‘I’m coming in now, chica,’ she cried out. ‘Don’t be afraid.’
She climbed over the windowsill and fell to the floor beneath the window. There was a telephone sitting on the end table beside the sofa. She grabbed up the receiver and dialed 911.
‘What is your emergency?’ asked the operator.
Dominga explained that there was a woman lying on the floor. The operator told her to check for a pulse, but Dominga had already crawled over to the prostrate woman and was holding her free finger and thumb on her wrist. ‘It’s faint,’ she reported, ‘but she’s alive.’
The operator recited the address, and asked if it were correct. For a moment, Dominga was flummoxed. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I just heard a child crying and came in. It’s near the corner of 50th and Chestnut.’
The operator assured her that there was help on the way. ‘In the meantime . . .’
‘I know what to do in the meantime. I’m a soldier. I was in Iraq,’ Dominga said abruptly. ‘Just tell them to hurry.’
‘Miss Mamie,’ the child wailed.
‘Don’t be afraid,’ Dominga said, as she positioned the old woman’s head so that her throat was open, cleared her mouth out and began to compress her chest. ‘Miss Mamie’s going to be OK.’
Oblivious to the drama unfolding at Mamie’s house, Hannah and Adam ate heartily from the soul-food buffet which had been laid out in Father Luke’s honor. They each had a couple of drinks, and even danced a few times. When, after their last dance, they returned hand in hand to the table they were sharing with Frank and Kiyanna, Kiyanna smiled complicity at Hannah.
‘You two are cute as can be,’ she said.
‘Thanks,’ said Hannah.
‘How long have you been married?’
Hannah waved the question away. ‘A looong time,’ she said.
‘And Cindy is your only child?’
Hannah moved the straw in her drink around and took it between her lips as if this were an operation requiring great concentration. ‘Yes,’ she said.
Kiyanna nodded thoughtfully, not wanting to pry but clearly curious.
‘We’d just about given up hope when she came along,’ Hannah explained.
‘She’s really a sweet little girl.’
‘Thanks,’ said Hannah. She didn’t want to talk about this subject but she didn’t want to be rude to Kiyanna, who had been nothing but kind to Sydney ever since Hannah had been bringing her to Restoration House.
‘What about you?’ Hannah said. She glanced over at Frank, who was picking out a piece of pie from the dessert buffet. ‘Are you two . . . together?’
Kiyanna sighed, and gazed at Frank. ‘Yeah. Yeah. We are.’
‘At work you’re very . . .’
‘Businesslike,’ said Kiyanna. ‘Yeah, we try to be cool about it.’
‘Is it serious?’
Kiyanna smiled bashfully. ‘Yeah, I think it is.’
Hannah nodded. ‘You make a nice couple.’
Kiyanna frowned. ‘Frank was married when he went to Iraq. When he came home, she’d found somebody else. He’s still got some trust issues.’
‘Well, trust is essential,’ Hannah admitted.
‘I’m trying to convince him to go with it,’ said Kiyanna, stirring her drink.
‘I’ve seen him work with those vets. He has such a good heart,’ said Hannah. She glanced over at her husband, who was deep in conversation with the thin, anemic-looking Father Luke, and his large, brown-skinned partner, the party’s host, Spencer White. ‘Alan and I have been through a lot together,’ she said. ‘A lot.’
Not long after that, Adam suggested they should think about getting home. They had Sydney to think about. Hannah agreed, and they said their goodbyes to the festive group.
The streets were quiet at that hour, except for the occasional boom box passing by, or motorcycles or arguments in doorways as they passed. The city. Hannah had never expected to enjoy life in the city but there was something about it that appealed to her, even though they had chosen it mainly for anonymity’s sake.
‘Did you have a good time?’ she said to Adam.
Adam nodded. ‘I did,’ he said. ‘I like the people you work with. They seem like nice people.’
‘They are,’ said Hannah. ‘I like them too.’
‘I like being out with you, again,’ he said.
Hannah smiled at him ruefully. ‘I know what you mean. I felt almost guilty having fun.’
‘Maybe our life is going to get some semblance of normalcy at last,’ he said.
‘You think they’ll have a party at Geek Squad headquarters?’
Adam shook his head. ‘They really aren’t into real people. They like to party with their avatars. No need to get cleaned up.’
Hannah laughed and squeezed his hand as they turned the corner onto 50th Street. And then she gasped. ‘Adam. Look.’
He had already seen it. An ambulance. And the blazing lights of police cars.
‘That looks like our house,’ Hannah said.
‘Not necessarily,’ said Adam.
But Hannah had already broken into a run. The closer she got, the more convinced she was that the emergency vehicles were parked outside Mamie’s house. ‘Please, God,’ she said. ‘Let Sydney be all right. Oh, we should never have left her, should never have gone out.’
She was breathless by the time she arrived at the house. She could hear Adam’s footsteps pounding on the pavement behind her. She ran up to the crowd of police, and saw at once the open bay on the ambulance. She grabbed the arm of the nearest officer. She could hardly form the words.
‘My daughter? What happened? Where is she?’
The officer turned to her with a serious look on his face. ‘Are you the little girl’s mother?’
‘Yes. Where is she?’ Tears rose to Hannah’s eyes. ‘Is she all right? What happened?’
‘She’s all right. She’s right over
