Holidays are Hell(97)

I'll just bet he did, thought Zoe, cursing Xavier Archer, his greedy heart, his blackened soul. She smiled reassuringly. "I understand. Let me just help you with these."

They bent together and picked up what remained of the dinner Olivia had brought her sister. Turkey and stuffing, cranberries—half of which were splattered across the sidewalk—sweet potatoes and apple pie. Joanna's favorite.

"Quite a spread." Zoe murmured, keeping her head bowed to hide her tears.

"I made it all myself. I wanted her to have a proper meal—the food in here is just awful—and since she won't be home in time for the holiday, and Daddy won't let me come down on Thanksgiving Day…" she trailed off, obviously worried she'd said too much. Olivia had never been able to directly disobey Xavier's order, though she had recently begun to dodge them. As evidenced tonight.

"Well, you did a wonderful job," Zoe said, handing her a final container of gravy. She hesitated, then pressed, "Will Mr. Archer be joining you?"

Olivia flushed to her roots, then swallowed hard and lifted her heart-shaped chin. "Daddy doesn't know I'm here. I snuck away after he left for some party. If he finds out he'll have Brian fired for driving me, but I just had to see Joanna. It's her birthday. I couldn't let her be alone tonight. Thanksgiving maybe. But not her birthday. And not after she so recently…"

Was attacked, raped, beaten, left for dead…

"Had a baby?" Zoe said softly as she stood and handed a bag to Olivia. "Don't worry. I won't tell a soul."

Relief had the girl sagging a bit. "Thank you, Ms… I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

Zoe held open the door. "You can call me Traci."

"Thanks, Traci." Olivia walked through the door, but hesitated just on the other side, not looking back. "She won't talk about it with me."

"She can't. But she's a very brave girl." Zoe waited until Olivia did look back, and held her gaze there. "You're brave, too."

"Me?" Olivia immediately scoffed. "No I'm not. I… ran. I left her. I-I'm nothing."

"That's not true," Zoe said, so vehemently it had Olivia blinking in surprise. Zoe fought to work a blank expression on her face. "It's not. You're here, aren't you? Taking a chance that you'll get caught. Disobeying because you're right. You don't give yourself enough credit. From what I understand you saved Joanna because you did run, and fast. There was nothing more you could have done that night. You reacted perfectly to a perfectly horrible circumstance."

Olivia's beautiful face crumpled on itself and tears emptied out over her cheeks. She bit her lip to keep it from quivering, still trying to be brave. "When Jo gets out of here we're going to take a trip to Europe. It'll be a fresh start for her."

"For the both of you."

Olivia smiled through her tears. "For us all. For the baby, too. Dennis and Andie seem like wonderful people."

Zoe thought of the couple upstairs, clutching one another, a stuffed bunny, and long-held dreams of having a daughter. She nodded, but corrected Olivia. "You mean Dave and Andie."

Olivia looked at her oddly before shaking her head. "No, I mean Dennis and Andie. The McCormicks? Don't tell anyone but I looked them up on the computer." She shot Zoe a sheepish grin, though pride lurked beneath the look. "Actually, I hacked into the hospital's registry. I just had to see where my… the baby was going. I'm sure she'll be happy with them. Did you know they already have a name for her? Ashlyn. Isn't that lovely? I think it's a family name, but…"

But Zoe had stopped listening. She closed her eyes, and let the images come, fast and furious, as Olivia's airy voice faded to the background.

Nurse Nancy shutting the door on a grieving couple who'd just "lost" their adopted daughter. Dennis and Andie.

The same nurse warding off a handshake, just as Zoe would've done.

A couple anticipating the long-awaited arrival of their daughter, though, strangely, they hadn't yet agreed on a name.

Zoe dove for her briefcase, fumbling for the papers inside. Typed neatly at the top of the page: McCormick, Dennis and Andria.

Signed below: McCormick, Dave and Andie. Zoe was slow—stupidly inattentive—but she was suddenly catching up fast.

We're having the child moved…

"Oh, my God."

She lurched forward and grabbed at the door, Olivia's questioning alarm spiraling out behind her in the wide, deserted lobby. Midnight, Zoe thought, doing a mental head slap. A perfect time to snatch a child. She took the stairs two at a time, her briefcase banging awkwardly against her hip, her breath echoing in the stairwell.

"Nurse Nancy," Zoe said, slapping her palm on the counter in front of a tired-eyed nurse she'd never seen before. "Where is she?"