Chapter 6 — Swapped at Birth

The hospital administrator brought the legal counsel to offer a formal apology, yet the family of the Van lineage firmly barred them at the threshold. My mother uttered only a single sentence.

"Save your apologies for the press, and surrender all evidence directly to the authorities."

My daughter was transferred to another public medical institution for a thorough re-evaluation. Throughout the entire journey, I cradled her closely in my arms, forbidding anyone else to touch her. Pine-cone, the faithful hound, rested upon the backseat of the vehicle, his wet snout pressed tightly against the fabric of the blanket wrapping the infant. At last, he ceased his mournful howling. He had finally caught the scent he had yearned to find. I lowered my gaze to look upon my daughter. The little one had fallen into a deep slumber, her tiny fingers curled gently inward. I pressed my cheek softly against her ear. The fragrance remained. My child was still here with me.

Mother brought me back to the ancestral estate of the Van family. It was the sanctuary where I had spent my formative years. I bestowed upon my daughter the name Van Summer Dawn. The legal representative acting on behalf of Lucas once came by, claiming that the man yearned to behold his child. Mother instructed the guards to return the written petition unopened.

"Wait until the investigative agencies have concluded their proceedings."

The elder matron of the Lu household also presented herself at our gates. She stood outside the threshold weeping, lamenting that their family had deeply wronged me, protesting that she had never imagined her own son could descend to such depths of foolishness. Listening through the thick panels of the door, I felt only a profound, crushing exhaustion. Her voice drifted through the wood:

"Duong Am, regardless of everything else, the child shares the blood of the Lu family. You cannot deny her the right to know her father for the rest of her days."

I unlatched the door. The woman's eyes brightened instantly with a flicker of hope. I looked at her and said:

"The child is not without a father."

"She simply had a father who nearly manufactured a death certificate for her own flesh and blood."

The matron's face drained of all color, turning ghostly pale. I pulled the heavy door shut once more. From that day onward, not a single soul bearing the Lu surname was ever permitted to cross the threshold of the Van household again.

The criminal investigation advanced with greater swiftness than I had anticipated. Leah confessed to every minute detail of the conspiracy. Lucas had utilized corporate development projects, promises of high-level promotions, and substantial sums deposited in offshore accounts to secure her complicity. The head nurse bore the responsibility of leading my mother away on a false pretext. The transport nurse was tasked with smuggling my newborn daughter into the private recovery suite of Clara. Clara herself had harbored no illusions; she was fully aware that her own infant had perished. When signing the transfer documents, she knew precisely that the baby resting against her chest was not of her own womb. Indeed, she had even transmitted a digital message to Lucas prior to the act.

"Once we leave the hospital premises, the child belongs entirely to me, is that not correct?"

When that recovered correspondence was read aloud, I sat in silence for a very long time.

Outside our walls, various rumors began to circulate through society. Some gossips whispered that since Lucas shared blood with the infant, the act could hardly be classified as kidnapping. Others expressed profound sympathy for Clara, arguing she had merely succumbed to madness brought on by grief. Still others condemned me for being relentlessly cold-hearted, determined as I was to cast my own husband into a prison cell.

The legal team representing the Van household executed a singular, methodical strategy. They issued formal cease-and-desist notices, one after another. Those who fabricated falsehoods were compelled to issue public retractions and pay heavy financial restitutions. Those who disseminated private personal data found themselves facing immediate criminal prosecution. The turbulent world outside gradually subsided into silence.

Yet I remained utterly incapable of finding inner peace. Before Summer Dawn reached her first full month of life, I existed in a state of perpetual, agonizing wakefulness. The mere closing of my eyes conjured the terrifying vision of that transparent incubator. It brought back the sickening memory of Lucas seated by my bedside, murmuring hollow words of regret. I would jolt awake in the dead of night, my heart hammering against my ribs. My absolute first instinct would be to leap from the bed and clutch my daughter to my bosom. If the familiar scent did not instantly greet my senses, my limbs would tremble uncontrollably.

On one occasion, the wet nurse merely carried the infant out onto the sunlit veranda to catch the morning air. Awakening to find the bed empty, I sprang forward in my bare feet, rushing blindly toward the light. My knees slammed violently against the wooden doorframe, and crimson blood trickled down my shins. Summer Dawn was resting peacefully, basking in the warm glow, with Pine-cone keeping a silent vigil beside her tiny cot. Yet upon seeing them, I merely gathered my child into my arms and wept until I could no longer draw breath.

Mother offered no platitudes about time healing all wounds. She simply crouched beside me on the floor, wrapping her arms securely around both me and the baby.

"If the pain has not passed, that is entirely acceptable."

"We shall simply live through it, one day at a time."

In the days that followed, I began attending regular psychological counseling sessions. The physician inquired which particular aspect of my ordeal had inflicted the deepest agony upon my soul. I replied:

"It was not his betrayal of our vows."

"Nor was it his deliberate deception."

"It was the collective gaze of all those people, silently watching me, waiting for me to accept the reality that my daughter was already dead."

The doctor remained silent for a long duration. I spoke again, my voice steady:

"Yet the child was patently weeping."

"And the child was unquestionably alive."

Upon my return home that afternoon, Summer Dawn was still awake. Her tiny fingers curled around my index finger, gripping with surprising tenacity. Pine-cone stood nearby, wagging his tail in quiet welcome. I bent low to inhale the scent just behind the curve of her ear. The delicate fragrance of sandalwood was faint, yet it possessed more than enough substance to anchor me to this world and give me the strength to endure.

On the day Lucas was formally indicted and arrested, torrential rains beat relentlessly against the panes. My legal counsel telephoned to inform me that Clara had completely broken down within the holding facility, repeatedly begging for an audience with me. I declined. Whatever she might have wished to impart, I had no desire to hear a single syllable.

Lucas likewise attempted to send a message through his legal representative.

"I acknowledge the magnitude of my transgressions."

"I am prepared to surrender every cent and walk away with nothing."

"I only ask for the privilege of gazing upon my child from afar, just once."

My reply consisted of four precise words.

"Do not relay messages."

The decree of divorce was handed down with remarkable swiftness. Given the severity of marital betrayal, the falsification of official medical records, and the premeditated conspiracy to conceal the true identity of an infant, full and exclusive custody of Summer Dawn was rightfully awarded to me. The corporate shares tied to Serenity Medical Center that had stood in the name of Lucas were officially frozen by the court. The medical facility itself was ordered to suspend all operations pending a comprehensive structural overhaul. Leah, alongside the implicated nurses, faced the immediate revocation of their professional licenses while simultaneously being subjected to full criminal accountability under the law.