FOUND IN THE RAIN

EPISODE5

She woke to the smell of butter and sugar. She didn't know where she was. The ceiling was wrong. The sheets were soft. The sun was coming in from the wrong side. And then she heard Lily's happy voice from down the hall. Emma followed the smell. Alex was at the stove, making pancakes shaped like castles. Lily was sitting on the counter next to him, intently watching. Powdered sugar covered both of them. Alex had some on his shoulder; he didn't know it. "Mommy, Daddy's making a castle with towers", Lily said. Emma leaned against the doorway to watch them. This man, who'd found them in a rainstorm, was now making her daughter breakfast. He had powdered sugar on his expensive shirt. He saw her and smiled, so she leaned back harder. "Sit down", he said. "Almost done." "You don't have to —" "I know. Sit down anyway." So she did. His phone buzzed on the counter. He looked at it. His hand hovered over the stove. "Alex", Emma said. He set down the spatula and picked up the phone. He listened, then his face froze. "Someone broke into your apartment last night", he said. "They popped the locks. Didn't take anything." Emma put her palms flat on the tabletop. "They wrote something on the wall", he said. He raised his eyes. She's ours now. The kitchen fell silent. Lily was still talking about the towers. She hadn't heard. Alex started moving fast, phone to his ear, speaking softly into it, pulling a bag from the hall closet. For a moment, Emma just watched him. Then she went to Lily. "Guess what?" Emma said. "We're going on a trip. Right now." Lily looked up and shone with excitement. "Where?" "Daddy's house in the woods." Daddy slid out of her mouth easily. Lily started to shriek and pack every single one of her stuffed animals.

The cabin was four hours from the city. You got there by driving on narrow roads that wound through bare trees. Inside the cabin, the air smelled like wood smoke and had a cool freshness. A log in the fireplace glowed orange, as if someone had been there recently.

Lily immediately decided the upstairs was hers. "It's a princess tower", she announced, not budging.

Emma stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment, listening. Lily's voice came from upstairs, drifting down. She was talking to herself, moving things around, and claiming spots. That's just what Lily did in new places. She'd show up and make them hers before anyone else could. Emma put her hand on the wall. The wood felt cool and solid.

Outside, the trees looked strange. Emma didn't recognize the roads or the nighttime sounds of the forest. Still, inside, a fire was burning low, Lily's voice echoed from upstairs, and a warm smell filled the air. No cars drove by. No unknown calls came in. No envelopes were slipped under the door. Emma stayed there longer than she needed to. She was not counting anything. For the first time in a long time, she felt no need to.

Alex came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. His chin touched her temple.

"We'll figure it out", he said.

"You say that a lot", she replied.

"Because it's always true."

She covered his hands with hers.

Outside, a branch snapped, loud and uncomfortably close. Alex stiffened.

"Stay inside", he said. "Take Lily. Don't open any doors."

He left before she could respond.

Emma quickly went upstairs. Lily had lined up her three stuffed animals on the bed, deciding which was most important.

"Come here", Emma said. "We're playing hide."

"Like the game?"

"Yes. Hide and seek." Emma pulled Lily toward a corner behind the bed. Sitting on the floor, she held Lily close. "The rule is we stay quiet and still. Can you do that?"

"For how long?"

"Until I say."

Lily nodded, burying her face in Emma's shoulder.

Minutes passed slowly. Emma counted. She reached three hundred forty when she heard the front door open.

"All clear."

She waited another ten seconds before moving.

Alex stood in the doorway. His shirt was torn at the shoulder. His knuckles were cut and bleeding.

"It's handled", he said, his voice flat.

Emma walked across the room. She took his injured hand in both of hers and turned it over.

"We need to clean this", she said.

"Emma — "

"Bathroom. Come on."

She washed the blood from his knuckles. Then, she remembered something. Turning off the water, she took a folded paper from her cardigan pocket. She had printed it two weeks earlier, not sure what to do with it.

She held it out to him.

He read it. His face turned pale.

Taking a breath, she held the paper. "It came from the hospital records request." Someone needed to stay calm. She decided that person would be her. "The specialist ordered it when Lily had her heart scare last year. It was a standard test. But one result did not match. They ran it again." She paused. "There was a mix-up at the hospital. The night Lily was born. Two baby girls. Same ward, same night, same time."

He looked up from the paper.

"Somewhere", she said, "another woman is raising your daughter."

He stood without moving. Emma heard the fire crackle and Lily's voice upstairs. Life went on around them.

Alex put the paper on the sink. He turned to the window, hands in his pockets, staring at the dark trees.

She waited.

When he turned back, his eyes were red. He stood for a moment, his jaw working. "Okay."

“We find them. We figure out what's right.”

He walked across the room and hugged her. She pressed her face against his shoulder.

"But she is ours", he said into her hair. "Whatever happens next — Lily is ours. Do you understand? She is ours."

Emma closed her eyes.

"Yes", she said. "She is."