Chapter 2
The dispatcher told me help was on the way.
I kept Nora in my arms while I carried Ivy downstairs. Vanessa followed us, crying and saying my name. Colin brought the photograph but stayed several steps behind.
In the kitchen, I filled two glasses of water.
Nora drank hers too fast. She asked if she was allowed another.
“Yes,” I said. “As much as you want.”
She looked toward Vanessa before accepting the second glass.
Ivy noticed.
“She always asked Vanessa first,” she said.
Vanessa leaned against the counter.
“I fed her, Ryan.”
Nora’s fingers tightened around the glass.
“Sometimes,” Ivy said.
I looked at my wife.
“Don’t ask the children to explain this for you.”
A paramedic arrived before the police. She introduced herself to Nora, asked permission before touching her, and checked her carefully. Nora stayed close to me. I let the paramedic work while I held her hand.
Ivy sat with a second paramedic in the living room. She told him about her favorite stuffed rabbit, then asked if Nora could have one too.
“We’ll find her something soft,” he said.
When the police arrived, an officer asked Vanessa and Colin to speak with them separately. Another stayed with me and the children.
“Can you tell me how long Nora was in the wall?” she asked.
“I found her today. My daughter has talked about someone there for weeks.”
Nora stared at the table.
I did not want to make her answer in front of us.
The officer seemed to understand.
“We’ll make sure someone trained to speak with children talks to her,” she said.
A woman from child services arrived soon afterward. Her name was Ms. Brooks. She asked me how I knew Nora.
“I didn’t until an hour ago,” I said.
Nora looked up at me.
“I knew you,” she whispered.
My throat closed.
“How?”
“Mom had your picture.”
Ms. Brooks watched us carefully.
I explained what Colin had said about Grace. I explained the birthmark. I was clear about what I knew and what I only suspected.
“I think she may be my daughter,” I said. “I need us to find out.”
Ms. Brooks nodded.
“For tonight, our first concern is keeping both girls safe and getting Nora the care she needs.”
The paramedic recommended a hospital assessment. Nora was frightened of leaving me.
“I’ll go with her,” I said.
Ivy grabbed my sleeve.
“I want to go too.”
I called my sister, Maya. She lived fifteen minutes away and knew Ivy well. When she arrived, she took one look at my face and stopped asking questions.
“I’ll stay with Ivy,” she said. “You call me from the hospital.”
I knelt in front of Ivy.
“You helped Nora when she was hungry. Now grown-ups are taking care of her.”
“Is Vanessa mad at me?”
“No,” I said. “Whatever Vanessa feels, you did the right thing.”
Ivy hugged me, then ran to get her stuffed rabbit. She brought it back and put it into Nora’s hands.
“You can have Button tonight,” she said.
Nora stared at the rabbit.
“Will you want him back?”
“We can share.”
At the hospital, Nora answered simple questions about food, sleep, and whether anything hurt. A nurse brought her a meal. She ate while holding Button in her lap.
I sat beside her.
“Grace told you about me?” I asked.
“She said you were my dad. She said she’d find you.”
“Did she tell you why I didn’t know?”
Nora shook her head.
“I tried to send you a picture once,” she said. “Mom put it in an envelope. I don’t know if you got it.”
I had received nothing.
A doctor came in, and I stopped asking. Nora needed rest more than I needed every answer that night.
Near midnight, Ms. Brooks returned with news. She had confirmed Grace’s death and found the name of a relative listed in her records: her mother, Rosa Bennett.
“Has anyone told Rosa where Nora is?” I asked.
“We’re contacting her now.”
Colin called my phone while Ms. Brooks spoke. I let it ring.
Then a text appeared.
Vanessa intercepted Grace’s letters. I helped bring Nora here. I’m telling the police everything.
I showed it to Ms. Brooks.
Her expression grew serious.
A few minutes later, she received a call and stepped into the hall. When she returned, she said Rosa Bennett had been searching for Nora since Grace died.
“She thought Vanessa had taken her directly to you,” Ms. Brooks told me.
May you like
I looked at Nora sleeping around Ivy’s rabbit.
“She brought her to my house,” I said, “and hid her from me.”
