He Stole Her Bouquet and Brought Her Brother's Name

CHAPTER 3 - THE RIDE TO THE HOSPITAL

Emma did not remember taking off her veil.

She only remembered handing her bouquet to the stunned wedding coordinator and saying, "Call everyone inside. Tell them the ceremony is delayed."

Then she looked at Daniel.

"If you want me to trust you," she said, "come with me."

The drive to St. Bartholomew's Hospital was silent except for Leo's breathing from the back seat and the ticking signal light at red lights. Emma sat beside the boy. Daniel drove.

Twice she caught him checking the mirror.

"How do you know my brother?" she asked Leo gently.

"He raised me," Leo said.

Daniel's hands tightened on the wheel.

Emma turned. "Raised you?"

Leo nodded. "He's not my real dad. My mom died when I was four. He found me in a shelter in Lyon. He said nobody should grow up feeling thrown away."

Emma pressed her palm to her mouth.

That sounded like Noah. Even as a teenager, he had been the one collecting broken things and trying to mend them. Stray dogs. Cracked radios. Her after their mother died.

At the hospital, the front desk nurse looked up at Emma's dress and Daniel's formal jacket, then at Leo's tear-streaked face. "Can I help you?"

"We're here for Noah," Emma said.

The nurse checked a screen. "Noah Bennett was admitted this afternoon. Cardiac episode. He asked repeatedly for his sister."

Emma felt the world tilt.

The nurse pointed them upstairs.

Outside Noah's room, an older woman in a wool coat stood from a plastic chair. Her eyes fixed on Emma's bracelet and then softened with recognition.

"You have his face," she whispered.

Emma stared. "Who are you?"

"Clara. I've been his friend for years." Her gaze shifted to Daniel, and the softness vanished. "He told me if Emma ever came, I was to give her this before that man could stop me."

She held out a sealed envelope with Emma's name on it.

And on the back, in Noah's unmistakable crooked handwriting, were three words:

Don't trust Daniel.