Chapter 3 - The Paper Trail
The front door slammed behind Barbara, leaving an eerie silence in the house. Noah was sobbing softly into my shirt. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tightly against my chest while Mark stood paralyzed in the hallway, staring at the empty driveway where his mother’s car had just sped away.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Noah wept. “I tried to stay awake. I tried to watch her.”
“Shh, sweetie, no,” I whispered, kissing his forehead over and over. “You saved us. You were so brave. You are the best big brother in the world.”
While I calmed Noah down, Mark went straight to the home office. A few minutes later, I heard him cursing aloud.
I walked into the office with Lily resting against my shoulder. Papers were scattered across the desk.
“It’s all gone, Claire,” Mark said, pulling at his hair in desperation. “The physical binder with Lily’s genetic reports, her insurance authorization forms, her heart screening history... even her birth certificate copies. She took everything.”
“Why would she take her paperwork?” I asked, a sick feeling settling in my stomach. “If she wanted to convince us to put Lily up for care, why steal her documents?”
Mark looked up at me, his eyes dark with horror. “Because last week, Mom asked me for a copy of Lily’s social security card and birth certificate. She claimed she wanted to set up a college savings trust for her.”
I sank into the chair opposite him. “Mark... what did your mother do?”
Mark immediately grabbed his phone and called the county clerk’s office and our health insurance provider. As he navigated the automated phone menus, I sat in silence, holding Lily close.
When the insurance representative finally came on the line, Mark put the call on speaker.
“Hello, Mr. Morgan,” the representative said. “I see here that a request was filed three days ago to remove Lily Morgan from your primary health coverage, citing placement in a private third-party residential care facility in Indiana.”
My heart stopped.
“What?!” Mark yelled. “I didn’t file that! Nobody authorized that!”
“The paperwork was submitted by your mother, Barbara Morgan, who was listed as an authorized power-of-attorney delegate on your account,” the clerk replied calmly. “She provided a signed consent form with your signature.”
“She forged my signature!” Mark slammed his fist on the desk. “Cancel it! Cancel everything right now!”
May you like
“Sir, we can pause the request, but if a formal guardianship petition has been initiated in court, you will need to file a legal fraud injunction immediately.”
We sat in stunned silence as the line went dead. Barbara hadn't just been making nasty comments about Lily's Down syndrome—she had been actively plotting to legally strip us of our parental authority and have our daughter committed to an institution.
