I’m falling.
With every glance, every touch, every kiss, I know it more and more: I’m falling in love for the first time in my life.
***
The phone rings, and when I seeMick Dawsonflash across the screen, my heart lurches. Everything else—sound, movement, thought—just stops.
I swallow hard and answer, my voice unsteady.
“Hello?”
“Danielle,” he says, his voice deep and familiar. “This is Mick Dawson.”
“Hi, Mr. Dawson.” I try to sound composed, but my pulse is pounding in my ears. “Do you… do you have any news?”
“I found her.”
Three small words. That’s all. But they hit with the force of a tidal wave.
I hear them. Iknowwhat they mean. And yet, my brain refuses to catch up. For a moment, the room narrows, like I’m looking through a tunnel. My knees buckle slightly.
I reach for the back of the couch, gripping it with my hand like I’m bracing for impact, like a passenger caughtin violent turbulence. My breath comes in shallow bursts, and a strange mix of hope and panic surges through me.
Because he found her.
Hefoundher.
"Are you okay, Miss Keaton?"
"Where is she?" The words leave my mouth like a breath I’ve been holding for years. My voice sounds unfamiliar to my own ears—laced with panic, raw hope, love, and a desperation I can’t disguise.
"Where is she, Mr. Dawson?"
There’s a pause. Then Mick draws in a breath, slow and heavy, like he knows everything is about to change.
"She’s here. In Madison."
Another beat.
"She’s been here all along."
My knees nearly give out. I clutch the phone tighter, heart hammering, waiting for the rest.
"She was placed with a foster family, and they adopted her six months later. Her name now is Elizabeth Hazel Callahan."
A stunned silence hangs between us.
“Callahan,” I say, the name tasting bitter in my mouth, though I can’t quite place why.
“They changed her name,” I whisper, closing my eyes against the sudden rush of pain. “Just enough to hide her. To make her disappear.”
Anger rises in my chest like a tide, hot and bitter, but I force it down. "What else? Please, tell me everything."
Mick hesitates, and when he speaks again, his voice is softer.
"Do you want to see her?"
I don’t even think. "Yes!" The word bursts out of me, immediate and absolute. "Yes, of course I do. When? How?"
