Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW BOTH CHILDREN
“Then she's been watching Lily.”
Hannah's voice trembled as she stared at Evelyn Mercer's photograph.
Luca stood beside the kitchen table, his mother's cracked silver watch filling his thoughts.
For months, his niece had been receiving treatment from a woman connected to his sister's disappearance.
And nobody had told him.
Daniel checked the medical provider's license.
“Evelyn Mercer is a registered nurse practitioner. Her current practice focuses on children with congenital heart conditions.”
Hannah shook her head.
“I've met her three times.”
“Did she recognize you?” Luca asked.
“She stared at me strangely. Once she asked whether I had always gone by Hannah.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her yes.”
Hannah swallowed.
“She looked like she wanted to tell me something.”
Luca reached for his coat.
“We're going to Oak Park.”
Hannah stopped him.
“Before we leave, I want you to promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“If Lily is there, you let me go to her first.”
Luca looked at her.
“Of course.”
“And no shouting. No frightening her.”
He nodded.
Hannah picked up the school photograph.
“She already has enough reasons to be scared.”
The yellow house stood on a quiet street lined with old maple trees.
It looked nothing like a criminal hideout.
There were flowerpots on the porch.
A wooden swing beneath a tree.
And paper butterflies taped inside the front windows.
But two security cameras watched the driveway.
Luca stayed near the gate while Daniel approached the entrance with Hannah.
Before they reached the steps, the front door opened.
Evelyn Mercer stood there.
She wore the same gray coat from the photograph.
The blue flower was pinned above her heart.
For several seconds, she looked only at Hannah.
Then her eyes filled with tears.
“Lucia.”
Hannah stopped.
“Where's my daughter?”
Evelyn's face crumpled.
“She's safe.”
“Let me see her.”
“Of course.”
Evelyn stepped aside.
Hannah hurried through the doorway.
Luca followed.
A child's laugh came from the next room.
Then Lily appeared.
She was sitting on a couch with a blanket around her shoulders, eating crackers from a paper plate.
“Mom!”
Hannah dropped to her knees.
Lily ran into her uninjured arm.
Hannah held her so tightly that the little girl squeaked.
“Careful, Mom. Your shoulder.”
Hannah loosened her grip.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
“Are you mad?”
“Never at you.”
Lily's lower lip trembled.
“The driver said you needed me to come.”
“I know, baby.”
“He said it was a surprise.”
Hannah kissed her hair.
“You didn't do anything wrong.”
Luca stood near the doorway.
He had imagined this moment since seeing the photograph.
But watching Hannah hold her daughter made him understand something.
Finding Lucia had been his miracle.
Finding Lily alive was hers.
Evelyn approached carefully.
“I didn't arrange for Paul to take her from school,” she said. “He brought her here and told me there had been an emergency.”
“Then why didn't you call Hannah?” Luca demanded.
Evelyn lowered her eyes.
“Because he threatened to take Lily somewhere I couldn't find her if I contacted anyone before Vanessa arrived.”
Daniel looked toward the driveway.
“Where is Paul now?”
“Gone. He left Lily here about an hour ago.”
Luca glanced at the windows.
“Where's Vanessa?”
Evelyn's face hardened.
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No,” Evelyn said. “I expect you to believe that my daughter is capable of frightening me.”
The honesty stopped him.
Evelyn looked at Hannah.
“I should have told you who I was months ago.”
Hannah stood, keeping Lily close.
“Who are you really?”
Evelyn touched the blue flower.
“I was the nurse who carried you out of St. Catherine's Hospital.”
Luca moved forward.
“You took my sister.”
“Yes.”
His fists tightened.
“Why?”
Evelyn looked at Lily.
“Because we shouldn't have this conversation in front of her.”
Hannah nodded.
Daniel asked a staff member to sit with Lily in the family room.
Lily hesitated.
“Mom, are you leaving?”
“No, honey. I'll be right down the hall.”
Lily looked toward Luca.
“Is that the man from your work?”
Hannah paused.
Luca crouched carefully.
“My name is Luca.”
“I know. Mom says you talk loud.”
Despite everything, Hannah almost smiled.
Luca looked embarrassed.
“I'm working on that.”
Lily considered him.
“Okay.”
When the child was settled, Evelyn led them into a small office.
She removed her coat and folded it over a chair.
“Your mother was still alive when Lucia disappeared,” she began.
Luca stared.
“Of course she was. She died three weeks later.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“That is what you were told.”
Luca felt cold.
“My father showed me her death certificate.”
“I know.”
“You attended the funeral?”
“Yes.”
“Then don't tell me she survived.”
Evelyn met his eyes.
“I attended a service for an empty casket.”
Luca stepped back.
Hannah covered her mouth.
Evelyn continued.
“Elena Moretti had been ill for months. But her greatest fear wasn't dying.”
“What was it?” Hannah asked.
“That someone would take Lucia away.”
Luca frowned.
“Who?”
Evelyn looked at him with exhausted eyes.
“Your father had made arrangements to send her out of the country.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because Lucia witnessed something at the hospital.”
The room became still.
Hannah's hand moved to her bracelet.
“What did I see?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“There was a newborn girl being treated in the same pediatric wing. She had a congenital heart defect.”
“The baby in the photograph,” Luca said.
Evelyn nodded.
“Her mother was a young hospital employee who became involved with someone powerful.”
Luca thought of the photograph.
Lucia holding the infant.
SHE WAS NEVER ALONE.
“What happened to the mother?”
Evelyn looked away.
“She disappeared from the hospital that night.”
Hannah's eyes widened.
“Was the baby mine?”
“No,” Evelyn said gently. “You were six.”
Hannah flushed.
“I mean, was she someone I knew?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn placed a hand over her own.
“You refused to leave her alone. You kept saying that you had promised her mother.”
Luca's voice became hard.
“What did my father do?”
Evelyn's eyes filled.
“He ordered the baby transferred. Elena discovered that the receiving facility didn't exist.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“A false destination?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Evelyn looked at Luca.
“Because the baby wasn't supposed to survive.”
Luca stared at her.
The silence seemed to last forever.
Then Evelyn opened a wooden cabinet.
Inside was a neatly folded child's blue coat.
A little silver button was missing from its collar.
Hannah touched the fabric.
Suddenly, her knees weakened.
She saw a memory.
A hospital hallway.
A woman crying.
A baby wrapped in a yellow blanket.
And a man's voice saying, Don't let that girl leave this building.
Hannah whispered, “I remember the coat.”
Evelyn nodded.
“You wore it when I took you away.”
Luca examined the inside lining.
Someone had stitched a small square of fabric beneath the label.
He carefully unfolded it.
There were two words embroidered in red thread.
FOR NORA.
Luca frowned.
“Who was Nora?”
Evelyn's expression changed.
“The baby's mother.”
Hannah looked at her.
“What happened to her?”
Evelyn hesitated.
Then she opened a drawer and produced an old hospital identification photograph.
A young woman smiled at the camera.
Dark hair.
Gentle eyes.
A familiar face.
Luca stopped breathing.
He had seen that woman before.
She had been standing beside his father in a photograph taken twenty-eight years earlier.
May you like
Evelyn spoke softly.
“Nora was carrying Alessandro Moretti's child.”
