The hospital called and said a little boy had listed me as his emergency contact. I laughed nervously and said, “That’s impossible. I’m 32, single, and I don’t have a son.”

It’s about trust transferred across time. Rachel didn’t choose Nora because of convenience—she chose her because, years earlier, Nora saw the truth when others chose comfort. That makes the hospital call less mysterious and more inevitable.

The tension with Mark sharpens the stakes. He represents the past that never resolved—the threat that Rachel continue reading …