Chapter 14
Vanessa was indicted by a grand jury.
Murder in connection with Laura’s death.
Attempted murder and unlawful confinement in Daniel’s case.
Child abuse.
Fraud.
Conspiracy.
Evidence tampering.
The list was long.
Not long enough.
When Claire told me, I felt nothing at first.
No relief.
No triumph.
Just emptiness.
Then Sophie walked into the kitchen wearing Laura’s old scarf around her shoulders.
“Was Mommy scared?” she asked.
I lowered myself into a chair.
“Yes.”
Sophie nodded like she had already known.
“Did she try to come home?”
My throat closed.
“Yes.”
“To me?”
“To you.”
Sophie climbed into my lap.
She was getting too big for it.
I held her anyway.
“Then she didn’t leave.”
“No.”
“She fought.”
“Yes.”
Sophie pressed her face into my chest.
“I want to remember her happy.”
“So do I.”
We started a new ritual.
Every night, one happy Laura memory.
No court.
No crime.
No Vanessa.
Just Laura dancing barefoot in the kitchen.
Laura burning pancakes.
Laura singing to Sophie in the grocery store.
Laura crying the first time Sophie said “mama.”
At first, Sophie only listened.
Then she began adding her own.
“Mommy had soft hair.”
“Mommy smelled like oranges.”
“Mommy called me little star.”
Each memory felt like taking Laura back from the place Vanessa had dragged her.
Vanessa’s trial was set for spring.
The media found us.
Reporters camped outside.
Headlines turned our pain into episodes.
Claire fought for privacy.
Aaron installed more cameras.
Sophie drew curtains over windows.
One afternoon, she said, “I don’t want to be the girl from the news.”
I knelt beside her.
“Then you won’t be in our house.”
“But outside?”
“Outside, people may talk. Inside, you are Sophie.”
She thought about that.
“Can I be Sophie outside too?”
I smiled sadly.
“Yes. We just may have to remind people.”
She nodded.
“Good. I’m tired of being evidence.”
That sentence told me my daughter was healing.
May you like
Not because she was fine.
Because she knew she was more than what happened.
