No answer.
“Where’s your mom?”
Still nothing.
Her eyes flicked to my hands—and then she began signing.
Dana noticed first. “She uses sign language.”
The girl’s hands moved faster, urgent but controlled. Dana caught pieces: “Scared… hid… bed…”
Mia stepped closer. “I dropped my teddy. When I bent down, I saw her eyes.”
No wonder she panicked.
The girl signed again, then pointed toward the front door.
“Someone outside?” I asked.
She nodded, then shook her head, frustrated.
“We’re missing something,” Luis muttered.
The girl slipped off the couch and hurried to the door, pointing at it again and again.
Then the doorknob turned.
A woman rushed in, clutching a pharmacy bag. The moment she saw the girl, everything else disappeared.
“Polly!” she cried.
The child ran to her, clinging tightly. The woman dropped to her knees, hugging her, kissing her hair over and over. Then she looked up at us—and realization hit.
“Oh no…”
“You’re her mother?” Dana asked.
“Yes. I’m Marisol. I’m Mia’s nanny.”
Mia looked at her, confused. “You left me, Miss Marie?”
Marisol’s eyes filled with tears. “I only went to the pharmacy, sweetheart. Polly had a fever. My mother’s out of town, and I had no one else. I brought her with me, told her to stay in the kitchen. I thought I’d be back before you woke up.”
“And she wandered upstairs,” Luis said.
Marisol covered her mouth.
“You left two children alone,” I said.
“I know,” she whispered. “I thought I’d be gone just a few minutes.”
“Do you understand what could have happened?”
“Yes.”
Behind me, Mia spoke softly. “I thought someone bad was under my bed.”
“I’m so sorry,” Marisol said.
Once Polly got her medicine, everything became clear.
She’d wandered upstairs, seen Mia’s toys. When Mia stirred, Polly panicked and hid. Mia woke, dropped her teddy, and saw eyes staring back at her.
