As she comes closer, I kneel so that we are face to face. I can see myself in her green eyes and thick black hair. She looks much more like me than she does Julian. When she is close enough, I take her little hands in mine. “Valentina. I’m so happy to see you. I’ve missed you.”
Her face is solemn, and her lower lip trembles. “Why did you leave me?”
I hesitate just a moment, wondering how she will react to my story.
“Let’s go sit in the living room with your father, and I’ll tell you everything that happened.”
Valentina nods once, her face still somber.
Julian settles into the large wing chair opposite me. I sit on the sofa and pat the cushion next to me. “Will you sit with me, Valentina?”
Valentina looks at me and then at Julian, who gives her an encouraging nod. She scrambles onto the sofa but leaves a space between us. I try to imagine how she must be feeling to see the mother who’s been gone all this time, leaving no explanation. Her reticence tells me she’s probably angry and afraid. If I could leave her once, she must be thinking, I could leave her again.
“Valentina.” I lock eyes with hers. “I’m going to tell you what happened that day two years ago, when I got hurt.”
Her eyebrows go up, and her eyes widen with surprise. “Who hurt you?”
I clear my throat. “No one hurt me, sweetheart. I went downtown to go shopping. It was a terrible day, dark clouds and heavy rain, but there were things I needed to get, so I went out anyway.”
She stares at me, hanging on every word.
“I was finishing up and had lots of packages to carry in the pouring rain, so many that I couldn’t hold the umbrella too. I was running to the car, getting drenched, and all of a sudden my feet flew out from under me and I fell backward. My head hit the sidewalk really hard. It hurt so much that I started to cry.”
“Was your head bleeding?” Valentina asked.
“A little bit, yes. But the worst thing was that when I got up, I didn’t know who I was.”
“You didn’t know your name?”
“Sometimes when you hurt your head, Valentina, it makes your brain forget things. When I got up, I couldn’t remember my name or where I lived. I was lost. But then Daddy found me and brought me home. And now we can all be together again.” As I said those last words, I was trying to convince myself of them too.
What mattered, though, is that when I finished, Valentina’s sweet face had a smile on it, and she wiggled closer to me. I put my arm around her, leaning forward until my face was just inches from hers, and gently tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I would never leave you on purpose.” I hugged her close to me.
“I knew you didn’t want to leave on purpose. I’m glad you’re home, Mommy.”
Suddenly I feel such love for this precious child that it actually hurts my heart. I know without a doubt that she is my daughter.
??37??
Blythe
Blythe reread the last page of Jim Fallow’s report on Julian Hunter and closed the folder. There was nothing that raised alarm bells. Successful board-certified Boston doctor, married ten years, seven-year-old daughter. No criminal record, no medical malpractice lawsuits past or present, no liens or judgments, not even a traffic violation.
When she thought of all the possible pasts she had imagined Addison might have, the reality was a considerable surprise.
Addison, or Cassandra, had been married once before, for five years, she’d learned from Jim’s report. Her first husband was a man named Zane Dryer. Days after her divorce was finalized, she’d married Julian. What kind of a person got remarried before the ink was dry on her divorce papers? It made Blythe jump to the natural conclusion that she must have been seeing Julian while she was still married. Now she was doubly glad that Addison was out of Gabriel’s life. Cassandra had attended college for one year before dropping out to get married. She’d worked as an assistant buyer at Filene’s, but she quit before her marriage to Julian. She’d apparently been a stay-at-home mother until her disappearance two years before. Jim hadn’t been able to find records of any living family other than her child.
Blythe had kept her word to Gabriel; she hadn’t updated Darcy. But it was only a matter of time before word of Addison’s departure spread. Darcy was living in London now, and Blythe had received an email from her a few days before.
Hello, Blythe,
I am getting settled here and already loving London. Tomorrow will be my first day at the conservatory, and I am both excited and nervous. Gabriel may have told you that we saw each other before I left Philadelphia. I was sad to see how painful this whole thing is for him. I will always consider Gabriel a beloved friend, but I’ve accepted that there can never be anything more than that between us. You and I both hoped for something else, but that hope is firmly in the past. I would never want to be second best, and Gabriel does not deserve that either. I hope we will both find the happiness we seek. I trust all is well with you, Ted, and Hailey.