Chapter 10 - The First Reunion
The meeting took place at the public library in Duluth, a neutral, sunlit sanctuary filled with books and low tables. Daniel sat at a nearby reading desk, giving them space while remaining within arm's reach.
When Elena entered the children’s wing, she stopped twenty paces away. She wore a simple cream cardigan and jeans, her dark hair pinned back. Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she remembered the guidance of Sophie’s child psychologist: Do not overwhelm her. Let her set the pace.
Sophie looked up from the picture book she was reading. She stared at Elena’s face, her little brows knitting together in deep thought, digging through the foggy fragments of early childhood memories.
Elena knelt down on the carpet, opening a small tin box of oil pastels. "Hello, Sophie," she whispered gently. "I heard you like to draw."
Sophie didn't run away. She tilted her head, clutching her plush rabbit. "Your voice sounds like the song Daddy plays in the car."
Elena choked back a sob, placing her hand gently over her heart. "That’s because it was our song, sweetheart. I sang it to you before you even had teeth."
May you like
Sophie took a cautious step forward, then another, until she was standing before the woman whose picture she had kept tucked under her pillow. With small, inquisitive fingers, Sophie touched the silver chain around Elena's neck, which held a locket containing Sophie’s baby footprint. "You came back," Sophie whispered.
"I will never go away again," Elena replied.
