The guilt was overwhelming, but Hart Jessup couldn't push the doubts from his mind. Every time he looked at her—every time he stared into those big, blue eyes, he felt the familiar questions begin to return. Even now, even as he held her in his arms, he couldn't focus on how beautiful she was. He found himself scrutinizing her features. Was this his nose? Did she have his eyes? Dinah's eyes were brown and his were green. Rose's were blue.

Her nose, a cute, tiny button in the middle of a perfectly beautiful face looked nothing like his. It reminded him nothing of Dinah's either. He wanted to trust her. He wanted more than anything to believe that his wife wouldn't lie to him…not about this…not about a child. She knew how much a family meant to him and she wouldn't lie about that, would she?

The questions answered themselves when he thought more about it. Once you lie one time, it becomes easier to lie again. She'd lied to him many times before, and just when he thought they'd reached a good place—just when he believed that that were happily married, she'd admitted the affair. Now, he couldn't help but wonder…was the beautiful child in his arms really his or was she a product of that affair?

Three Years Later…

Sometimes, especially on nights like this, she still thought about it. She tried not to, to keep herself occupied, to keep her mind focused on other things, to keep that night as far from her thoughts as possible, but on quiet nights, the thoughts crept into her thoughts like an unwelcome guest.

Even years later, she could hear the words they spoke, and the anger behind them. She could replay them in her hand word for word as if they had been said only moments earlier.

"Tell me the truth! Is she mine?" Hart screamed, his attempt at remaining calm now only a distant memory. Try as he might, he couldn't live with the doubts anymore. It wasn't fair—not to him, not to Dinah, and certainly not to Rose. He was keeping a baby at arm's length…afraid of getting too attached, afraid that he'd fall so completely in love with her that when and if the truth came out, it would absolutely kill him.

The tears streamed down her face as his words seemed to physically shake her. This was the question she'd hoped he never asked. The same question she asked herself over and over again. Rose—her beautiful baby girl—might not be his, and yet, she wanted to believe she was…if only believing it and wanting it badly enough could make it true.

"I don't know," she admitted sadly. Her affair with Garrison had been a mistake, one she wished she could go back and change. She didn't go out looking for another man. She had a wonderful man, a loving man and he was at home—waiting for her.

In her heart, she knew why it had happened. She knew why she walked into the bar that night, why she pulled up a stool next to the well dressed business man and smiled as he offered to buy the next round. She was afraid…afraid of being happy…afraid of being loved…afraid of having a life that she didn't believe she deserved. After the first night, she felt out of control…like she'd started something she had no idea how to stop, and when she did, when she finally told Garrison that she simply couldn't do it anymore, it was too late. She found out she was pregnant four weeks later.

"What do you mean you don't know!" Hart screamed again, raking his hand across his face. He was angry—angry at her for lying to him, angry at her for cheating at him, angry at her for ruining the chance they had at a happy family. Most of all though, he was angry that he couldn't get past this…that he couldn't say that it didn't matter….because he knew it did.

It was as if she read his mind. "Does it matter?" she asked, her words cutting through him. "Say we get a test and find out for sure…what if she's not your biological child…will you love her less?"

Hart stared at her. No—he wouldn't love her less and he knew it. He loved Rose with everything in him. He'd fallen in love with her from the moment he'd first heard her heartbeat, but he didn't think he could live with this….not with this big of a lie…not with this much betrayal.

"I need to know," Hart managed, his voice cracking slightly. "If she's not my daughter then I…I don't think we…."

Dinah shook her head, swallowing hard and refusing to lose it in front of him. "Then go," she said, taking a deep breath. "Because if you're staying for her…it's not going to work, it can't." She turned her back then, feeling the tears begin to fall. She didn't want him to see her fall apart. The next sound she heard was the door closing.

The sound of a door now jarred her from her memories. She stood, glancing towards the stairs behind her. Rose was asleep and had been for hours. Dinah stood and headed up the stairs. No doubt her precocious toddler would have an entertaining excuse for being up at this hour.

She could feel their eyes on her as she sat in the chair. Her throat ached from screaming yet she refused the cup of hot tea the female officer held out to her.

Clutching the pale pink blanket tightly, she took a shaky breath. Rose couldn't sleep without her blanket. She needed it. She needed to be home. She needed her mother and her mother needed her.

Gathering every ounce of her strength, she pushed her body out of the chair. Heads turned towards her.

"Can I get you something ma'am?" a young officer asked.

Dinah stared at him. 'My daughter,' she thought bitterly, but she knew better. Someone had taken her child and it was taking every ounce of her being not to completely fall apart.

"No," she responded after hesitating a moment. She picked up her cell phone. "I just need to make a phone call."

Her fingers shook as they hovered over the numbers. It had been almost three years since they'd spoke and even longer since she'd seen him and still she knew the numbers without a thought.

"Damn." Hart slammed the plastic tray down on the counter top, quickly running his hand under water. If he didn't die from radiation poisoning courtesy of all the microwave dinners, the steam burns should leave permanent scars, he thought to himself.

The sound of his cell vibrating on the counter was surprising. He didn't give out his number often, mostly only to family back home and no one would call this late unless...

Swallowing hard he grabbed the phone and pressed it to his ear. "Hello?"

The mere sound of his voice brought the tears back again. "Hart," she managed, her voice shaking.

He froze. So many thoughts rushed into his mind at once. The sound of her voice was bittersweet, bringing a flood of memories with it-both good and bad. In the same instant, he knew something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Dinah," he said quietly, lowering himself into the chair at the counter. "What's wrong?"

She closed her eyes breathing deeply. He always knew her better than anyone. Even over the phone, even without laying an eye on her, he could hear it in her voice.

"It's Rose." She took another breath, barely able to bring herself to say the next words, as if somehow saying them made it real-as if it wasn't real enough already.

Hart felt his heart begin to beat faster. Rose haunted him. Every day he wondered if he did the right thing by walking away, but he convinced himself that he couldn't have lived with the lies.

Somehow, right now, those lies didn't seem all that important.

"What about her? Is she sick?". He waited for a moment. The only reply was soft sobs.

"Damnit Dinah! What is it?"

She summoned all her courage, breathing deeply before speaking into the phone, "Rose has been kidnapped."