The Daughter They Abandoned Twice novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Lorna

Lorna Fisk lived in a small yellow house on a street of small yellow and white houses, and there was a kite painted on her mailbox.

Levi parked at the curb and turned off the engine.

"I'll stay with the truck," he said.

"You drove me four hours."

"And I'll wait here as long as you need." He looked at the house. "This part isn't mine."

I got out.

My knees did not feel like mine either.

The front door opened before I reached the porch steps.

A woman stood there in a gray cardigan, with greying red hair pinned up in a clip and one hand flat against the door frame.

She had been crying for hours.

She was not crying now.

She only looked at me, from my hair to my shoes and back to my face, and I let her.

"Say something," she whispered. "I don't care what."

"I'm Hallie," I said. "I think I used to be Rosie."

She came down the steps, one at a time.

She stopped an arm's length away and did not touch me.

"May I?" she said.

I nodded.

She put two fingers on my chin, very lightly.

"The gap closed," she said, and laughed once, a cracked sound. "You had such a gap."

Then her whole face folded, and I was inside her arms.

She was shorter than I'd imagined, and she smelled of dish soap and cinnamon.

She held on to the back of my head and rocked from foot to foot.

I stood stiff for as long as I could.

Then something gave, low in my chest, and I held her back.

I don't know how long we stood on that porch.

When she let me go, she wiped her face with both palms and said, "Come in. Please. I made coffee at four this morning and I've been afraid to drink it."

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