Chapter 13 - THE MAN AT THE PARK BENCH
Ethan’s visits with Lily began in a public park.
A family therapist attended.
Rosa sat on another bench nearby.
The first visit lasted forty minutes.
Ethan brought no expensive gifts.
The therapist had advised him not to attempt to purchase closeness.
He brought sheet music and a small toy keyboard.
Lily pressed one key.
“It doesn’t sound like the big piano.”
“No.”
“The big piano has more room for the song.”
Ethan smiled.
“That is exactly right.”
He showed her the three-note melody.
She copied it.
Then she added two notes of her own.
“You changed it,” he said.
“I fixed it.”
By the fourth visit, Lily called him Ethan without being reminded.
By the seventh, she asked whether she could call him Dad.
He did not answer immediately.
He looked toward Rosa.
She nodded.
“You can call me whatever feels right,” he said.
Lily considered this.
“Dad Ethan.”
He laughed.
“That works.”
After the visit, Ethan approached Rosa.
“Columbia reinstated you.”
She looked surprised.
“How do you know?”
“The foundation received notice because it is funding the program.”
“I asked them to remove Caldwell funding from my scholarship.”
“I know.”
“Are you angry?”
“No.”
“I am proud of you.”
Rosa’s expression tightened.
“You do not get credit for my return.”
“I did not ask for it.”
She studied him.
He was learning.
Slowly.
Painfully.
But he was learning.
Ethan handed her a folder.
It contained the complete investigation into her canceled scholarship.
He had hired an independent firm.
The report named every person involved, including himself.
“I am submitting this to the university and the foundation board.”
“It may expose you to civil liability.”
“Yes.”
“Why show me first?”
“Because the story began with you.”
“You should control when your name becomes public.”
Rosa accepted the folder.
“Thank you.”
It was the first gratitude she had offered him since the kidnapping.
Ethan did not turn it into hope.
He returned to his car alone.
Across the street, Victoria watched from a parked vehicle.
She was not permitted to contact Ethan or Rosa.
She had followed them anyway.
A camera rested in her lap.
Beside it was a photograph of Lily entering Columbia’s childcare center.
Victoria lifted her phone.
May you like
“I know where the child will be on Monday,” she whispered.
The person on the other end was her father.
