“Basically, they came to my parents stating they wanted my baby. My baby. And my parents were so relieved to have the dirty business done with that they said yes without even telling me. Joe and Dolly came into my bedroom and told me they were going to take the baby the day it was born.”

Lovey wiped her eyes again, and the tears started anew.

“They walked into my life like I had something to sell and they wanted it for free. That night I seriously thought about running away, but then asked myself…run where? Run to who? I couldn’t take care of myself. How was I going to take care of a baby? So I quit fighting it. I never once said the word yes to my parents or the Raineses. I just signed the paper the day you were born and waited to die.”

Sully was too choked up to speak, and he needed to hear the rest of the story. He’d come all this way to find out what happened that made her leave.

“Then the weirdest thing happened,” Lovey said, and reached out and stroked the side of Sully’s face. “About an hour later, Joe and Dolly returned, but my parents were with them. My mother informed me that I would be going home with the Raines family as the baby’s wet nurse. While the Raineses were at work, I was to consider myself a kind of nanny, and they would give me room and board until you were weaned.”

Sully stopped her. “Before you continue, I’m going to say this now. During my search, I’d already figured out Janie Chapman was one hell of a survivor. And now I’m learning how truly tough and special you are. I know you were there with me for six months, and then you just disappeared. I came looking for you to ask you one question.”

Lovey lifted her chin. “Ask away.”

“I need to know what happened. Why did you leave so abruptly?”

Lovey sighed. “There’s a little backstory to this, so let me begin there. Ironically, my parents died of carbon-monoxide poisoning when you were about two months old, so technically, I would be dead, too, if I hadn’t been living with Joe and Dolly. With the help of the family lawyer, I buried them, sold the family house, and banked a little money that turned out to be my saving grace. But the break between the Raineses and me happened when you were six months old. You’d been babbling for some time, and Joe and Dolly thought it was adorable. They’d made a bet between them as to whether you would say ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ first. Only when you finally said it, you said ‘mama,’ and you said it to me.”

“Oh no,” Sully said. He knew immediately what that would mean to adoptive parents.

Lovey shuddered. “It was a rude awakening for the both of them. They’d left all of your care to me and in doing so left you and me wide open to the unbreakable bond of a child to his mother. That night after I put you to bed, Dolly walked into my bedroom, told me to pack my bags and get out, and said she didn’t want to ever see my face again.”