Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO DISAPPEAREDI slammed the accelerator.
The tires squealed against the pavement.
The black SUV pulled out behind us immediately.
“Sophie, buckle the baby in!”
“I can't!”
“Do it!”
Sophie placed the newborn into the car seat and tightened the straps.
I watched the rearview mirror.
The SUV stayed behind us.
Not passing.
Not falling back.
Following.
“Mom, they're coming.”
“I know.”
“Who are they?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why do they want her?”
I didn't answer.
Because there was another question burning in my mind.
Why had I recognized Daniel's name on that bracelet?
Daniel had been my husband.
My daughter's father.
He died five years ago after what doctors described as a sudden cardiac event.
He had collapsed in the kitchen.
One moment he was making coffee.
The next, he was gone.
At least, that's what I had always believed.
I turned off the main highway.
The SUV followed.
I took another turn.
It followed again.
“Mom.”
“I'm trying to lose them.”
I turned into a crowded shopping center.
The SUV disappeared between two rows of cars.
I waited.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Nothing.
Then Sophie exhaled.
“Are they gone?”
“I think so.”
I looked back.
The parking lot was empty behind us.
My hands were still trembling.
“Sophie, tell me everything.”
She stared at the baby.
“I met Emily during my second week at the resort.”
“Who was she?”
“She cleaned the guest cabins.”
“Older?”
“Maybe thirty.”
“Was she pregnant?”
Sophie nodded.
“She wore huge sweaters. I didn't realize at first.”
“What happened?”
“One night she knocked on my dorm room.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“She was crying.”
“About the baby?”
“About everything.”
Sophie paused.
“She said people were watching her.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What else?”
“She asked me whether I trusted my mother.”
I frowned.
“Why would she ask that?”
“I asked her the same thing.”
“And?”
“She said, ‘Your mother has enemies.’”
I laughed nervously.
“I don't have enemies.”
Sophie looked at me.
“That's what I told her.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said, ‘You don't even know the half of it.’”
I felt the air leave my lungs.
For years, I had believed my life was ordinary.
A husband.
A daughter.
A quiet suburban house.
A regular job.
But suddenly a stranger at a lake resort had warned my daughter about me.
“Did Emily mention Daniel?”
Sophie went silent.
That was my answer.
“Tell me.”
“She said your husband wasn't the man you thought he was.”
I felt sick.
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly did she say?”
Sophie shook her head.
“She told me not to say anything until I was sure.”
“Sure of what?”
“She said there was a file.”
“What file?”
“I don't know.”
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
I stared at her.
“You've been hiding this from me all summer.”
“I was protecting the baby.”
“You don't know anything about this child!”
“I know enough.”
“No, Sophie. You don't.”
She looked at me angrily.
“She had nobody.”
“She had a mother.”
“A mother who vanished!”
“That doesn't mean you can take someone's baby!”
Sophie looked down.
The baby opened her eyes.
For the first time, I saw them clearly.
They were gray-green.
Exactly like Daniel's.
I swallowed.
“Sophie.”
“What?”
“Did Emily ever tell you the baby's name?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
Sophie hesitated.
Then she whispered,
“Grace.”
The baby stared at me.
Grace.
I repeated the name quietly.
Then something else caught my attention.
A small birthmark near the baby's left ear.
A crescent-shaped mark.
I had seen that mark before.
On Daniel.
My husband had one in exactly the same place.
I opened the glove compartment and grabbed an old photograph.
Daniel at twenty-five.
His face turned toward the camera.
The same crescent mark.
My hands started shaking again.
“This is impossible.”
Sophie stared at the photo.
“What?”
I held it beside the baby.
Then I noticed something even worse.
On the back of the photograph, in Daniel's handwriting, were four words.
If Grace survives, protect her.
The photograph slipped from my fingers.
Sophie looked at me.
“Mom?”
Before I could answer, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
No one spoke.
Then a woman's voice whispered,
“Karen, you brought her home.”
My blood froze.
“Who is this?”
“You should never have done that.”
“Who is this?”
A soft laugh.
Then the woman said,
“You're not protecting Grace.”
She paused.
“You're delivering her to them.”
The line went dead.
Sophie stared at me.
“What did she say?”
I couldn't speak.
Because I knew that voice.
I hadn't heard it in five years.
But I knew it.
It belonged to someone who had attended my husband's funeral.
Someone I had trusted.
Someone who had hugged me while I cried beside Daniel's coffin.
May you like
My sister-in-law.
Rebecca.
