He’s going to try to keep you here. Why? I’ve been alone for over thirty years. Why does Gio want to keep me now?
“I wanted a daughter so badly. A little girl to dress up. The bows, the braids—I wanted it so badly.” A tear rolls down her cheek. “Gio and I had a whirlwind romance. It was candles, flowers, stolen kisses—a wonderous proposal. After we were married, I learned who he truly was. By then, I’m ashamed to admit, I loved the lifestyle.” She turns to look out over the ocean. “When I found out I was pregnant, I was so happy. Until I realized what it meant. My child, boy or girl, would be wrapped up in his world.”
“What world? Who is he?”
Felicity smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “A highly intelligent man who doesn’t miss much.” She takes a deep breath. “Mattheus came first. I tried so hard to keep him out of it. To convince Gio that Mattheus should be allowed to choose his own path. He was a sweet boy, Emmaline. He really was.”
I try to picture Mattheus when he was younger. As one of my kindergarten students—so carefree and happy. But it doesn’t come easily, knowing he drugged and kidnapped me.
“He was two when I found out I was pregnant with you.” She presses a hand to her stomach. “I was so terrified when I found out you were the daughter that I had once prayed so desperately for.” More tears roll down her cheeks. The pain surrounding her is so thick that it presses down around us. Even as she fights against the visible pain with a forced smile. “I knew what a life for you looked like, and I couldn’t bear the thought of bringing you into it.”
“I don’t understand. If it was truly so bad, then why—why did you stay with him?”
“Fear,” she replies. “We already had Mattheus, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get him away safely. I couldn’t leave him here, not when there was still a chance I could pull him away from this life.”
“Then what happened to me?”
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I hadn’t prayed in years. Truthfully, I pulled away from God and leaned into the life that Gio offered me. But the night I found out you were a girl, I prayed so hard.” Her voice cracks. “Harder than I ever had. I prayed for Him to take you away. To give you to someone else.”
Her words hit me square in the chest. “You didn’t want to have me.”
“Oh, darling, no. I wanted you more than anything. But this life is not kind to women. I knew what would happen to you if you stayed. He would have used you as a pawn. You would’ve ended up married to someone just like him—or worse. When the pregnancy continued, I began to formulate a plan. A way to get you safely out. I befriended a nurse at the hospital, and I paid her to lie to us. To tell us that you—” She pauses a moment and closes her eyes. “That you died. I made her promise to find you a good family. And we parted ways—never speaking about it again.”
“He said that you saw a baby. A body.”
“A cleverly designed doll,” she replies. “Made to look real. We only saw you from a distance, and even as I knew it was fake, my heart broke just the same. Gio never looked too hard at the lie. If he had—” She shudders. “I prayed that he wouldn’t, and he didn’t.”
Shock can’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling as I sit here on this bench, listening to what Felicity is telling me. She knew that I was alive. This whole time. Hot tears burn in my eyes. I understand her reasoning—she wanted to give me a better life—and she did. But knowing that I was given up for adoption is nothing compared to learning why.
“Did you ever check on me?”
She shakes her head. “I knew that if Gio caught wind of it, he’d level the world to get to you, and I would be buried by his wrath, unable to protect you.”
“He would have killed you.”
“In a heartbeat.”
“It’s been over thirty years. How did they find me?”
“I don’t know.” She closes her eyes. “I thought you were safe. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Emmaline.” She turns toward me, then reaches up and cups my cheek. “But, my darling daughter, you are oh so beautiful. And as much as I despise the reasons, I am quite glad I got to meet you.”
With trembling fingers, I reach up and touch her hand. I never sought out my birth family because, as far as I was concerned, it was Patricia and Emmitt Franklin who raised me, and nothing else mattered. But when Mattheus first showed up, I was intrigued by the idea of discovering the truth about where I came from.
Now, learning what I have, I wish I could go back to when I didn’t know.
But that doesn’t take away from the overwhelming emotion consuming me as I sit here with the woman who tried to give me my best chance.
“Me too.”
“Now. We need to get you out of here. Is there anyone back home you can think of who can help you? I can’t trust anyone here. They’re all on Gio’s payroll.”
Dylan’s name is the first one that pops into my head.
And because of that, I shove it back down. “Bradyn Hunt,” I say. “He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, and he runs a search and rescue business. They’re looking for me now.”
“Then we need to make sure they find you. Before it’s too late.”
“What do you mean by that?”
