Unleashed

Prologue

Lighting flashed as the rain poured down.  Inside the nursery, the woman had just gotten her baby girl to settle into sleep when she heard a pounding on her door.  She wrapped her robe more tightly around her body as she moved to the front of the house and peered warily through the blinds.  There on her porch she saw a familiar, if disheveled, figure, clutching a bundle of blankets to his chest.  He was peering behind him into the dark of the night, water running in rivulets down his face from his drenched hair.  She unlocked the door and opened it.

“Thank God,” he breathed, turning to face her, relief evident on his face.

“What are you doing here, Jonah?” she asked the man.

“I need to ask you a favor,” he responded, and she opened her mouth to protest but he continued, cutting her off.  “I know you never really forgave me for what happened between us, but I don’t have anywhere else to go.  Lauren is setting a false trail right now, but this storm is the only reason they haven’t figured it out yet.  The longer I stay, the more I put you, and her, at risk.  So please.  I’m begging you.  Will you take in my daughter?”

The woman’s eyes went wide as she looked at the bundle in the man’s arms, where sure enough, a little baby girl slept peacefully, swaddled in layers of blankets.  She met the man’s eyes, seeing the desperation there, but also the love he clearly had for this little child.

“Is she…like you?” the woman asked, swallowing nervously.

The man smiled down at his daughter.  “She is her father’s daughter.  But Nelly, you have to keep her hidden.  No one can know, or else you’ll be in grave danger.  I know I’m asking so much of you, but it’s the only choice I have.  If you don’t…they’ll kill her.”

The woman looked back at the peaceful little girl, and thought of her own daughter, asleep in the nursery.  She would be devastated if anything happened to her.  She couldn’t let the same happen to this child, no matter what.  The woman sighed in resignation, “I’ll take her.”

“Thank you, oh thank you so much,” the man breathed.  Looking down at the bundle in his arms, he gave his daughter one last kiss on the forehead.  “Daddy loves you forever baby girl.  Never forget that.”

He passed the bundle to the woman, who gathered the little girl in her arms and rocked her gently.  He smiled sadly at the sight, slowly backing away.  Just before he disappeared into the dark, stormy night, the woman stopped him.

“Wait!  What’s her name?”

He smiled again.  “Elysia.”  Then he was gone.

The woman closed the door against the storm and turned the lock again, then carried the little girl to the nursery and changed her into a warm, dry onesie.  The little girl barely stirred as she settled into her new home.