“If you ever need this,” he whispered, “you’ll know when.”

I placed it in a fireproof box and left it sealed.

The Day the Past Came Back Loudly

Nine years later, on a calm weekday morning, the doorbell rang.

Two police officers stood outside. Behind them was Lily’s mother. Well dressed. Confident. Pointing at me as though I were a stranger.

“That’s him,” she said. “He took my child.”

My knees nearly gave out.

She told them I had kidnapped Lily after Daniel’s passing. That she had been searching for her all this time.

I was escorted to the station while my granddaughter cried in the back seat of my brother’s car. At the precinct, I presented my guardianship papers. The officers listened, but the complaint moved forward.

By the end of the week, we were in family court.