She Heard Nothing novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Under the Lining

Her words fell across the whole field.

For a moment nobody breathed.

I looked at the woman with my eyes who had just told four hundred people that I did not exist.

Then I looked at the tin in her hands.

"Then you won't mind giving that back," I said.

My voice shook, and I let it.

Marilyn's fingers stayed closed around the tin for one second too long.

"Of course," she said. "It's yours."

She held it out, not meeting my eyes.

I took it, and it was warm from her hands.

Behind me, Lottie whispered, "Abby, you don't have to do this here."

"Yes, I do."

Gran had said I would know when I needed what was under the lining.

I had never needed anything so badly in my life.

So I peeled it.

I put my thumbnail into the dented corner of the lid and lifted.

The old paper came away with a dry crackle, and a smaller square of paper fell out into my palm.

It had been folded in four, and the creases had gone soft as cloth.

Something hard came with it, small and curved, and rolled across my hand.

A baby's hospital bracelet.

It was a thin plastic band, yellowed at the edges, with a typed strip inside.

I read the strip out loud, because I could not seem to stop.

"Baby Girl Teague. St. Anne's Hospital. Born the fourth of March."

That was my birthday.

It was the date on my driver's license.

Albert took a step toward me.

"May I," he said gently, "see the note?"

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