At the recovery center, a counselor met me in a small office.
“Detective Harris called ahead,” she said. “We’re reviewing Sophie’s file now.”
I gripped the back of a chair. “I’m not here to give a statement. I’m here for my daughter.”
Her expression softened. “Sophie is here. Physically, she is stable. She still has anxiety and memory gaps connected to the accident.”
“Does she know I’m here?”
“Not yet. We wanted to prepare her first.”
“No.”
The counselor blinked. “No?”
“My daughter has spent a year believing I didn’t come for her,” I said. “I am not sitting outside while more adults decide what is best.”
Denise touched my arm. “Easy, Dani.”
“I am being easy,” I said. “I’m standing here instead of tearing this building apart.”
The counselor nodded.
“Then we go slowly,” she said. “But we go now.”
She led us down a quiet blue hallway.
Every step felt too loud.
“She’s in the art room,” the counselor said.
I looked through the small window in the door.
A girl sat at a table with a sketchbook in front of her. Her hair was longer. Her face was thinner.
But it was Sophie.
My Sophie.
The counselor opened the door.
“Sophie? Someone is here to see you.”
Sophie looked up.
The pencil fell from her hand.
“Mom?”
I tried to move, but my legs locked. “Sophie.”
She stood so quickly her chair tipped back. Then she stopped halfway across the room.
That pause broke my heart all over again.
Her eyes filled with fear.
“Are you mad at me?”
I wanted to run to her, but I stopped myself.
Mark had already made too many choices for her.
“No, baby,” I said. “Never.”
Her chin trembled. “Daddy said you needed time.”
“I never needed time,” I said. “I needed you.”
“He said seeing me like this would hurt you.”
I dropped to my knees.
“I was already hurt, sweetheart, because I couldn’t find you.”
Her hands covered her mouth.
“I ruined your surprise,” she whispered. “I fell, and Daddy cried, and I thought you would hate the cabin.”
Denise handed me the wooden sign.
I held it out to Sophie.
She stared at the uneven letters.
Mom’s Lake House.
“You didn’t ruin anything,” I said. “You are the best part of every surprise I have ever been given.”
Then she ran to me.
I caught her and held on like I could keep the lost year from stealing another second.
“I looked for you every day,” I whispered.
“I asked for you,” she cried. “Daddy said not yet.”
“Why?”
I closed my eyes.
“Because grown-ups can make terrible choices when they are scared,” I said. “But that does not make it okay.”
She pulled back. “Do I have to see him?”
“Not until you want to,” I said. “And never alone.”
Later, Mark was allowed into the room with the counselor present.
I sat beside Sophie, her hand wrapped tightly around mine.
“Hi, bug,” Mark whispered.
Sophie did not smile.
He sat across from us. “I’m sorry.”
“I thought I was protecting you,” he said.
Sophie squeezed my hand harder.
“You made Mom disappear too.”
Mark lowered his head.
I looked straight at him.
“You took a year from us,” I said. “Now you do not get to take her forgiveness, her healing, or her voice. We are going to court.”
