the torn fabric had not injured the scar.
The physician, Dr. Helen Foster, worked quickly and respectfully. She asked permission before touching Nomi's skin, then cleaned a small scratch near her shoulder.
"This scar is old," she said. "It appears to have healed unevenly after a significant injury. Do you know how it happened?"
"No."
"Have you ever had surgery?"
"Not that I remember."
Dr. Foster exchanged a glance with Julian.
"Then don't let anyone persuade you that we know what caused it simply because it resembles a medical drawing."
Nomi appreciated the warning.
She had spent most of her life being told what her story was by people who had never bothered to ask her.
When the examination ended, Julian escorted her to the library. Eleanor, Catherine, and Vivian followed, though Vivian was no longer wearing the expression of an offended fiancée.
She looked angry.
Worried.
And, for the first time that evening, frightened of her own mother.
Julian closed the door.
"Three years ago, a surgeon named Dr. Samuel Voss contacted my father about an old patient record. The file had been found in a storage room belonging to a clinic that had closed after a fire."
He opened a leather folder and removed a photocopy.
The drawing showed the back of a young woman, with a long scar running from her left shoulder blade to her lower back.
Nomi stared at it.
The shape was unmistakable.
The thickened center.
The two tapering ends.
Even the small fork in the line near the waist matched the mark on her body.
Beneath the diagram was a note written in a physician's hand.
Patient was approximately three years old at the time of injury. Surgical repair performed following deep laceration and secondary infection. Identity withheld by guardian.
Nomi looked up.
"Three years old?"
Eleanor nodded.
"According to Dr. Voss, the child had been brought to the clinic after a fire. She survived because the wound was treated immediately. The doctor who performed the original procedure later wrote that the scar would remain distinctive throughout her life."
"Who brought her in?"
"The records list a woman using the name Helen Dwart," Julian answered. "The signature doesn't match any physician or guardian registered with the hospital."
Nomi felt the floor shift beneath her.
"That's my last name."
"Yes."
She looked back at the drawing.
"I was in foster care by the time I was four. I don't remember a hospital."
"Memory isn't proof," Dr. Foster had warned.
But Nomi could feel something unfamiliar stirring beneath the blank spaces in her childhood.
A smell of smoke.
A woman's hand gripping hers.
A voice repeating a name she could not quite hear.
She pressed her fingers to her temple.
Eleanor noticed.
"Are you all right?"
"I don't know."
Julian placed the drawing on the table.
"The reason I remember it is that my father asked me to identify the patient three years ago. He said the record might be connected to a missing member of the Callaway family."
"Why didn't you look for her?"
"I did. The clinic's records had been altered. Dr. Voss disappeared before I could speak to him, and my father told me the matter had been settled."
Catherine closed her eyes.
"He lied to you."
Julian turned toward her.
"How do you know?"
"Because your father paid Dr. Voss to keep the original records hidden."
Vivian rose abruptly.
"Mother, stop."
Eleanor looked at her daughter.
"Why? What are you afraid we'll discover?"
Vivian's jaw tightened.
"Because this is madness. We're discussing a stranger's scar as if it proves she's a lost heiress. She could have obtained the drawing. She could be pretending to be someone she's not."
Nomi turned toward her.
"You tore my clothes open to humiliate me. I didn't bring this into your ballroom. You did."
Vivian had no answer.
Julian took the chart and placed it inside the folder.
"The original record is somewhere in my father's private archive. If this drawing matches Nomi's scar, we need a DNA test and the original patient file."
Eleanor nodded.
"I'll arrange the test."
Nomi stood.
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
"I'm willing to find out who I am. But I won't be passed from one wealthy family to another because you suddenly believe I'm valuable."
Eleanor's eyes filled.
"You are valuable whether the record proves anything or not."
"Then let me decide what happens next."
Julian opened the door for her.
"That's your right."
As Nomi stepped into the corridor, a member of the estate staff approached Julian with a sealed envelope.
"It was found in your father's study, sir. Someone asked that it be delivered only if the scar appeared."
Julian opened it.
Inside was a photograph of a little girl standing beside a woman near a burning building.
The girl had a long bandage around her back.
May you like
On the reverse, in his father's handwriting, were six words.
If she returns, do not trust Eleanor.
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