“Lied,” Nancy fills in. “Yeah, I’d expect nothing less.” She kisses her daughter’s head. “So what are you going to do about it?”
My voice quivers. “Wh-what do you mean?”
“I’m not going back home. It’s not safe. He’ll kill me. I have to take my boys, and we have to run.” She licks her lips, squares her shoulders. “I’m asking if you’ll let me take her, too. If you’ll give me my daughter back.”
Her words slam into my sternum, stealing my breath, and tears instantly line my eyes as I look down at my baby. The little girl I thought I’d get to keep. The one who calls me Mama.
“Nancy, I…” I can’t. It would be like handing her my heart. Like tearing off an arm and waving goodbye as she walked away with it. “I can’t.”
“She’s my daughter,” Nancy says, her voice raspy. Angry. “She was never yours.”
“She doesn’t know that,” I argue. “She is my daughter in every way that matters. In every way that counts. I have raised her. I have loved her.”
“Because he stole that from me,” she shouts, slapping her fist against the floor. Neither girl seems concerned by the outburst. The cabin grows silent, and for a long while, we just stare at each other. “He stole her from me, Hazel. Your husband stole my daughter, and he put her in your arms, and you are the only one who can do anything about it.”
“I can’t…” I can hardly breathe.
“You have to.” She stands, steps forward, and takes my hands. “You have to.”
I shake my head. I’m not strong enough. “I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t…I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Her green eyes line with tears, then they overflow, cascading one by one down her cheeks.
She’s the one who did something wrong.
She slept with a married man.
Mymarried man. She…
My eyes scan her bruises and scars. Up close, I can see even more.
The sound of tires on the gravel draws me out of my thoughts, and Nancy’s hands tighten on mine.He’s home.
My heartbeat thunders in my ears, chills lining my arms. I look at her directly, urgently, trying to keep her calm. “Where are your boys?”
“School.” She’s shaking in my hands, trembling so much I feel sick.
“I can’t get you out of here without him seeing.” I don’t have time. I don’t know what to do. “Maybe we could tell him. Talk to him.” But even as I say it, I know we can’t.
Thoughts twist violently in my mind.
Silent tears paint Nancy’s cheeks as she crosses the room and bends down to hug her daughter one last time. “He’s going to kill me. Do you understand that? He’s going to kill me, and…and you’re going to let him. Promise me you will take care of her. Promise me?—”
“Shut up!” I cry, crossing the room and grabbing her arm. When she winces, I release it, feeling as if I might pass out. “We are not going to let that happen. Do you trust me?”
“Why would I?” She scowls, rubbing her arm.
“Come with me.”
In my bedroom, I shove aside the cedar trunk filled with blankets and lift the door to the cellar. I know the rules here, of course I do. She is not supposed to know Foxglove’s secrets, but what choice do I have? Leave her to Charles? I can’t stomach the thought.
Please don’t punish her,I beg.
“Go down through here. There are tunnels. You can escape. Go to the back wall, the far corner, and push in. It will give. Follow the corridor and take the stairs. Just please,pleasedon’t ever tell anyone about this.”
“Wait. What?”
“There’s no time. Go. Or else wait in the cellar until I can get rid of him. Either way, you’ll be okay. I promise, it’ll be okay. Just stay quiet.”
