Chapter 8 - THE SEARCHMargaret and Arthur searched everywhere.
Train stations.
Bus terminals.
Emergency shelters.
Small motels.
Hospitals.
Arthur drove through the storm until his hands cramped around the steering wheel.
"Please," Margaret whispered. "Let us find them."
At 2:17 a.m., Arthur saw something beneath the lights of an abandoned gas station.
A woman.
Holding a baby.
Claire.
She was sitting on the pavement, soaked and shivering.
Leo was hidden beneath her coat.
Margaret jumped from the SUV.
"Claire!"
Claire flinched.
"Please don't take him."
Margaret fell to her knees.
"No."
She began crying.
"We came to bring you home."
Claire looked at her.
"Why should I trust you?"
Margaret could barely speak.
"Because I was wrong."
Arthur stepped forward.
"I was wrong too."
Rain streamed down his face.
"I treated you like an enemy when you were the only person who truly loved my brother."
Claire stared at them.
Then Leo began crying.
Margaret reached out.
Claire hesitated.
Finally, she let Margaret hold him.
The old woman pressed the baby against her chest.
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And for the first time since Daniel died, she felt something other than grief.
She felt hope.
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