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“I need to see her.”
“You will, but first, let me talk to her.”
Michael leaned forward. “What if she says no?”
Elaine was honest. “Then you need to let her say no today.”
I hated that answer.
But I understood it.
We gave Elaine our hotel information.
Then we left.
Walking away from that cafe while Nora was alive inside it was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
Michael cried in the hotel room.
I had seen him cry before.
Not like that.
“What if she disappears again?”
“She won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
We waited.
At seven that evening, my phone rang.
Elaine said, “She wants to see you.”
Twenty minutes later, we were in a quiet room behind the cafe.
Then the door opened.
Nora walked in.
For several seconds, none of us moved.
She looked at me.
Then Michael.
Her face crumpled. “I’m sorry.”
I crossed the room before I even knew I had moved.
I hugged her.
She went stiff for half a second.
Then she collapsed against me.
She was crying so hard I could barely understand her.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
I held her face. “Stop.”
“I left.”
“You were 16.”
“I left with him.”
“You did your best.”
“I should have come home.”
“You are safe now. That’s all that matters.”
She looked at me like she didn’t understand.
Michael wrapped both arms around us.
“We believe you,” he said.
Nora looked at him. “All of it?”