PART 2
And before I even noticed the nervous smile on her face, I noticed what she was carrying.
A baby.
A newborn baby.
For a second, my mind refused to understand what I was seeing.
A diaper bag hung naturally from Sophie’s shoulder.
She held the tiny infant against her chest with the comfortable confidence of someone who had done it many times before.
I slowly climbed out of the car.
“Sophie?”
“Hi, Mom.”
Her voice sounded small.
Almost rehearsed.
The baby couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old.
I stared at my daughter.
Then at the child.
Then back at Sophie.
“Whose baby is that?”
Instead of answering, Sophie looked down at the infant.
“Can we get in the car first?”
“Sophie.”
My heart was pounding now.
“Are we taking this baby somewhere? To her family? A hospital?”
She shook her head.
“Then why are you holding her?”
Sophie pulled the newborn closer.
Finally, she looked directly at me.
“Mom… she’s mine now.”
For several seconds, every rational thought disappeared.
I had video-called Sophie almost every night.
I had seen her body throughout the summer.
There was absolutely no possibility that she had secretly given birth.
This baby was not hers.
So whose baby had my daughter suddenly brought to me?
And why did she look terrified to explain?
I was about to demand answers when I noticed her hands trembling.
Sophie wasn’t acting rebellious.
She was scared.
Whatever had happened, interrogating her in the middle of a parking lot wasn’t going to help.
So I swallowed every question fighting to escape.
“Okay.”
Her head snapped toward me.
“What?”
“If this baby needs somewhere safe tonight, then we’ll take her home.”
Sophie stared at me.
“We’ll figure everything else out later.”
Her expression softened slightly.
I stepped closer.
“But tell me one thing. Is the baby’s mother alive?”
“Yes.”
“Is she safe?”
Sophie nodded quickly.
“Yes. I promise.”
“Then get in the car.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I loaded Sophie’s suitcases into the trunk while she carefully secured a secondhand car seat in the back.
Once we were on the road, I spent nearly as much time looking into the rearview mirror as I did watching the highway.
Sophie sat beside the baby, gently rocking her.
Then she began humming.
I recognized the melody immediately.
It was the lullaby I used to sing to Sophie when she was little.
The way she held the newborn wasn’t awkward.
It wasn’t uncertain.
She moved with the practiced rhythm of someone who had been caring for that child for a while.
Eventually, I couldn’t keep quiet anymore.
“How long are you planning to keep her?”
“Just a few days.”
“And after that?”
Sophie looked down.
“Her mother gets paid at the end of the week. She needs enough money to get somewhere safe.”
“Why can’t her mother keep the baby until then?”
Sophie swallowed.
“I promised I wouldn’t tell you anything else.”
“Sophie—”
“Please, Mom. Just give me a few days.”
A few days for what?
And what exactly was supposed to happen when those days were over?
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
Instead of pushing harder, I asked the simplest question I could think of.
“What’s her name?”
Sophie paused.
“She doesn’t have one yet.”
The rest of the drive passed mostly in silence.
When we got home, Sophie immediately carried the baby upstairs.
I reheated leftovers for dinner.
Neither of us ate much.
That night, after Sophie went to bed, I found myself sitting alone in the kitchen staring at the diaper bag.
I told myself I would wait until morning.
I almost succeeded.
Then I noticed something sticking out of one of the side pockets.
I pulled it free.
It was a folded hospital sticker.
And printed across it was a name.
Mia.
I stared at it.
Mia.
The girl from housekeeping.
Suddenly, Sophie appeared on the stairs.
She stopped when she saw what I was holding.
“Mom.”
“Who is Mia, sweetheart?”
Sophie slowly sat across from me.
“My friend from the resort.”
“Your friend whose newborn baby is currently sleeping upstairs?”
Sophie dropped her gaze.
“She needs time. That’s all I can tell you.”
“Time for what?”
“I promised her I wouldn’t say anything.”
“Why?”
“Please don’t make me break that promise.”
I studied my daughter.
And for the first time, something became clear.
Sophie wasn’t hiding something because she was ashamed.
She was protecting someone.
“Fine,” I said quietly. “For tonight.”
But if Sophie refused to explain what was happening, I needed answers from somewhere else.
The next morning, while Sophie was showering, I called the resort.
After several attempts, a young woman named Jenna answered.
I introduced myself.
“You’re Sophie’s mom?”
“Yes. I’m trying to find Mia.”
Silence.
“Is she okay?” Jenna finally asked.
“I don’t know. How well do you know her?”
“We worked together. Mia was in housekeeping.”
“And Sophie?”
Jenna hesitated.
Then she said something that made my stomach tighten.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Why Sophie came here.”
I stood completely still.
“What do you mean?”
“Sophie already knew about Mia before she started working here.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What?”
“She was asking people about Mia during her first week.”
I felt the room around me go strangely quiet.
Sophie hadn’t met Mia at the resort.
She had taken the job because she was looking for her.
But why would my daughter travel three hours from home to find one particular girl?
“How did she know Mia?”
“I don’t know.”
I thanked Jenna and hung up.
When Sophie came downstairs, I was waiting in the kitchen.
“You knew Mia before you took that job.”
She stopped walking.
“Mom…”
“You went there looking for her.”
Sophie looked away.
“Who is she?”
“I promised I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Then tell me why you were searching for her.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because of Dad.”
I stared at her.
Daniel had been dead for five years.
“What does your father have to do with Mia?”
“I can’t tell you. Not yet.”
“Then who can?”
Sophie whispered one name.
“Laura.”
I hadn’t heard that name in twenty years.
My entire body went cold.
“Is Mia Laura’s daughter?”
Sophie wouldn’t look at me.
That was answer enough.
The baby suddenly didn’t feel like the biggest secret in the house anymore.
Whatever Sophie had discovered about her father had somehow led her back to the one woman I had spent two decades trying to erase from my memory.
“Where does Laura live?”
“I promised Mia I wouldn’t involve her.”
“Sophie.”
My daughter closed her eyes.
Then she gave me the address.
