by Nicole Trope
‘Okay, then. I think we should start with dessert today.’ Alice gets out of the car and waits for Molly. When her sister is standing beside her, she grabs her quickly in a hug. ‘I’m so grateful you found me, so grateful you’re here,’ she says, her voice muffled against Molly’s coat.
‘Oh, Li,’ says Molly, unable to stop a few tears, ‘I’m grateful too.’
‘I won’t let you go again.’
‘As if I would let you,’ says Molly through her tears. ‘Now come on, I’m buying lunch today and you can get next time. I’m starving.’
‘I have something for you first,’ says Alice, and she extracts a picture from her pocket, well-worn and with fold lines running through it. It is of two girls. Molly can see the younger one is about a year old, which means, she knows, that the older one is nine. They are sitting in the garden on a summer’s day, smiling at the person taking the picture. Molly traces each face, noting the similarities there. It is her and her sister. Just an ordinary picture of two sisters, but pictures can lie.
‘And I know you have your own one, but I have this too,’ says Alice, and she reaches inside her handbag and pulls out Foggy wrapped in a frayed pink blanket. He is grubby and worn but Molly takes him and holds him to her face, and he still smells familiar, just like the blanket.
‘That’s why I went straight for it in the store. I thought I’d found him. I lost him and I thought I’d found him.’
Alice nods. ‘I’m happy you thought that. You loved him very much.’
‘Hello, Foggy number one,’ whispers Molly.
Alice looks at the picture Molly is holding. ‘She took the picture on one of her very rare good days, and it was the only one I could grab when I left home. I have looked at it secretly every day since then.’
‘Every day?’ repeats Molly, staring at her own little face, forming a possible picture of the baby to come. ‘Can I…?’ begins Molly.
‘It’s for you,’ says Alice.
‘I feel like I’m going to cry again but I don’t want to cry anymore. I’m tired of crying.’
‘Me too.’ Alice wipes her eyes and smiles. ‘Time for lunch.’
As they walk into the café, Molly shakes away the cemetery and thoughts of Margaret and Vernon.
It is just her now, just her and her sister, and they have, against all odds, both been saved.
Forty-Nine
Alice
* * *
I straighten the sign on my window and move my car forward a little.
My phone pings with an email and I glance down quickly. It’s from Molly. ‘Chapters for the new book’ is written in the subject line. It’s a novel about sisters. She writes brilliantly and I wait eagerly for new chapters every week. I will read these tonight and send her my thoughts.
I look up again. There are three cars ahead of me but Isaac is going for a burger with some friends so I don’t have to pick him up until much later.
I can see Gus and Gabe watching for my car.
I smile and wave, and both of them jump up and down and wave back.
Without thinking, I run my tongue along the new implant in my mouth. A tooth has been added, a gap has been filled and a memory released.
I inch my car forward again, smile widely at my boys and wait for them to open the car door.
Alice has been healed. Alice is whole. Alice is happy.
Epilogue
Molly shifts in her hospital bed, groaning as she feels her stitches pull. ‘I never thought it would be this hard,’ she says to Lexie, who laughs.
‘You’ll be surprised how quickly it gets better. You’ll be back to your old self in no time.’
‘I can’t wait to get home. I miss my bed.’
‘Don’t rush it, Moll. Once you’re home, you’re on your own.’
‘Peter’s taking a few weeks off.’
‘Ah, paternity leave, those blissful few weeks when you have a helper right there with you. When Owen went back to work, I think I cried for half the day.’
‘What did you do then?’
‘Called Mum of course.’
Molly laughs. ‘Of course.’
There is a knock at the door. ‘Is that Alice and the family?’ asks Lexie.
‘Yes, they’ve been dying to come but wanted to wait a couple of days.’
Lexie gets up from her chair and opens the door. Alice smiles brightly at her. ‘Hello, Lexie, is this a good time?’
‘Perfect, Peter just went to get a late lunch and I need to get Sophie from my mother so she can come and visit.’
‘Wonderful.’ The Stetson family crowds into the room. Molly sits up straighter, holding her arms out for Alice to give her a hug.
‘I’m so proud of you, darling. Peter told me you did so well,’ says Alice.
‘I certainly have a new respect for you doing it with twins – that pain was…’ Molly laughs.
Isaac is standing behind his mother and he screws up his face. ‘Sorry, Isaac,’ says Molly. ‘TMI. Come and meet your new cousin.’
‘Hands in your pockets, boys,’ Alice says to Gus and Gabe, who have been standing shyly by the door. Both boys eagerly shove their hands into their pockets and crowd around the bassinet. Isaac stands a safe distance away and glances inside.
‘She’s sooo tiny,’ says Gus. ‘Can I hold her?’
‘No, because you have too many germs,’ says Gabe. ‘Mum says we can when she’s a bit older.’
‘Look at her fingers, just look at her tiny fingers,’ says Gus. All three boys stare down at Lila, who is fast asleep despite the noise.
‘Does she do anything else except sleep?’ asks Gabe.
‘She cries,’ says Molly.
‘Oh.’ The boys look at their mother, clearly bored with their new cousin who hasn’t yet deigned to open her eyes.
‘Isaac, can you take the boys for a milkshake in the cafeteria, please?’ says Alice. She hands her eldest son some money.
‘Sure, let’s go, ratbags. See you soon, Aunt Molly.’
‘See you soon, Isaac,’ says Molly, still smiling at the novelty of tall Isaac calling her ‘aunt’.
‘I might tag along with them,’ says Jack. He folds his arms and then unfolds them and puts his hands behind his back. ‘Well done, Molly. I’ve had a word with Dr Bernstein and he says she’s textbook perfect… just perfect.’
‘Thank you, Jack. I hope you won’t mind a few panicked phone calls from a new mother.’
‘I’m always ready to help.’ Jack smiles before following the boys out.
‘So,’ says Alice, sitting down, ‘do you want to take me through the gory details?’
‘No,’ Molly laughs, ‘I think I’m good.’ She is not ready to tell the story just yet, not ready to share it with anyone as she keeps it close to her so she can marvel at her luck, at the miracle of her daughter.
She had been two days past her due date, uncomfortable but not enough to stop her from being out and about. ‘It’s because you’re a runner, just like me, and you haven’t stopped exercising,’ Alice told her in one of their twice daily phone calls. ‘You’re fit and strong.’
Molly had smiled at the words ‘just like me’, because the sisters are so similar. Molly can see an older version of herself every time she looks at Alice.
The night Lila arrived, Molly and Peter had been for a long walk and finished the evening with some spicy Thai food in an attempt to kick-start labour. Molly had fallen asleep easily but woken an hour later, fear gripping her heart, absolutely certain that something was wrong.
The baby wasn’t moving. She had tapped her stomach gently, something that usually led to a response from the child inside her, a kick or a small movement, but this time nothing happened. She had stared at the ceiling in the dark, creeping fear overtaking her for a few minutes before she knew she had to wake Peter.
‘Pete, Pete,’ she had said, prodding him with her elbow.
‘What?’ Peter mumbled, going from fast asleep to sitting bolt upright in the bed. ‘Is i
t time?’
‘She’s stopped moving.’ Ever since the eighteen-week ultrasound when both Molly and Peter had agreed they wanted to know the gender of the baby, they had alternately been referring to the baby as ‘she’ or by her full name, Lila Grace. Lila because they both loved the name and because Molly always wanted to remember that she was Lilly first, and Grace because she only existed by the grace of God.
‘Are you sure?’ Peter asked, switching on the bedside lamp and putting on his glasses. Molly nodded wordlessly, her hands around her stomach.
‘Dr Bernstein said she would move less now, she hasn’t got a lot of room.’
‘I know but she usually moves all night and now…’
‘Okay,’ said Peter, ‘let’s go to the hospital.’
Molly nodded and climbed out of bed, grateful that her husband had not tried to calm her down or reason away her fears. It would be the sixth time they had made a dash to the hospital in the middle of the night when Molly was worried, and she had stopped counting the number of times she had dropped by Dr Bernstein’s office during the day if she felt the baby was too quiet.
‘In for a quick check?’ his receptionist always said, a wide smile on her face. ‘Have a seat and he’ll be with you in a minute.’ And a minute was all it usually took for Dr Bernstein to locate the heartbeat and send Molly happily on her way. No one in her family, not Lexie or her parents or Alice or Peter, had tried to dissuade her from checking on the baby so much. Everyone understood. Of course they understood.
Molly dressed quickly in the dark but just as they were about to walk out the door, she was gripped by a contraction so strong it took her breath away.
‘Ooh,’ she moaned as she grabbed Peter’s hand and squeezed hard.
‘Right,’ he said when she felt the contraction release its hold, ‘I’ll get your bag. We’re coming home with a baby, Moll.’ He was unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.
Molly had only allowed herself to embrace the excitement of it when the monitor was strapped to her belly and they could hear Lila’s heartbeat safely echoing through the room.
Lila had been in a hurry to arrive, and two hours after they got to the hospital, Molly had asked for an epidural only to be told by the midwife that it was too late.
‘You’re ready to push, my love,’ the woman said. Molly liked her sensible grey hair and large strong arms. ‘I’ll page Dr Bernstein. He’s run off his feet tonight. Three babies, must be the full moon.’
And despite the pain of the seemingly never-ending waves of contractions, Molly laughed.
It took an hour but finally, when Molly felt that she could no longer push, Dr Bernstein helped Lila into the world. There was a moment of silence after she was out, when Molly again felt terrible fear grip her heart, but then baby Lila let out a wail and Molly shouted triumphantly, ‘You cry, baby girl, you cry.’
They placed the little baby on her chest and Peter leaned down to kiss her head. ‘Welcome,’ he whispered as his tears mingled with his child’s damp curls. ‘Welcome. Love you. Love you with all of my heart.’
Now Molly says, ‘I can’t believe it, really. I can’t believe how lucky I am. Even when she’s sleeping, I’m finding it hard to sleep because I keep checking to make sure she’s still there.’
‘She truly is a miracle, Molly,’ Alice agrees. ‘Try to rest when you can. Rest makes everything seem manageable.’
‘I know,’ Molly nods, ‘don’t worry, Peter and the nurses are watching me, and my mum too.’ She feels tears spill down her cheeks.
‘Oh, sweetie,’ says Alice, sitting on the bed and taking her hand.
‘Sorry, it’s just… I feel so strange calling her Mum in front of you.’
‘But she is your mum, more of a mum than Margaret ever was.’
‘I know.’
‘And you have me too. Wild horses won’t keep me away from my new niece. I never got to experience having a little girl. I can’t wait to shop for her. I’ll be over as many times a week as you’ll let me.’
‘You’re a good big sister,’ says Molly, and Alice laughs at the wonder of it all. At how much her life has changed, at everything she now has, at how far she has come from the terrified little girl she was, at the marvellous ways the universe works.
She laughs, even as more tears fall. She laughs.
If you’ve been blown away by the emotion, darkness and shocking secrets at the heart of The Nowhere Girl, then you need to read Nicole’s breathtaking bestseller The Boy in the Photo. In this powerful tale, a mother’s stolen son is returned to her – but that’s just the beginning of the heartbreak.
* * *
Get it here! But be warned, you’ll need tissues.
The Boy in the Photo
She becomes aware of the silence at the other end of the line. A prickling sensation crawls up her arms. Her heart speeds up. ‘Found who?’ she asks, slowly, carefully, deliberately.
‘They found Daniel.’
* * *
Six years ago
* * *
Megan waits at the school gates for her six-year-old son, Daniel. As the playground empties, panic bubbles inside her. Daniel is nowhere to be found. Her darling son is missing.
* * *
Six years later
* * *
After years of sleepless nights and endless days of missing her son, Megan finally gets the call she has been dreaming about. Daniel has walked into a police station in a remote town just a few miles away.
* * *
Megan is overjoyed – her son is finally coming home. She has kept Daniel’s room, with his Cookie Monster poster on the wall and a stack of Lego under the bed, in perfect shape to welcome him back. But when he returns, there is something different about Daniel…
* * *
According to the police, Daniel was kidnapped by his father. After his dad died in a fire, Daniel was finally able to escape. Desperate to find out the truth, Megan tries to talk to her little boy – but he barely answers her questions. Longing to help him heal, Megan tries everything – his favourite chocolate milkshake, a reunion with his best friend, a present for every birthday missed – but still, Daniel is distant.
* * *
And as they struggle to connect, Megan begins to suspect that there is more to the story. Soon, she fears that her son is hiding a secret. A secret that could destroy her family…
* * *
A heartbreaking, emotional and poignant drama about a family in turmoil. Fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty and Linda Green – this moving novel is for you.
* * *
Get it here!
Hear More from Nicole
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Books by Nicole Trope
My Daughter’s Secret
The Boy in the Photo
The Nowhere Girl
Available in Audio
My Daughter’s Secret (Available in the UK and US)
The Boy in the Photo (Available in the UK and US)
A Letter from Nicole
Hello,
I would like to thank you for taking the time to read The Nowhere Girl. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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For a long time, I was told to ‘write what you know’, but that never really worked for me. Instead I write what I fear.
I write about families in crisis, about lives changing in the blink of an eye and about people who somehow manage to survive very difficult situations.
I think it must be difficult for readers to sometimes find that the same themes are repeated in many books, especially when they are about the lives of women. The idea of domestic violence and child a
buse seem to come up again and again. Because I am a reader, I understand that feeling. But as a writer I would have to say that these themes come up again and again because we, as a society, have yet to get this right.
We have so many systems in place and yet women are still killed by their partners and children are still physically and sexually abused by those who are supposed to care for them. Until we find a way to stop that happening, I believe that writers will have to keep telling these stories. Like Molly, I don’t want these children to simply be statistics, or a short article in the newspaper that people shake their heads at and forget about. I want to make their pain real, their experiences visceral and the truth of their damaged little lives something that people cannot forget.
I have loved writing about the bond of sisterhood and family, and I hope you’ve enjoyed Molly’s, Lexie’s, Alice’s and even Margaret’s stories – as sad as they may be. These characters live on in my head and heart and I hope it is the same for you.
I usually end my novels on a note of hope because that’s what I want for the world and for those women and children who suffer.
If you have enjoyed this novel, it would be lovely if you could take the time to leave a review. I read them all, and on days when I question whether or not I have another book in me, they lift me up and help me get back to work.