Chapter 2 - The Girl Under the Blanket
Saint Agnes Children’s Unit smelled of antiseptic, warm plastic, and cinnamon from a holiday candle burning at the nurses’ station. Elena ran through the double doors and found Lucy asleep beneath a thermal blanket, a small oxygen tube resting under her nose.
Mia lay in the next bed. Her hair was stiff with melted snow, and her hands were wrapped in layers of gauze and warm packs. A pulse monitor blinked beside her.
“Mom,” Mia said.
Elena reached her in two steps. “I’m here.”
Mia did not cry. That frightened Elena more than tears would have.
“Is Daddy okay?”
“The doctors are still helping him.”
Mia looked toward Lucy. “She stopped talking.”
“She’s sleeping because she was cold.”
“I tried to carry her.”
Elena pressed her lips to Mia’s forehead. “You should never have had to carry her.”
Across the room, a woman in a navy cardigan watched them with quiet attention. She introduced herself as Naomi Greene, the hospital’s child protection social worker.
“I’m not here to punish anyone,” Naomi said. “I need to understand what happened so we can keep both children safe.”
Elena nodded, though her body had begun trembling. “My mother refused to let them inside.”
“Did you know they were outside?”
“No.”
“How long were you gone?”
“Less than an hour.”
Naomi glanced toward Mia. “Mia, can you tell me what happened after your mother left?”
Mia’s mouth tightened. “Grandma shut the door.”
“Did she say anything?”
“She said we were not her responsibility.”
Elena lowered her head.
Mia continued, “I waited because she always opens the door when someone knocks twice. I knocked twice.”
“And then?”
“Nothing. I knocked again. Lucy said she was cold.”
Mia’s voice remained careful, almost rehearsed. “I told Lucy we could go home.”
“Did you know how to get home?” Naomi asked.
“Not really. I remembered the street with the blue mailbox.”
Elena closed her eyes. Their house was nearly three miles away.
“Why didn’t you call your mother?” Naomi asked.
Mia looked embarrassed. “My phone was in Mom’s car.”
“Did you tell your grandmother that your father was in the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Mia stared at the blanket. “She said Daddy was sleeping and Mom would leave us there forever.”
Elena felt the room tilt.
“That isn’t true,” she whispered.
Naomi’s gaze moved between them. “Mia, did your grandmother say anything else?”
“She asked if Daddy had signed the paper.”
“What paper?”
Mia shook her head. “I don’t know. She asked if he had signed it before the crash.”
Lucy stirred. Her eyelids fluttered, and she turned toward Elena.
“Mommy,” she murmured. “Grandma said the house was hers now.”
Elena sat beside her and took her hand. “You’re safe.”
Lucy’s fingers curled around hers. “The red book stayed inside.”
Naomi wrote something down. “What red book?”
Lucy closed her eyes again. “The one Daddy said not to touch.”
At midnight, a police officer arrived to take a formal statement. He was young, with snow melting on the shoulders of his uniform, and introduced himself as Officer Grant Bell.
“We have a neighbor’s call recording,” he said. “A woman named Denise Park saw the children walking away from the property.”
Elena’s throat tightened. “How far did they go?”
“About eleven blocks. Mia was carrying Lucy when Denise found them near the closed pharmacy.”
“Eleven blocks?”
Officer Bell nodded. “Mia remembered your phone number. She repeated it while she was being treated.”
Elena looked at her daughter. Mia’s eyes were fixed on the ceiling.
“I knew your number,” Mia said. “You told me to memorize it in case we got separated.”
“You saved your sister,” Elena said.
Mia finally looked at her. “I was supposed to.”
“No,” Elena said, her voice breaking. “You were supposed to be a child.”
Mia’s expression changed, but before she could answer, Elena’s phone rang.
Margaret’s name appeared on the screen.
Elena answered. “What do you want?”
“I want you to stop making a spectacle of this.”
“You left my children outside.”
“I did not leave them anywhere. You did.”
“Mia told the social worker you asked about a paper.”
Margaret became silent.
Elena heard a door close on the other end. “What paper?”
“Your daughter is frightened and confused.”
“She was clear enough to remember you refused to let them inside.”
“You have always been dramatic.”
Elena looked at Mia’s wrapped hands. “I spent my whole life explaining you to other people.”
Margaret’s voice sharpened. “Then perhaps you should explain why Daniel gave me permission to protect those girls.”
“Daniel would never do that.”
“You don’t know what Daniel did.”
The call ended.
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Moments later, the hospital phone at the nurses’ station rang. Naomi answered, then turned toward Elena with a grave expression.
“Your mother has contacted an attorney,” she said. “She claims you abandoned the children and that Daniel authorized her to seek emergency guardianship.”
