Chapter 4: She Took My Daughter Away

The rain came down harder.

I walked along the street, drenched, with no idea where to go.

A car pulled up to the curb beside me.

The window rolled down, and Joan leaned out. She was a friend from my foster-family support group.

"Nora?"

The moment she saw the state I was in, she was out of the car, wrapping her coat around my shoulders.

"What happened?"

I borrowed her phone and called Graham.

It rang and rang before he finally answered.

"What do you want now?"

"I was thrown out, and you smashed my phone."

My teeth were chattering so hard I could barely form the words.

"Graham, this is out of control. Come back right now. We need to get a lawyer and withdraw the testimony immediately."

He was silent for a few seconds.

Then another call beeped through, and Tessa's voice cut in, loud and clear.

"Everyone's waiting for you! How are we supposed to pop the champagne if the winner doesn't show up?"

Graham's tone softened instantly.

"I'll be there soon."

I gripped the phone so hard my knuckles ached.

"You're still going to celebrate?"

"Nora, stop playing the victim. Call an Uber, go home, and calm down. I'll handle it tomorrow."

"I can't get into the house. My wallet, my keys, they're all inside—"

He had already hung up.

Joan didn't ask any more questions.

She just buckled me into the passenger seat and blasted the heat.

We had barely driven two blocks when my shattered phone suddenly lit up.

It was the DCF caseworker.

I answered immediately.

"Ms. Bell, we've just received an interstate placement notice. Because the adoption proceedings were suspended and a new custodial risk report was filed, the system has made an emergency match with Maisie's biological aunt in Arizona."

My breath caught in my throat.

"What does that mean?"

"The child will be transported to Phoenix tomorrow morning. The receiving household has already passed all background screenings and will take her as a permanent placement."

"Permanent?"

I could barely hear my own voice.

"I can explain! The testimony was false. Graham lied. I can prove it—"

"I'm sorry. The interstate transfer paperwork has already been issued."

"Then stop it! Give me one day—no, one hour! Just let me see Maisie. Let me tell her I didn't abandon her!"

"This is the final decision."

I kept shouting into the phone, but the line was dead.

Joan jerked the wheel, made a sharp U-turn, and headed straight for the airport.

By the time we got to Logan, two child placement officers had already escorted Maisie through a restricted corridor.

The staff at the counter refused to tell me her gate and wouldn't even pass along a message.

I pulled out the plane ticket for a work trip I was supposed to take tomorrow and begged them to rebook me to Phoenix.

"The earliest flight we can get you on is this afternoon."

I handed over our joint credit card.

The machine let out a short, sharp beep.

Declined.

The agent tried again.

"This account has been frozen."

Graham had even frozen the money I would have needed to chase after her.

Joan took the card from my hand and used her own.

At dawn, we stood in front of the massive windows overlooking the tarmac.

A plane taxied toward the runway and slowly lifted into the sky.

I didn't know if Maisie was on that flight.

I didn't know if she would keep waiting for me until she finally, truly believed that I didn't want her anymore.

I didn't cry.

My chest felt so hollow it had gone numb.

Even the pain was a distant, blunted thing.

Then my phone screen lit up again.

A text from Graham.

I stared at the words for a long time, then slowly tightened my grip on the phone.

He owed Maisie a home.

He owed me a daughter.

And it was time to collect.

The screen read:

"The game's over. I won. Tomorrow we'll go get Maisie back together. Don't be a no-show."