CHAPTER 7 — The Parents Who Never Stopped Searching
Emily didn't sleep.
Neither did Nathan.
The folder Richard Bennett had left on the dining room table remained unopened until dawn.
Inside were newspaper clippings dating back eleven years.
THREE-YEAR-OLD GIRL MISSING AFTER FLOOD DESTROYS RURAL COMMUNITY
REWARD OFFERED.
SEARCH CONTINUES.
Nathan slowly turned each page.
Every article showed the same photograph.
A tiny blonde girl hugging a stuffed rabbit.
Her name was...
Lily Dawson.
Nathan looked toward the staircase.
Upstairs, the little girl who called Emily "Big Sister" was still sleeping peacefully.
Could it really be her?
Richard nodded.
"We confirmed it through DNA."
Emily's lips trembled.
"I found her beside an abandoned gas station."
"She was crying so hard she couldn't even tell me her name."
"I thought everyone who loved her was dead."
Richard quietly replied,
"They weren't."
"They've been looking for her every single day."
Two days later...
Nathan arranged a private meeting at the Carter estate.
A black sedan slowly pulled through the gates.
A middle-aged couple stepped out.
David and Rachel Dawson.
The moment Rachel saw Lily playing with chalk in the garden...
She collapsed onto her knees.
"My baby..."
David caught her before she fell.
For eleven years they had imagined this moment.
But none of them knew whether Lily would recognize them.
Emily gently walked Lily toward the visitors.
"Sweetheart..."
"These people came to meet you."
Lily smiled politely.
"Hello."
Rachel's tears flowed uncontrollably.
She reached into her purse and removed a faded stuffed rabbit.
One ear had been sewn back on with blue thread.
Lily froze.
Her little hands began shaking.
"I..."
"I know Bunny..."
Rachel whispered,
"You used to sleep with him every night."
Fragments of forgotten memories flashed through Lily's mind.
Rain.
Cold water.
Someone screaming her name.
A woman crying.
"Daddy!"
Lily suddenly ran forward.
David caught her in his arms as father and daughter sobbed together.
Emily quietly turned away so no one would see her crying.
Nathan gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"You gave them eleven more years together."
Emily whispered,
"It still feels like I'm losing my little girl."
That evening...
Lily walked into Emily's bedroom carrying Bunny.
"Big Sister..."
Emily forced a smile.
"Yes?"
"If I live with Mommy and Daddy..."
"...can I still love you?"
Emily immediately hugged her.
"You never have to choose."
"You were never mine to keep."
"You were only mine to protect."
Lily cried into Emily's shoulder.
"I'll always have two families."
Nathan silently wiped away tears.
At that moment...
He loved Emily more deeply than he believed possible.
Because she was willing to break her own heart...
May you like
To heal someone else's.
END OF CHAPTER 7
