Chapter 3: What Mara Wrote
My hands weren't steady when I took the paper.
It was a single sheet, folded twice.
The handwriting was small and pressed hard into the page, like the person writing it had been gripping the pen to keep from shaking.
I read it out loud without meaning to.
*"Sophie.
I know you'll be the one who finds her.
You're the only one at this place who actually has a heart.
Her name is Lily.
She's healthy.
She's been fed.
Please don't let them put her in the system.
Her father's family will fight for custody the moment they find out she exists, and they will destroy her.
I can't explain everything here.
But there's a name you need to know: Daniel Hargrove.
Look him up.
Then you'll understand why I ran."*
The car was completely silent.
"Who is Daniel Hargrove?" I asked.
Sophie turned to look at me.
"That's what I've been trying to figure out for three days."
I read the note again.
Then a third time.
"Sophie, this girl — Mara — she didn't just leave a baby.
She left her with you specifically.
She trusted you."
"I know."
"That's not the same as you being responsible for this child."
"I know that too." Sophie looked down at Lily.
"But Mom, I looked him up.
Daniel Hargrove.
He's not just some guy."
"What do you mean?"
She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her phone.
She turned the screen toward me.
The first result was a news article.
The headline read: *Hargrove Family Real Estate Empire Expands Into Third State — Daniel Hargrove Named Regional Director at 31.*
Below it was a photo.
A man in a dark suit at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Broad shoulders.
Easy smile.
The kind of face that was used to being photographed.
"He's wealthy," I said.
"He's more than wealthy.
He's connected.
His father owns half the commercial property in this county." Sophie put the phone away.
"Mara worked at the resort all summer.
I never saw her with anyone.
She kept to herself.
I didn't even know she was pregnant until she was almost due."
"Did she say anything to you?
Before she left?"
"Not about him.
She told me once that she'd made a mistake trusting someone who had too much to lose." Sophie paused.
"I didn't know what she meant at the time."
Lily made a small sound.
Not quite a cry.
Something between a breath and a whimper.
Sophie adjusted her hold automatically, the way someone does when they've been doing it for days.
"How long have you been caring for her?" I asked.
"Since the morning after Mara left.
That was four days ago."
Four days.
My daughter had been alone at that resort, caring for a newborn, for four days, and hadn't told me.
"Why didn't you call me?"
Sophie looked out the window.
"Because I knew what you'd say."
"What would I say?"
She turned back.
Her voice was quiet but certain.
"You'd say it wasn't our problem.
That we had to let the system handle it.
That we couldn't take on something this complicated." She looked at me steadily.
"And you wouldn't have been wrong."
I didn't answer, because she wasn't wrong.
Lily made the sound again.
Sophie shifted her gently, and the baby settled.
I finally started the car.
We drove in silence for several minutes before I spoke.
"The note says his family will fight for custody."
"Yes."
"If they find out she exists."
"Yes."
I kept my eyes on the road.
"Do they know?"
Sophie hesitated just long enough.
"I don't think so.
Not yet."
I gripped the wheel a little tighter.
"Sophie.
What aren't you telling me?"
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she reached back into the diaper bag.
Beneath the folded blanket at the bottom, she pulled out a small envelope.
"Mara left this too.
Separately.
It has your name on it, Mom."
I glanced over.
She was holding a sealed envelope.
Written on the front in the same pressed handwriting were two words.
*Karen Mitchell.*
My name.
May you like
My full name.
Written by a girl I had never met.
