I looked at the letter.
“Did he know I’d reported him missing?”
Hannah hesitated.
“Did he tell you about me?”
“Yes. I didn’t learn that until much later.”
“How much later?”
“Last year.”
I took a breath.
“We’ll talk about that. First, I want to hear his voice.”
Hannah handed me her phone.
“How much later?”
Lucas answered on the third ring.
“Hannah?”
“Lucas, it’s Mom.”
Silence.
Then I heard his voice.
“Mom?”
“Are you safe?”
“Hannah?”
“Yes.”
“Then come this afternoon. I need to hear what happened from you. I won’t send you away.”
His voice cracked.
“I’ll be there.”
Afterward, I asked Hannah about the twins.
“They’ve eaten,” she said. “Layla might need changing soon.”
“I won’t send you away.”
“Tell me what to do.”
Hannah showed me how to hold them. Abby had Lucas’s nose, and Layla kept turning toward her sister’s voice.
