Chapter 1: The Little Girl Who Looked Like My Daughter
I only have one daughter. So why are there two identical faces standing in front of me?
Adrian Cole didn't say those words aloud.
He simply stood frozen in the children's section of a Philadelphia public library, holding a tiny pink jacket in one hand.
He had bent down to retrieve it from a chair.
When he straightened, he saw a little girl standing sideways beside the picture-book shelves.
She had Zoe's round cheeks.
Zoe's warm brown skin.
Zoe's wide, curious eyes.
Even her two puffy curly ponytails were identical.
For one impossible second, Adrian forgot how to breathe.
"Zoe?""
He instinctively extended the jacket toward the little girl.
Then a small hand tugged at his shirt.
"Daddy.""
Adrian looked down.
His daughter stood beside him in her pale blue dress, holding a picture book against her chest.
"Daddy, I'm right here.""
His fingers tightened around the jacket.
He looked at the girl beside the shelves.
Then at Zoe.
Both girls were there.
Both were six years old.
Both had the same face.
Zoe tilted her head, studying the stranger with innocent fascination.
"Hey," she said.
The other girl looked up.
"Hi.""
Zoe took two small steps toward her.
"You look exactly like me!""
The girl giggled.
"You look exactly like me!""
Adrian swallowed.
He lowered himself until he was at their eye level.
"What's your name, sweetheart?""
"Imani.""
"That's a pretty name.""
"Thank you.""
Zoe leaned closer, examining Imani's curls.
"Did your mommy make your hair like that?""
Imani nodded proudly.
"She did two ponytails. She says they look like little clouds.""
Zoe touched one of her own ponytails.
"My daddy says mine look like cupcakes.""
Imani laughed.
Adrian tried to smile.
He couldn't.
Because something about the girl's face was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
It wasn't merely resemblance.
It was exactness.
The same tiny dimple beside the left corner of her mouth. The same slight gap between her front teeth. The same faint crescent-shaped birthmark near her right temple.
Adrian knew that birthmark.
He had kissed it every night since Zoe was born.
His gaze moved from Imani's face to her yellow cardigan.
Then something metallic caught the light.
A silver pendant hung around her neck.
Half a star.
Adrian's expression changed.
Slowly, almost unconsciously, he reached beneath his shirt and pulled out the necklace he had worn for six years.
His pendant was the other half.
The two pieces had jagged edges that looked as though they could fit together perfectly.
He stared at them.
His breathing became shallow.
"Who gave you that necklace, sweetheart?""
Imani lifted the pendant.
"My mommy.""
Adrian looked at the little girl.
"Your mommy?""
"Yes. She says I should never take it off.""
Zoe glanced at her father's necklace.
"Daddy, why do you have the same star?""
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
Imani noticed the matching piece.
"Your daddy has one too!""
"That's what I said!""
The girls laughed.
But Adrian couldn't join them.
He had not seen the other half of that necklace in six years.
Not since the night everything in his life had fallen apart.
He had bought the two-piece pendant for the woman he once planned to marry. They had promised that no matter what happened, each would keep one half.
Then she disappeared.
No explanation.
No goodbye.
Only an empty apartment and a phone number that stopped working.
Adrian had spent months searching.
Eventually, he had stopped.
Or at least, he had convinced himself he had.
"What's your last name, Imani?""
The little girl answered without hesitation.
"Reed. Imani Reed.""
Adrian went completely still.
Reed.
That name.
He looked toward the library's checkout counter.
A woman in a plum-colored coat was returning a stack of children's books.
She had her back to him.
Her hair was pulled into a neat bun, and one hand rested on the counter while she spoke to the librarian.
Adrian's stomach tightened.
No.
It couldn't be.
The woman picked up her library receipt and turned toward the children's section.
"Imani, sweetheart," she called.
"I told you to wait by the chairs.""
Imani turned.
"Mommy!""
The woman began walking toward her daughter.
Adrian slowly rose.
His eyes never left her face.
Six years disappeared in a single breath.
The woman stopped when she saw him.
The book in her hand slipped slightly.
Her fingers tightened around its spine.
Adrian's voice came out barely above a whisper.
"Celeste?""
For several seconds, neither moved.
Celeste Reed looked at him as though she had just seen a ghost.
Her eyes moved from Adrian's face to Zoe.
Then to Imani.
Then finally to the silver star resting against his chest.
"Adrian...""
Her voice was suddenly different.
Quieter.
Almost frightened.
The two little girls stood between them, looking from one adult to the other.
Zoe tugged at her father's sleeve.
"Daddy? Do you know Imani's mommy?""
Adrian didn't look down.
Celeste couldn't answer.
May you like
And for the first time in six years, the woman who had disappeared from his life stood less than ten feet away.
With a little girl who had his daughter's face.
