Chapter 15 - THE MOTHER WHO NEVER STOPPED LOOKING|
Nora could barely breathe.
For twenty years, she had believed her mother died from an illness. Grace had told her that Lydia Hayes had passed away in a hospital, and Nora had accepted it because she was too young to question the story.
Now she learned that Lena Moretti might still be alive.
Vincent arranged for Margaret to speak with investigators.
The shelter records showed that Lena had left under a false identity. She had received assistance from a woman named Helen Carter, who lived in Vermont.
Paulie traced the address.
The house was small and quiet, with a garden filled with winter flowers.
An elderly woman opened the door.
She looked at Nora for several seconds.
Then she whispered, “Isabella?”
Nora's knees nearly gave way.
“Are you my mother?”
The woman began crying.
“Yes.”
Nora stepped forward.
Lena reached for her, then stopped.
“I thought I would never see you again.”
Nora stared at the woman who had carried her, raised her for a few years, and then vanished from her life.
“Why didn't you come back?”
Lena lowered her eyes.
“I was told you were dead.”
“Who told you?”
“Dominic.”
Nora looked toward Vincent.
Lena continued.
“He came to the shelter and said the people who were hunting me had found you. He told me you had been taken to a hospital after an accident.”
“Was that true?”
“No. But I believed him.”
Vincent stepped forward.
“Why did you trust him?”
“Because he was the only person who knew where I was.”
Nora's voice shook.
“Did he take me?”
Lena nodded.
“He said he would bring you back. Then he disappeared.”
The room fell silent.
Vincent called Paulie.
“Find Dominic.”
Lena looked at him.
“He was trying to protect her.”
“Then why did he lie?”
“Because he was afraid.”
Nora turned away.
She had spent years believing her mother had abandoned her. Now she was being asked to understand that her mother had been searching for her all along.
Lena approached carefully.
“May I hug you?”
Nora looked at her.
Then she stepped into her mother's arms.
For a long time, neither spoke.
Vincent watched from the doorway.
He understood something he had never understood before. Camila's illness had made him afraid of losing his mother twice. Nora had actually lost hers once, then spent twenty years grieving someone who was still alive.
When they finally left, Lena agreed to return to New York under protection.
But on the drive back, Nora received a message from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Vincent's mother.
May you like
The caption read:
THE OLD WOMAN KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR MOTHER. ASK HER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
