(ir’s POV)
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“ir, honey, what’s wrong?” James pulls me against his chest, shielding me from the curious stares of other shoppers.
“I miss her, James. I miss Scarlett so much it hurts.” The wordse out broken and raw. “That little girl… she remembers me so much of Scarlett at that age. Same personality, same
sweetness.”
“I saw it too.” His voice is tight, controlled in the way it gets when he’s trying <i>not </i>to lose his temper. “But that doesn’t change anything.”
“If Scarlett had her baby, our grandchild would be about that age now. We should be buying candy for our own granddaughter, not for some stranger’s child.”
James’s jaw clenches. “Scarlett made her choice, ir. She could have stayed and worked things out like an adult. Instead, she ran away like a spoiled child who didn’t get her way.”
“That’s not fair-”
“Isn’t it?” He turns to face me, and I see the hurt he’s been hiding behind his anger. “We gave her everything. Over twenty years of love, support, education. The moment things gotplicated, she abandoned us. Didn’t even try to fight for her marriage or her family.”
“You didn’t see her face the day we told her about Virginia. She was devastated.”
“She was dramatic.” His voice hardens. “Virginia is our blood, ir. Our real daughter who was stolen from us as a baby. If Scarlett truly loved us, she would have understood that. She would have weed Virginia home.”
My chest tightens. “Scarlett loved us. She still loves us.”
“Then where is she?” James spreads his arms wide. “Four years, ir. Four years without a single phone call, letter, or text message. If she considered us her real parents, don’t you think she would have reached out by now?”
The words hit me like physical blows. “Maybe she’s afraid we don’t want her anymore.”
“Or maybe she never really saw us as family to begin with.” His voice cracks slightly, revealing the pain beneath his anger. “Maybe we were just convenient until she found something better.”
“James, you don’t mean that.”
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“Don’t I?” He runs his hands through his graying hair. “Think about it, ir. The moment Virginia came into the picture, Scarlett couldn’t handle sharing our attention. What kind of daughter does that? What kind of person abandons her family because she has to share?”
“She was pregnant. Scared. Her husband was choosing another woman over her every day.”
“Jasper cared about Virginia because she needed help. Scarlett was just jealous.”
I stare at my husband, hardly recognizing the man I married. “How can you say that? Scarlett worked herself to the bone trying to make Jasper happy. She neverined about his long hours or his distance. She just kept trying.”
“Because she wanted to keep herfortable life.” His tone is bitter now. “The money, the status, the security. The moment it looked like Virginia might threaten that, she showed her
true colors.”
“That’s not who she is.”
“Then where is she?” He asks again, louder this time. “Where’s our supposedly loving daughter? Where’s our grandchild? If she truly cared about us, why hasn’t shee home?”
I don’t have an answer for that. Because deep down, a small part of me wonders the same
thing.
James sees my hesitation and his expression softens slightly. “ir, I loved Scarlett too. For twenty–one years, she was my little girl. But she made her choice. She chose to leave rather than ept Virginia as her sister. She chose her pride over her family.”
“Maybe if I’d handled it differently. If I’d told her the truth more gently…”
“You can’t me yourself for her selfishness.”
“She might not have run away.” The wordse out broken. “She might have stayed. We might have raised our granddaughter together.”
James is quiet for a long moment, and when he speaks, his voice is tired. “Maybe. But she didn’t stay. And after four years of silence, I don’t think she’sing back.”
“What if we’re wrong? What if she needs us and doesn’t know how to reach out?”
“Then she should have thought of that before she disappeared.”
Despite his harsh words, I can see the conflict in his eyes. The love warring with hurt and disappointment. He misses her too, even if he won’t admit it.
“I don’t know. But that little girl in there made me realize something.” I take a shaky breath,
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my voice barely above a whisper. “I’d rather try and fall than spend the rest of my life wondering what if.”
James crosses his arms, his expression guarded. “And what exactly are you suggesting?”
“Maybe we should hire someone. To find her.”
“ir-” His tone carries a warning.
“Just to know she’s okay. We don’t have to contact her if she doesn’t want us to. But I need to know she’s safe. That she’s happy.”
“After what she put us through? After the way she just vanished without a word?” James shakes his head. “Why should we chase after someone who clearly doesn’t want us in her
life?”
“Because she’s our daughter!” The words burst out of me, raw and desperate. “Adopted or not, blood or not, she’s our daughter. And if she’s out there struggling, if she’s alone and scared, I need to know.”
James stares at me for a long moment, and I can see the war being fought behind his eyes. Love versus pride. Hope versus hurt.
“Fine,” he says finally, his voice grudging. “But we’re not doing this to beg her toe back. We’re doing it to put your mind at ease. If she’s doing fine without us, then we leave her
alone.”
“And if she’s not?”
His jaw tightens. “Then we’ll cross that bridge when wee to it.”
I nod, relief flooding through me. It’s not the enthusiastic agreement I was hoping for, but it’s
something.
“We’ll look <i>into </i>birth records at the local hospitals first,” James continues, his tone bing more businesslike. “If she had the baby here, there will be documentation.”
“Thank you.” I reach for his hand, but he pulls away.
“Don’t thank me yet. This might be the worst mistake we’ve ever made.”
(Scarlett’s POV)
Five minutes pass. Then ten.
My chest starts to tighten. How long does it take a four–year–old to use the bathroom?
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I abandon the cart and walk toward the restrooms, my steps quickening with each passing second. “Lily?” I call out, pushing open the women’s restroom door.
Empty.
My heart stops. “Lily!” I check each stall, my voice echoing off the tiles. Nothing.
The men’s room. Maybe she got confused. I pound on the <i>door</i>. “Excuse me! Is there a little girl in there? About four years old?”
“No, ma’am,”es a gruff voice. “Just me.”
Panic ws at my throat. I run back into the store, scanning every aisle with wild eyes. “Lily!
Lily, where are you?”
Other shoppers start to notice, some stopping to stare as I be increasingly frantic. A store employee approaches, his face concerned.
“Ma’am? Is everything alright?”
“My daughter. She’s four years old, dark hair in braids, wearing a pink jacket. She went to the bathroom and now I can’t find her.” My voice breaks on thest words.
“Let me call security and make an announcement.” He speaks into his radio, and within moments, his voice booms over the store’s inte system.
“Attention shoppers, we have a lost child. Four–year–old girl, dark hair, wearing a pink jacket. If you see her, please bring her to customer service immediately.”
I can barely breathe. This is my worst nightmare. What if Virginia took her? What if someone else did? What if I never see my baby again?
“Ma’am?” The employee touches my arm gently. “Why don’t youe with me to customer service? That’s usually where lost children end up.”
I follow him on shaking legs, my mind racing through every horrible possibility. Four years of protecting her, of keeping her safe, and I lost her in a grocery store. What kind of mother am
1?
At the customer service desk, I see her immediately.
“Mama!” Lily waves excitedly from behind the counter,pletely oblivious to my panic. She’s holding a lollipop and grinning like she’s won the lottery.
Relief hits me so hard I nearly copse. I rush around the counter and pull her into my arms, holding her so tight she squeaks in protest.
< Chapter 19
“Lily! Oh God, I was so scared. Where were you? I told you toe straight back!”
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“I’m sorry, Mama. I got a little lost after the bathroom, but then these really nice grandparents found me and helped me!” She holds up the lollipop. “They gave me this and told me stories while we walked to the front desk. They were so nice!”
My blood chills. “What grandparents? What did they look like?”
“Thedy had pretty gray hair and wore a blue sweater. The man had sses and he smelled like those mints you put in your purse sometimes. They said I reminded them of someone special.”
The description is too vague to mean anything, but something about it makes my skin crawl. What if it was someone who knew me? What if they recognized Lily somehow?
“Did they ask you any questions? About your name, or where you live?”
Lily scrunches her nose, thinking. “They asked my name, and I told them it was Lily. And they asked if I was here with my mama, and I said yes but that I got lost. Then they said they would help me find you.”
“Did they ask anything else? About me, or where we live?”
“No, they just wanted to make sure I was safe. They were really worried about me, Mama. Just like you worry.” She looks up at me with innocent eyes. “They reminded me of the grandparents in my storybooks. All warm and huggy.”
The store employee clears his throat. “Ma’am, it sounds like Good Samaritans who helped your daughter when they found her wandering. This happens more often than you’d think.”
Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’m being paranoid because of everything with Virginia. Maybe it really was just <i>kind </i>strangers helping a lost child.
But as we walk to the car, Lily chattering about her adventure, I can’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t random. Something about the timing, the way Lily described them–it feels too
coincidental.
“Mama, are you mad at me?” Lily’s voice is small as I buckle her into her car seat.
“No, baby. I’m not mad. I was just scared. When I couldn’t find you…” I smooth her hair back, my hands still trembling slightly, “You’re the most important thing in the world to me. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”
“Nothing’s gonna happen to me. You’re the best mama ever, and you always keep me safe.”
Her absolute faith in me makes my chest ache. If only she knew how close I came to losing
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her today. How easily someone could have taken her away while I was focused on picking
pasta sauce.
As we drive home, I make a promise to never let Lily out of sight in crowds again.
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