Chapter 2 - The Name She Feared
I didn’t grab Lily.
Every part of me wanted to.
I wanted to pull her into my arms, bury my face in her hair, and never let her move more than three feet away from me again.
But the moment I leaned forward, she recoiled.
So I stopped.
“Okay.”
I held both hands up.
“You decide.”
Lily stared at me as if she was waiting for the trick.
Sophie crouched beside us.
“You can trust my mom.”
Lily’s eyes moved toward her.
“You’re her daughter?”
Sophie nodded.
“So are you.”
The words shattered me.
Lily looked away.
“I don’t know that.”
“You don’t have to know anything yet,” I said quickly. “We can go somewhere safe.”
“I’m not going with police.”
I hadn’t mentioned police.
That terrified me.
“Why not?”
Her face hardened.
“Because they send you back.”
“Back where?”
Silence.
“Lily?”
She pulled her knees against her chest.
“Don’t call me that.”
I swallowed.
“What should I call you?”
“Emma.”
“All right. Emma.”
It hurt saying it.
But this moment wasn’t about what I needed.
It was about making my daughter feel safe.
I called my driver, Marcus, and told him to come immediately.
Then I called Dr. Patel, our family physician.
I did not call the police.
Not yet.
When Marcus pulled up, Lily refused to enter the car.
She stared at the black SUV.
“No.”
“It’s mine,” I said.
“I know what rich cars look like.”
Something bitter lived inside those words.
Sophie climbed into the back seat first.
“See?”
Lily didn’t move.
Sophie held up both hands.
“No kidnapping.”
I almost choked.
Lily actually gave the smallest smile.
That tiny expression nearly broke me more than her tears had.
Eventually, she climbed inside.
She sat pressed against the door.
Sophie sat between us.
I wanted to ask a thousand questions.
Where had she been?
Who had raised her?
Who had hurt her?
Why was she sleeping on the street?
But I waited.
At Northwestern Memorial, Dr. Patel met us through a private entrance.
The moment Lily saw the hospital wristband, she panicked.
“No needles.”
Dr. Patel stopped.
“Nothing happens without your permission.”
“You people always say that.”
Dr. Patel glanced at me.
I felt sick.
“Who said that to you before?” I asked.
Lily immediately went silent.
The examination revealed more than I was prepared to hear.
She was dehydrated.
Underweight.
The bruise on her cheek was recent.
So was one across her upper arm.
There were older marks too.
Nothing life-threatening.
Everything heartbreaking.
Dr. Patel pulled me aside.
“Amelia, some of these injuries are consistent with repeated physical abuse.”
My knees weakened.
“Repeated?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“I can’t tell you exactly.”
I looked through the glass.
Lily was sitting on the examination bed.
Sophie was showing her how the reclining controls worked.
For the first time, Lily looked like a child instead of someone surviving one minute at a time.
My hands curled into fists.
“Someone did that to my daughter.”
Dr. Patel lowered her voice.
“If she is your daughter.”
I turned sharply.
She touched my arm.
“I believe you. But legally, we need confirmation.”
DNA.
Of course.
I hated that a laboratory had to prove what every cell in my body already knew.
Lily agreed only after Sophie volunteered first.
“If they stab you, they stab me.”
Dr. Patel smiled.
“It’s a cheek swab.”
Sophie looked disappointed.
“That’s much less dramatic.”
Lily laughed.
The sound stopped my heart.
I remembered that laugh.
Not exactly.
But enough.
The test would take several hours if expedited.
While we waited, I ordered food.
Lily stared at the tray when it arrived.
Soup.
Bread.
Chicken.
Fruit.
She slipped two bread rolls into her sweatshirt pocket.
I pretended not to notice.
Then she wrapped half the chicken in a napkin.
My throat tightened.
“You can have more whenever you want.”
Her hand froze.
“I wasn’t stealing.”
“I know.”
“I save food.”
“That’s okay.”
“In case there isn’t any tomorrow.”
I had to look away.
Sophie didn’t.
“There will be tomorrow.”
Lily stared at her.
Sophie pushed another bread roll across the table.
“And the day after.”
That was when I finally called Daniel.
My ex-husband answered on the fourth ring.
“Amelia?”
“I found her.”
Silence.
“Who?”
I closed my eyes.
“Daniel.”
His breathing changed.
“No.”
“I found Lily.”
“Don’t.”
“It’s her.”
“Amelia, we’ve been through this.”
“She has the locket.”
He stopped breathing.
“And the birthmark.”
Nothing.
“She called me Mom.”
I heard something crash on his end.
Then Daniel’s voice came back, broken.
“Where are you?”
I told him.
“I’m coming.”
The line went dead.
When I returned to Lily’s room, she was staring at the doorway.
“You called someone.”
“Your father.”
She went pale.
“No.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“No father.”
“Lily—”
“I don’t have one.”
“Daniel has searched for you too.”
She shook her head violently.
“No. She said he left because he didn’t want me.”
The room became cold.
“Who said that?”
Lily realized too late that she had revealed something.
She looked toward Sophie.
Then the door.
I sat across from her.
“Someone told you about us.”
“No.”
“You just said someone told you your father left.”
She folded her arms around herself.
“Forget it.”
“Did the woman who raised you say that?”
Her jaw tightened.
I lowered my voice.
“I won’t force you to tell me.”
Her eyes flicked toward mine.
“But whoever told you that lied.”
“How do you know?”
“Because your father destroyed himself looking for you.”
Lily swallowed.
“He stopped.”
“So did I sometimes.”
She looked surprised.
I forced myself to tell the truth.
“There were mornings I couldn’t get out of bed. Days I couldn’t look at your photograph because it hurt too much. That doesn’t mean I stopped loving you.”
Her eyes filled again.
Before she could answer, Dr. Patel entered.
She was holding a folder.
My heart began pounding.
“Amelia.”
I stood.
“Tell me.”
Dr. Patel looked at Lily.
Then back at me.
“The maternity probability is greater than 99.99 percent.”
My knees nearly collapsed.
Sophie gasped.
“She’s really my sister?”
“Yes.”
Sophie screamed.
Then immediately covered her mouth.
“Sorry.”
Lily stared at the floor.
I cried silently.
Not because I had doubted it.
Because ten years of grief had just been turned into one undeniable sentence.
My daughter was alive.
Dr. Patel left us.
For several moments, none of us spoke.
Then Lily whispered, “So she lied.”
“Who?”
Lily stared at the locket in her hands.
“She said you gave me away.”
My blood turned to ice.
“Who said that?”
Lily’s shoulders began shaking.
I moved closer but didn’t touch her.
“Please.”
She looked at me.
Fear flooded her face.
“You know her.”
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Who?”
Lily whispered the name.
May you like
And for the second time that day, my entire world stopped.
“Aunt Rebecca.”
