Turning from him, she focused her gaze straight ahead. "I can't help but feel like I betrayed her; I put her in the arms of that woman, I let go of her. I should have taken her and ran."

He shifted toward her until not an inch stood between them. Reaching out, he wrapped both arms around her as she crumbled before. He sat there, trying to keep her from falling apart.

"Gretchen,” He began. "Remember the day you left California? Sharon had just fallen down the stairs and with a pregnancy; our baby was put in danger. I remember threatening to kick you out of the door because you had a job offer to accept in a few days but you were willing to reject it to stay by my side in that moment."

"You wouldn't let me stay!" She cried.

He chuckled softly. "Still, I held on to your words. You had looked me in the eyes and had said very sternly, 'Write. Write to tell me how it all turns out and how you're getting yourself a lovely baby.' You had been so confident that everything was going to turn out to be just fine." He kissed the top of her head and whispered, "Write, Gretchen. Write to tell me how it all turns out, and how you got your baby back.”

And with that, they held on to each other and he hoped his words were powerful enough to give her strength. More than anything, he hoped they would find Ellie and bring her home.

Chapter Twenty Seven

Gretchen had been sitting on that cold stone front porch for hours, hoping that Ethan would return with Ellie. It wasn't as if she wanted to remain rooted to her position on the stair, it was that she found it impossible to move. Her entire body felt weak and her legs felt like jelly. So, she sat still, locked in the arms of Matthew who hadn't said another word in hours. They both didn't speak, yet, she suspected that their minds were plagued with the same heart wrenching thoughts.

She pulled her eyelids shut and took a deep breath, hoping she'd open her eyes and find Ellie in her arms. She longed to open her eyes and find that everything that had occurred in the past few hours had been nothing but a really bad dream. But the longer she sat there with her eyes closed, the more real it all seemed —Ellie was truly gone! She was snatched by a woman who hadn't seemed to care in the beginning. What changed? What did Juliet want?! —she wanted to yell but swallowed instead. She knew Juliet didn't want Ellie; it was pretty obvious when the woman dumped the child on the front porch. Did Juliet return because she didn't want Gretchen and Ethan to get married?