“I was asked to be careful,” she said.

“Your contact information is yours.

Mr.

Sterling instructed me not to speak to your husband or your employer unless you authorized it.”

She laid three delivery records beside my hospital water cup.

The first notice had arrived five weeks before my labor.

Vance’s signature appeared on the electronic receipt.

The second had been accepted by the household staff, but the tracking record showed an instruction to hold it for a named occupant: Vance Mercer.