The Woman Wakes
Chapter 13 - The Woman Wakes
Lena woke in the hospital just after sunset.
Miller stood outside her room with Ruiz and a uniformed guard. They had already been told she was weak, exhausted, and allowed only short questioning. Miller had no intention of treating her like a suspect, no matter how many expensive attorneys tried to write that story before morning.
When he entered, Lena turned her head.
“The baby?”
“Safe,” he said. “Medical check was good. She’s at the station under protection until emergency custody is sorted.”
Lena closed her eyes in relief.
“Ethan?”
“Also safe.”
A tear slipped down her temple. “I put too much on him.”
“You gave him the only job that could save her.”
Lena looked at him then. “The cards?”
“We have them.”
“All?”
“Enough to start.”
Her fingers tightened on the sheet. “There are more.”
Miller leaned closer.
“Where?”
Lena’s breathing shook. “Not in the garden. In the seed library. Basement of the church. Behind the drawer marked winter beans.”
Ruiz, standing near the door, wrote it down.
Lena swallowed. “They’ve been placing babies for years. Some mothers were tricked. Some pressured. Some told their babies died. Hope’s mother changed her mind. They wouldn’t let her.”
Miller’s jaw tightened.
“Where is Hope’s mother?”
Lena looked away.
That answer was not ready.
Miller did not push. Not yet.
Lena whispered, “I promised I’d get Hope out.”
“You did.”
“No,” she said, eyes filling. “Ethan did.”
May you like
Miller thought of the boy in the station, wet and shaking, carrying a newborn like a sacred mission.
“Yes,” he said. “He did.”
