Would You Stay Anyway?

I read the sentence twice before I looked at Daniel.

"Who found them?"

"I don't know everyone involved. I know someone was following Elena before the crash."

"How?"

"She called Sofia this afternoon. She thought the same car had been outside her grandmother's building twice. Sofia asked her to stay inside. Elena had already left."

"Where was she going?"

"To meet me."

Marco straightened.

Daniel noticed. "I didn't arrange the crash. I asked her to bring copies of documents Sofia had left with Rosa. She offered because I was already in Chicago."

"What documents?"

"Old letters. Records of payments. My brother worked as a courier for Antonio. He kept copies of things he thought Sofia might need if she ever came forward."

Rosa made a small sound. "You shouldn't have involved her."

"I know," Daniel said. He didn't defend himself. "I thought a meeting in a public place was safe."

The simplicity of that mistake frightened me more than a conspiracy would have. Adults made decisions. Children lived inside the consequences.

Hannah took Rosa toward recovery. Marco stayed with us.

"Start with your brother," I said.

Daniel's brother Elliot had worked for my uncle's office. He had seen intercepted mail and instructions to monitor Sofia. When he left the organization, he kept copies. Later, Daniel helped her move west.

"You were her partner?"

"No. Her friend."

"Why would you risk that much for her?"

"My brother asked me to help. After I met her, I didn't need him to ask again."

I disliked him for that answer, which told me something unpleasant about myself.

"Did she marry anyone?"

"No."

"Was there someone else?"

He looked at me for a long moment.

"You need to ask her that."

I had no right to the jealousy that moved through me. It came anyway, sharp and familiar.

"Sofia was certain you were Elena's father," Daniel continued. "She wasn't with anyone else when she became pregnant. But certainty doesn't replace a test."

"Then we'll have one."

"When Elena understands what you're asking."

I almost told him I didn't need instructions.

Then I imagined a girl waking from surgery to discover that strangers had made another decision about her body and her life.

"When she understands," I agreed.

Marco's phone vibrated. He stepped outside and returned with news from hospital security.

Someone had tried to enter an administrative records area using an invalid badge. Security had turned him away. The footage showed the same scarf-covered man who had asked about Elena.

"The hospital reported it," Marco said. "They've restricted access."

"Keep our current team available to assist. Nobody from Antonio's old office."

He nodded.

"You trust him?" Daniel asked after Marco left.

"With my life."

"What about hers?"

I looked toward the hallway.

"He'll follow the hospital's lead."

Daniel sat back. "Good."

I opened Sofia's letter.

Luca,

I don't know what you've been told. Elena is eleven now. She likes drawing houses with too many windows and pretending she doesn't care whether anyone watches her school plays.

I stopped reading.

Eleven.

That year I had opened a restaurant, buried two men, and bought a house too large for one person. Somewhere, my daughter had stood on a school stage looking at a door.

I folded the letter before I reached the part that might undo me completely.

Hannah found us a few minutes later.

"Enzo's surgery is finished," she said. "He's stable. You can see him briefly."

I went at once.

He looked wrong lying still. Enzo usually filled a room with complaints, opinions, and the irritating assurance that he knew me better than I knew myself.

"You look awful," I told him.

His eyes moved beneath his lids.

"You too," he whispered.

I laughed once, badly.

"Who did this?"

A nurse checked his monitor. "Keep it short."

Enzo's fingers tightened against the blanket.

"Don't trust the one who brings the truth."

"Who?"

But he was already drifting away. The nurse motioned me back.

I left with one more sentence I didn't understand.

Daniel listened without interrupting when I told him.

"Does he mean you?" I asked.

"I don't know. Ask him when he's well enough to answer."

It was the first sensible response I had heard to a warning all night.

Rosa appeared before I could question him further.

"She's awake. She asked about you."

Everything in me stopped.

"What did you tell her?"

"That you helped. That you're still here."

"Does she know my name?"

"She's known your name for years, Luca."

At Elena's door, Hannah put a hand on my arm.

"She's exhausted. No interrogation."

"I understand."

"And don't make promises just because you're frightened."

I looked through the glass.

"I'll try."

Elena lay beneath a white blanket, oxygen tubing under her nose. Her eyes followed me as I entered.

"Are you Luca?"

"Yes."

"Grandma says you offered your blood."

"I did. The blood center will decide whether they can use it."

"And you got the other blood here?"

"A courier did. Doctors saved you. I helped with a car."

Her mouth moved slightly. "An expensive car?"

"A truck, actually."

"That's less impressive."

I sat in the chair beside her bed. My hands were shaking, so I folded them together.

"Do you know my mother?"

"I knew her. I'd like to know her again."

"She says you're dangerous."

"She had reasons to say that."

"Are you?"

I could have offered a reassuring lie. Her eyes were too much like Sofia's for that.

"I've done things I'm not proud of."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes," I said. "But I don't want you frightened of me."

She considered that.

"Did you know about me?"

"No."

"Would you have come?"

My throat closed.

"Yes."

Rosa turned her face toward the window.

"You think you're my father?"

"I think I might be. We can find out when you're ready."

Elena studied my face as though looking for something more useful than resemblance.

"Would you still stay if I wasn't your daughter?"

"Yes."

"People say things in hospitals."

"I know."

"People say things when they feel guilty, too."

"I know that as well."

"Are you guilty?"

I looked at the small hand resting on the blanket.

"For some things. For not listening when I should have. For believing other people knew what was best."

Her fingers moved toward the edge of the mattress. I put my hand nearby without taking hers.

After a moment, she touched me.

"I want my mom."

"She's coming."

"She has a blue box," Elena whispered. "She brought it when she came back from Oregon."

"What's inside?"

"I don't know."

Her eyelids grew heavy. Hannah moved closer.

"Luca?"

"I'm here."

"If she gives you the box, don't open it alone."