Baby Moon
Motherhood was everything Jess hoped it would be. Then she wakes up from a nap to an empty crib. Toby is gone. Every picture, every toy, every physical trace of her baby has vanished. Her husband claims the boy never existed at all. Trusting her maternal instincts over Luke's lies, Jess embarks on a frantic search for the truth. When the horrifying reality finally surfaces, it forces her into a corner. What unimaginable lines will she cross to get her son back?
- Jess - Luke’s wife
- Luke - Jess’s husband
- Toby - Jess’s son
- Hans - Works for Moon
- Toby goes missing, but Luke tells Jess they never had a son.
- Jess finds a secret room in the attic containing a nursery and a picture of a baby who is not Toby.
- Luke says three years ago Jess lost a baby at seven months and was hospitalized for her grief.
- After Jess recovered, they planned to adopt a baby, but his mother decided to keep him, that’s the baby in the picture.
- Jess was so heartbroken that Luke found a place to alter her memories, making her believe she was pregnant and gave birth to Toby.
- Jess finds a note Luke wrote about programs, procedures, and memories that don’t feel like his own.
- Hans shows up and explains he works for Memory Optimization Operation Network, a company that replaces bad memories with good ones, and that Toby was an AI doll.
- Hans says when the program glitched, Toby deactivated himself, but Jess retained her memories of him.
- Hans takes Jess to Moon’s facility.
- Luke appears and says he has been forgetting Jess.
- Hans says they have two choices; a full shutdown where they won’t remember Toby, or re-enter the simulation to get him back, with a high risk of psychological fragmentation.
- Jess re-enters the simulation, risking her life to make Toby real again.
- Jess wakes up, and Luke says the system collapsed, but he is still losing his memory.
- Jess remembers the babies she lost, including Toby, and still feels the grief but no longer the despair.
- Jess leaves Luke, unable to forgive him for signing her up for the program without her consent.
In this 57-page thriller, Sara Lea delivers an emotional punch that centers on every mother’s nightmare: a missing baby. Written from Jess’s perspective, the story is fast-paced and leans into the concepts of the protective love of a mother and the raw, desperate grief of a woman longing for a child. Jess is a very easy protagonist to empathize with, and the sharp writing keeps the tension high as the mystery unfolds. The story is gripping and well-executed, and while the plot leans into sci-fi elements that aren't to my personal taste, I still really enjoyed it. The emotional journey and high-stakes suspense make this a compelling, one-sitting read from the In The Cards collection.
- Infertility, Infant loss
- Grief
Publisher: Porkchop Publishing LLC
ASIN: B0FSYLM9FF
Publication Date: May 25, 2026
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
