Mara’s face hardened.
“Why are you asking?”
“I’m only trying to understand who I’m speaking with.”
“You’re a stranger.”
“You’re right.”
I looked at Ellie again.
“I’m sorry.”
The girl peeked around Hannah’s shoulder.
“Why did you cry when you saw me?”
The question struck me so directly that I could not pretend it had not.
“Because you reminded me of my daughter.”
“Where is she?”
I swallowed.
“She got lost when she was five.”
Ellie tilted her head.
“Did you find her?”
“Not yet.”
“Maybe she found another home.”
The words were innocent.
They still cut through me.
Mara reached for Ellie’s hand.
“That’s enough.”
Her fingers shook.
I noticed the tremor, and the way she pressed one hand against her ribs when she breathed.
“You’re in pain,” I said.
“I’m tired.”
“Those aren’t always the same thing.”
She gave me a faint, humorless smile.
“You sound like a doctor.”
“My daughter’s doctors taught me to pay attention.”
The smile vanished.
Again, that brief look of recognition crossed her face.
This time, I was certain I had seen it.
Before I could ask anything more, Daniel returned.
“A mobile nurse is on the way,” he said. “A grocery delivery should arrive within the hour.”
Mara’s expression changed from embarrassment to alarm.
“No.”
“It’s already arranged,” Daniel said.
“You had no right.”
“You’re correct,” I said. “I should have asked first.”
Mara stared at me.
“Then cancel it.”
“I will, if you truly want the girls to go without food.”
Her lips parted, but no answer came.
Hannah looked down at the floor.
Ellie’s stomach made a small, unmistakable sound.
Mara closed her eyes.
“Fine,” she whispered.
The word carried defeat, but also relief.
I stepped outside while Daniel stayed with the girls.
The nurse arrived twenty minutes later in a small white car, carrying a black medical bag and a patient expression.
Her name was Aisha, and she spoke to Mara as if they were equals rather than a frightened woman and a professional entering an unfamiliar home.
Mara allowed her inside only after I promised to wait on the porch.
I sat on the top step beneath a sky the color of wet slate.
For the first time in years, I felt unable to control what happened next.
My investigators had searched thousands of records.
They had questioned acquaintances, reviewed security footage, and traced every rumor that seemed even remotely connected to Caroline.
Yet none of their work had prepared me for waiting outside a blue house while a sick woman examined the child who might be my daughter.
Daniel stood beside me.
“You’re shaking,” he said.
“I’m fine.”
“You said that when the search team found Caroline’s coat.”
I looked at him.
He did not flinch.
Daniel had been with me through every terrible moment since Caroline vanished.
He had driven me to police stations at three in the morning, sat beside me in hospital waiting rooms, and brought meals to the mansion when I was too exhausted to leave my daughter’s room.
He had also been the only person who could tell me the truth without making me feel judged.
“What if she is Caroline?” I asked.
“Then we find out carefully.”
“And what if she isn’t?”
“Then she is still a child who needs help.”
I looked toward the closed door.
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
The question was gentle, but it reached the place I had tried to avoid.
I had approached the house because Ellie needed help.
I had stayed because she looked like Caroline.
Those reasons were connected, but they were not the same.
“What would Caroline want me to do?” I asked.
Daniel’s expression softened.
“She’d want you to help the girls.”
I nodded.
When Aisha finally stepped outside, she removed her gloves and placed them in a sealed bag.
“Mara has a serious respiratory infection,” she said. “She needs medication today and should see a doctor at a clinic.”
“Will she go?”
Aisha looked toward the door.
“She says she can’t leave the children.”
“I can arrange transportation.”
“She’s also worried that authorities will separate them.”
My chest tightened.
“Are they hers?”
Aisha hesitated.
“That isn’t a medical question.”
“I’m not asking you to violate anyone’s privacy.”
“Then ask Mara.”
Inside, the girls had begun eating the sandwiches Aisha brought from her car.
Ellie sat on the floor with her legs tucked beneath her, while Hannah remained near Mara’s chair.
The woman looked smaller now, wrapped in a blanket and holding a cup of warm water.
I crouched near the doorway.
“Mara, Aisha says you need treatment.”
“I know.”
“Would you let me take you to a clinic?”
“No.”
“Why?”
She looked at Hannah and Ellie.
“They’ll take the girls.”
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