Chapter 2
I did not answer Daniel’s call.
I picked up my wet phone, wiped the screen on my coat, and turned it off.
My hand shook so badly I nearly dropped it again.
Thomas noticed.
He watched every movement I made, like he was waiting for me to change my mind.
Children who have been abandoned learn to read danger in silence.
That hurt more than anything.
“Come with me,” I said.
He backed up half a step.
“Where?”
“My car is around the corner.”
His eyes flicked toward the street.
“I don’t get in cars.”
Emily looked at me.
Her face was still pale, but her hand stayed wrapped around his.
“Mom, we can walk.”
The rain was getting harder.
Thomas’s lips had a bluish tint.
I wanted to scoop him up and run, but I knew the wrong move could scare him away.
So I nodded.
“Okay. We walk.”
He stared at me.
“You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad?”
“People get mad when I make things hard.”
I swallowed the sound rising in my throat.
“You are not making anything hard.”
I took off my coat and wrapped it around his shoulders.
He flinched when I moved too quickly.
I slowed down.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked confused by the apology.
That told me too much.
We walked to a diner two blocks away.
Not the expensive kind Daniel liked.
A small corner place with fogged windows and a tired waitress who took one look at Thomas and said, “Booth in the back, honey.”
I ordered soup, fries, hot chocolate, pancakes, and eggs because I did not know what he liked.
Thomas stared at the food when it came.
Emily pushed the fries closer.
“They’re good.”
He picked one up.
Then another.
Then he began eating fast.
Too fast.
“Slow,” I said gently. “There’s more.”
He froze with a fry halfway to his mouth.
“I can pay,” he whispered.
My heart cracked.
“No, baby. You don’t have to pay.”
His eyes filled again when I called him baby.
Emily looked away, wiping her cheek with her sleeve.
I forced myself to stay steady.
“What happened to the woman who kept you?”
Thomas stared into the hot chocolate.
“She left.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
“Where?”
“At the bus station.”
My hands tightened under the table.
“She left you there?”
He nodded.
“She said I was old enough to figure things out. She said if I went to the police, they’d send me somewhere worse.”
“What was her name?”
He hesitated.
I saw fear move through him.
“Thomas,” I said softly. “I need to know so I can protect you.”
He looked at Emily.
She nodded.
“Her name was Vivian.”
My blood went cold.
Vivian Carter.
Daniel’s cousin.
The woman who had visited our house every Christmas with bright lipstick and fake sympathy.
The woman who always hugged Emily too tightly.
The woman who once told me, “At least you still have one child. Some women get none.”
The diner seemed to tilt.
“Vivian?” I whispered.
Thomas watched my face.
“You know her.”
I could barely breathe.
“Yes.”
He pushed the plate away.
“I knew it. I knew you gave me to her.”
“No.” I reached across the table, then stopped before touching him. “Thomas, listen to me. Vivian is related to your father. I never gave you to her. I thought you died.”
His face twisted.
“My father?”
Emily whispered, “Dad?”
Thomas looked at her sharply.
“You have him?”
The question was so simple and so devastating that Emily started crying.
“I thought we had him,” she said.
The waitress came by with napkins and pretended not to hear.
Bless her for that.
I turned my phone back on.
Twenty-three missed calls.
Daniel.
Patricia.
Vivian.
My stomach turned.
Vivian had already found out.
A text from Daniel appeared first.
Where are you? Emily’s school called. Answer me.
Then Patricia.
Stop being dramatic. Daniel said Emily is not at school.
Then Vivian.
Laura, don’t do anything stupid.
My breath stopped.
Vivian knew.
She knew before I had told anyone.
Another message appeared.
That boy is troubled. You don’t know what he’s capable of.
I looked at Thomas.
He was gripping the hospital bracelet so tightly his fingers were white.
I turned the phone so he could see Vivian’s name.
His face drained.
“She knows.”
“How?”
He looked toward the window.
“I think she follows me sometimes.”
Emily moved closer to him in the booth.
My little girl, who had been an only child this morning, was already guarding her brother.
I called the police.
Not 911.
Detective Harris.
The only officer who had ever treated me like a mother instead of a grieving woman who could not accept reality.
He had worked Thomas’s case for six months before Daniel pressured me to “let the dead rest.”
Harris answered on the second ring.
“Laura?”
“I found him.”
Silence.
Then his voice dropped.
“Who?”
“My son.”
Another silence.
This one heavier.
“Where are you?”
I told him.
“Stay there. Do not contact your husband. Do not let the boy out of your sight.”
My skin went cold.
“You believe me?”
“I never believed that hospital report.”
The words hit me like a door opening.
“What?”
“I’ll explain when I get there.”
The call ended.
I looked across the table at Thomas.
He had heard enough.
“Police are coming?”
“Yes.”
He started to slide out of the booth.
“No. I can’t.”
Emily grabbed his sleeve.
“Wait.”
“They’ll send me back.”
“No,” I said, standing too quickly. “No one is sending you back.”
“You don’t know that.”
He was breathing fast.
I moved between him and the aisle, not blocking him, just close enough for him to see my face.
“You’re right,” I said. “I don’t know everything. I don’t know what Vivian told you. I don’t know what she did. But I know this. I held you the day you were born. I buried an empty casket because someone lied to me. And now that I have found you, I will fight every person in this city before I let them take you from me again.”
Thomas stared at me.
His chin trembled.
“Empty?”
My voice broke.
“Yes.”
The diner door opened.
Detective Harris walked in with two uniformed officers.
Behind them, through the rain-streaked window, a black SUV stopped at the curb.
Daniel stepped out.
May you like
His mother Patricia climbed out behind him.
And Vivian Carter sat in the back seat, staring straight at Thomas.
