Chapter 1 - THE QUESTION HE ASKED
The boy's cracked lips moved again.
I bent closer until my ear was only inches from his mouth.
“Please…”
His voice was barely there.
“Please don't give her back to him.”
For a second, I thought the heat had made me misunderstand him.
“What?”
His fingers suddenly closed around my wrist.
He shouldn't have had enough strength to grip me.
But fear gave him what his body no longer had.
“The baby.”
His eyes moved toward the tiny bundle beside him.
“Don't let him take her.”
Then his hand went limp.
“Hey!”
I caught his shoulders.
“Stay with me.”
His eyes rolled shut.
“Hey!”
I shouted toward the parking lot.
“Somebody call 911!”
A woman pushing a shopping cart froze twenty feet away.
Another man came running from the row behind me.
“What happened?”
“Two children are trapped in here.”
I carefully lifted the baby first.
She was impossibly small.
Maybe a few weeks old.
Her face was red from the heat, but she was breathing.
Weakly.
Too weakly.
I pressed her against my chest.
The man who had run over stared through the broken window.
“Oh my God.”
“Help me get the boy out.”
Together, we pulled him from the minivan.
His shirt was soaked completely through.
When my hand touched his back, I immediately pulled it away.
His skin was burning hot.
The stranger removed his jacket and spread it across the pavement beneath the boy.
“Ambulance is coming.”
“How long?”
“Dispatcher said four minutes.”
Four minutes suddenly sounded like four hours.
I knelt beside the boy.
“Can you hear me?”
Nothing.
The baby made a tiny sound against my chest.
Not even a proper cry.
Just a weak little whimper.
I looked down.
Her eyes were closed.
“Come on, sweetheart.”
I gently touched her cheek.
“Stay with us.”
That was when I noticed something sticking out from underneath the wool blanket.
A piece of paper.
At first, I assumed it was a receipt.
Then I saw handwriting.
I pulled it free.
Three words were written across the top in black ink.
DON'T TRUST DAD.
My blood went cold.
Below those words was another sentence.
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME, CALL AUNT REBECCA.
There was a phone number.
And underneath it was a name.
CALEB MERCER.
I looked at the unconscious boy.
Caleb.
At least now I knew his name.
Sirens screamed somewhere beyond the shopping center.
The stranger beside me heard them too.
“They're coming.”
I nodded.
But I couldn't stop staring at the note.
Someone had written it quickly.
The letters were uneven.
The final word had been smeared.
Maybe by sweat.
Maybe by a trembling hand.
I turned the paper over.
There was more writing on the back.
HE SAID MOM RAN AWAY.
SHE DIDN'T.
I felt something twist inside my stomach.
The ambulance appeared at the entrance to the parking lot.
A police cruiser followed it.
People were gathering now.
Phones were out.
Questions were flying.
I barely heard any of them.
Paramedics jumped from the ambulance.
“Step back!”
One of them rushed toward Caleb.
Another came directly to me.
“How old is the infant?”
“I don't know.”
“Relationship?”
“I don't know.”
“You're not their mother?”
“No.”
I pointed toward the minivan.
“I found them locked inside.”
The paramedic took the baby carefully.
“What happened to the window?”
“I broke it.”
“You did the right thing.”
He carried the infant toward the ambulance.
Two other paramedics worked on Caleb.
One placed an oxygen mask over his face.
Another cut open part of his shirt.
“Temperature's dangerously high.”
“Pulse?”
“Rapid and weak.”
“Start cooling him.”
I stood there helplessly.
A police officer approached me.
“Ma'am?”
I turned.
He looked at the wrench still lying near the shattered window.
“You broke the glass?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me exactly what you saw.”
I started explaining.
But halfway through, I noticed movement at the edge of the crowd.
A man had just arrived.
He was tall.
Mid-forties, maybe.
Gray polo shirt.
Dark pants.
He wasn't running.
That bothered me immediately.
Everyone else who had seen what happened looked horrified.
He looked angry.
His eyes moved from the shattered minivan window to Caleb on the pavement.
Then to the baby being carried into the ambulance.
His expression changed.
Not fear.
Not relief.
Rage.
He pushed through the crowd.
“What the hell did you do to my vehicle?”
The officer stepped between us.
“Sir, stay back.”
“Those are my children.”
Caleb's eyes opened.
Only for a second.
But he saw the man.
His entire body reacted.
His hand shot out and grabbed the paramedic's sleeve.
“No!”
The paramedic leaned down.
“Caleb?”
“No!”
His voice cracked beneath the oxygen mask.
The tall man stopped.
Caleb stared directly at him.
Then he screamed.
“DON'T LET HIM TAKE EMMA!”
Every person in that parking lot went silent.
The man's face changed.
May you like
And suddenly I understood.
This was Dad.
