“Mark?”
“Yes.”
“He was here helping set up.”Download Reference Apps
“Not all morning.”
Something cold moved through me.
“What did he want?”
Jenna unlocked her phone.
“He said there was a problem with the doctor’s envelope.”
“What kind of problem?”
“He claimed the result was wrong.”
I stared at her.
“How would he know?”
Jenna didn’t answer.
Instead, she opened security footage.
Mark appeared on the screen.
Standing at the bakery counter.
But he wasn’t alone.
A woman stood beside him.
Dark hair.
Long beige coat.
Maybe thirty.
I had never seen her before.
She handed something to Jenna’s coworker.
Another sealed envelope.
“What am I looking at?”
Jenna swallowed.
“They paid us five hundred dollars to use the result in that envelope instead.”
I stared at the screen.
Then toward my backyard.
Mark was laughing with his brother.
Lauren stood nearby.
My stomach turned.
“What did the original envelope say?”
Jenna hesitated.
“Your daughter is having a boy.”
I stared at her.Plan Family Trips
“No.”
“The doctor’s original envelope said male.”
I looked toward the pink cake.
“Then why would Mark want everyone to think it’s a girl?”
“That’s what bothered me.”
I turned toward her.
“You came back just to tell me?”
“Not exactly.”
Something about her expression frightened me.
“What else?”
Jenna zoomed in on the woman standing beside Mark.
“She came back after Mark left.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“What did she want?”
“She asked me to put something underneath the cake board.”
My pulse started hammering.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“You put something under my daughter’s cake without knowing what it was?”
“She told me it was a private note for Mark.”
“Where?”
“Underneath.”
I was already walking.
We crossed the yard quickly.
Most people had moved toward the food table.
The cake remained under the patio.
I grabbed the board.
“Careful,” Jenna whispered.
I lifted one side.
Nothing.
Then I shifted it.
There.
A white envelope had been taped underneath.Start Baby Registry
No name.
No writing.
Just an envelope.
I pulled it free.
“What is this?”
“I genuinely don’t know.”
Then I heard Mark.
“Rose.”
I looked up.
He stood about fifteen feet away.
His expression had changed.
All the warmth was gone.
“What are you doing?”
I held up the envelope.
“What is this?”
He went pale.
That answered more than words could have.
