Chapter 5
"That's right," Cora confirmed. "But after all this time, the medical staff I tracked down couldn't remember if the other baby was a boy or a girl. If you want real answers, you'll have to ask your birth parents."
Avery acknowledged this with a thoughtful hum, emotions churning in her chest.
Cora added, "Both the Carter and Murphy twins were born on the same day. A fire broke out in the hospital early that morning. The staff only managed to save two babies, saying one belonged to the Carters and the other to the Murphys.
"But the truth is, both babies were from the Carter family, and you were handed over to the Murphys as their surviving daughter."
Avery frowned, suspicion creeping into her voice. "That sounds shady. There's a good chance there was arson and child theft involved."
"It's possible," Cora agreed. "The hospital director's wife had suffered a traumatic loss two months before the fire when she gave birth to twins who didn't make it. That loss broke her mentally.
"After the fire, the director paid off both the Carter and Murphy families before moving abroad with his wife. Interestingly, while they were overseas, they had twins again, who came back to the country last year. I've confirmed that those twins are actually Isaac and Regina Murphy's biological children."
Avery's expression cleared as the pieces fell into place. "So, the director and his wife used the fire as cover to steal the Murphy twins and then passed me off as the surviving daughter?"
Cora added, "I questioned the hospital director and his wife privately. He swore on his faith that he didn't start the fire. He claimed that in the chaos, he impulsively took the Murphy twins and told his wife their babies hadn't died. Her mental state improved because of it, and she's fully recovered now."