She had no previous convictions
She had fully admitted her crime to ‘Florence’
She had volunteered the truth to the police (albeit eighteen years later)
The prosecution countered with:
‘Florence’ had never consented to being taken
She’d been kept in ignorance all these years
She’d been taken by fraud
The impact on her original parents was considerable
Hope listened in a daze. She sat up sharply when the three ‘Victims’ Personal Statements’ were read out.
Julius’s was full of vitriol and drama. In it, he claimed:
That baby thief not only stole our darling little newborn daughter, she stole our happiness and any chance we had of a contented and robust marriage. She ruined us.
Anna’s contained:
Although I have spent the last eighteen years looking for my daughter and it has been very difficult to live through this, I find comfort in the fact that I now know she has always been lovingly cared for.
‘Florence’s’ was full of:
I need to state that my mother, Hope, is the kindest, most nurturing person I know. There isn’t a better human in the world. I was shocked when I first found out about Anna and Julius, of course, and I didn’t want to believe it of her, but there is no doubt whatsoever that my heart is my mother’s. I have no intention of being Florence. I am now, and always will be, Minnie.
Anna was weeping and Julius was apoplectic with rage. He hated that he had to remain silent. And listen to all this inconvenient truth. She’d stolen their baby, for God’s sake!
Eventually the judge turned to address Hope.
‘Ms Parker,’ she started, ‘in the absence of any real mitigation for the terrible thing you did all those years ago, a young woman’s lifetime ago, and in light of the fact that no trace can be found of your partner in this crime – who I am led to believe disappeared back home to Africa and hasn’t been heard of since – I am compelled to classify yours as a “grave crime”, that of kidnapping and false imprisonment. The maximum sentence for this is life …’
The courtroom gasped. Doris let out a woeful moan. Julius clenched his fists.
‘However, having considered your defence and heard the statements, and with a partial credit for your guilty plea, I am reducing that to eighteen years. One for each of the child’s life. This very sorry case is dismissed.’
BOOM.
Hope always knew she would do time in prison. She hadn’t thought that it would be that much.
The whole courtroom stood up as the judge and other officials filed out. Hope looked up at the very ornate ceiling as if she might find some support there for her breaking heart. The police officer tapped her on the shoulder to lead her away, and as she turned her head, her eye caught sight of a figure silhouetted against the big window. He was standing still whilst all around were moving past him to leave. She blinked against the light.
Who was that familiar man?
Then she knew.
Older. Wider.
It was Isaac.
Anna and Hope: April
Anna sat at the table, waiting. She was extremely shaken. She’d never been in a place like this before, and she’d not ever imagined she would experience the strangeness of the last thirty minutes, where she’d been detained in the prison’s visitor centre while they double-checked the validity of her Visiting Order, requested that she put all personal belongings in a locker, checked her passport for ID and took her photo and fingerprints. She was then patted down back and front and left feeling as if she were herself a convict, and somehow humiliated.
The visitors’ room was large and grim with neon lights, plastic tables and chairs, and a joyless tea bar at one end. Anna had been warned to use the toilet in the visitors’ centre, which she had, but she was now acutely aware of needing it again. It was only nerves. She could cope.
She looked around. There were visitors waiting at only three other tables. That struck Anna as possibly the saddest sight she’d seen for years. This prison held over a thousand female inmates. Only four of them would have a visit today.
At least she knew Hope was willing to see her, because it was Hope who initially had to fill in the Visiting Order. She could’ve blankly refused, but she didn’t. So, here Anna was, waiting for her to come through the door.
Eventually, when she did, it wasn’t the momentous occasion Anna anticipated. Something about the surroundings dulled everything.
A woman came through the door.
The woman was Hope. That’s all.
She came over to Anna’s table. Anna stood up.
‘Hello,’ said Hope, nervously.
‘Hello,’ said Anna, nervously.
They sat down on opposite sides of the table. Two prison officers watched them and everyone else, from a distance.
‘Thank you for letting me come,’ Anna said quickly. ‘I wasn’t certain you would.’
‘Oh. YES. I definitely wanted this … moment,’ Hope replied, rather surprised. She felt she ought to be the one thanking Anna.
‘I suddenly don’t know what to say. I had a million questions. I don’t know what any of them are now. It sort of … doesn’t matter.’
‘It does matter, Anna. I took your baby. I should answer anything you want to know.’
‘I want to know … not why … I think I know that … but why you didn’t give her back?’
‘I couldn’t give her back. She was entirely mine in minutes. I loved her. I love her so completely, it would’ve been as unthinkable as stealing a baby. So I didn’t think about it. I let it all be normal. It was normal. She grew up in my family, they are her family, they love her and she loves them.’
‘But I loved her, Hope.’
‘Yes. I know. I had to forget that. I had to decide that my love was better than yours. That my home was better than yours. Trumped it.’
Anna was dumbfounded; all she could do was stare at Hope. Looking right into her.
Hope’s eyes
