ELIZABETH
I was walking on air lately and it was all because of Dalton. Maybe it was because we were both more mature and at a better place in our lives, but dating him was so different from any other dating experience I had before. The mental list of reasons I didn’t want to date anybody was irrelevant because he showed me that not all men were like that. Slowly, but surely, he was restoring my faith in love. Being around the rest of his friends, who were now my friends, also helped. They were all in such loving relationships, well Emory was single and going through her own thing, but I was even starting to believe that she’d end up finding somebody as well.
We waited about a week after our night out to tell the girls that we were dating. Dalton took Katie to her favorite restaurant and brought the topic up gently. He said that she was a bit quiet after he told her, but she didn’t say anything negative about us dating. When they got home that evening, I asked him if I could talk to her. I brought over ice cream and we sat in her room and talked about what it meant for her dad and me to be dating. Katie was such a sweet girl; even though she never knew her mom, she still loved her.
Brandi would be so proud of her daughter. I didn’t know what it was like to lose a parent, but I figured that one of her biggest worries was that I would try to replace her mom. I ensured she knew that even if I was with her dad, her mom was still always her mom. While I didn’t want to promise too much, Dalton and I were just dating, after all, I did tell her that as long as she was Eva’s best friend, I would be there for her. I meant every bit of it. Even if Dalton and I didn’t, I’d still be there for Katie if she needed something from me.
Eva, on the other hand, was over the moon excited when I told her. She said she had asked Santa for Dalton to be my boyfriend. While I insisted that it had nothing to do with Santa or Christmas magic, she was certain that was the reason we decided to date. Whatever made her happy, I guess. Speaking of Christmas, Eva and I joined Dalton and Katie to visit Dalton’s parents on Christmas Eve. Early on Christmas morning, we headed to their place to watch the girls open gifts. My heart burst with happiness being together. It felt like this was the family I was supposed to have. That we were always meant to be together.
The girls had been back to school after Winter Break for about two weeks now and I was just as busy as I had always been at work. Dalton was finishing up his physical therapy and looking forward to reporting back to work soon. He was going to be on desk duty until he could pass the test required to return to active duty, but he was chomping at the bit to get back to work. I couldn’t blame him, I would be feeling the same way if I were him. He worked so hard to be Harrison’s right-hand man.
Today was another busy day with back-to-back appointments. I barely had time to think, much less take a break. My 11:00 am patient had just left and I was quickly eating half a ham sandwich before my noon appointment was ready when my cell phone rang. It was the school calling and I sighed. The last thing I needed was for Eva to be sick. I couldn’t cancel my afternoon appointments and I was already mentally scrambling when I answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Good afternoon is this Ms.Norton?”
“Yes, this is she.”
“Ms. Norton, my name is Gerald Casper, the principal at Strawberry Elementary School. I know it is in the middle of the workday, but we have an emergency here and we need you to come down to the school.”
“An emergency?” Just hearing that word takes the air from my lungs. This is clearly more than just an upset stomach or fever. “What is the emergency, Mr. Casper? What is going on with my daughter?”
“I’d much prefer that you come down to the school rather than tell you too much over the phone. However, Eva’s teacher reported that Eva never came back from recess after lunch.”
“What do you mean she never came back? She has recess at the school! You lost my daughter?”
“I assure you that we are doing everything we can to find her. We’ve already called the police and they are on their way. I will fill you in on everything when you get here.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I hang up the phone without pleasantries and grab my coat and purse. I can’t even think straight, except that my daughter is missing and I need to get down there.
I push the door to the reception area when Gloria calls my attention, “Elizabeth, where are you going? Your noon appointment is here.”
When I turn to her to explain as much as I can, I start to cry, “I’m so sorry, Gloria, please cancel all my appointments. Eva’s missing, they can’t find her at school.”
“Oh no!” Gloria exclaimed and moved around her desk to pull me into a hug. “Don’t worry about us here, I’ll make sure everybody knows what is going on. Get to the school and update me when you can.”
“I will, I just...I’m freaking out, Gloria!”
“Have faith that is it all just a misunderstanding. I’ll be thinking about you.”
“Thank you, Gloria.” She hugs me one more time and then I rush out of the office building and to my car. I’m numb the entire drive to the school. I just keep replaying the words from the principal in my head. How could a child go missing in their care? I’ve been to the school many times since moving here. The entire area is fenced and they have staff members and parent volunteers monitoring them at recess. Eva would never just wander off. She was a good kid and she always followed the rules.
My chest tightened when I approached the school and saw all the police cars in the parking lot. There was a crowd of people standing outside of the school and the man I recognized as Mr. Casper met me at my car along with a uniformed officer. “I wish we were seeing each other again on better terms, Ms. Norton.”
“You and me both, Mr. Casper. Please tell me that you found my daughter.”
He sighed and I knew that he was going to give me bad news. “I wish I could tell you that, but we haven’t located her.”
“Hi Ms. Noron, my name is Nathan Hastings and I’m the chief of police here in Strawberry,” the officer introduced himself. “I want to let you know that we are doing everything in our power to locate your daughter as quickly as we can.”
“I appreciate that. Can you at least tell me what you know?”
“Of course,” Chief Hastings replied, “We know that Eva was at lunch with her classmates and then headed outside for recess. We haven’t had private conversations with the students yet, but when asked if anybody saw her at recess, most of her classmates said that they did play with her or see her at some point during recess.”
“And then what?”
Chief Hastings went to reply when a commotion on the other side of the parking lot got the attention of the three of us. The crowd seemed to step aside as if Moses was parting the Red Seas and Dalton emerged from the group. He looked around and finally his gaze meant mine and we both rushed to each other. I started crying again once his arms wrapped around me and squeezed me tightly.
“What are you doing here?” I ask in tears.
“I heard from Harrison that Eva was missing. Did they find her?”
“No, they don’t know anything except that she was at recess and then she wasn’t.”
“Fuck,” he growled, “How can they not know anything?”
“I don’t know, Dalton. I only got here a few minutes ago, but something is wrong, she wouldn’t just leave like that.”
“I know, baby,” he kissed my temple. “We’re going to find her, whatever we have to do we’ll find her.
Dalton took my hand and we walked back over to the police chief. The two men knew each other, I’m sure they had met on many emergency response scenes in the past. He repeated what he had just mentioned to me so that Dalton could be up to date as well. “What is the next step?” Dalton asked.
“My officers are going to take some staff from the school available as well as some parent volunteers and start to canvas the neighborhood. Somebody had to have seen her or at least a doorbell or security camera caught something.”
“I can talk to Harrison and get the fire department to help as well,” Dalton offered up.
“That would be great. Thank you, Dalton. While they’re doing that, Mr. Casper and I will be calling parents in Eva’s class to get permission to talk to the classmates one at a time.”
“You can start with Katie,” Dalton said before I could. “The two of them are best friends. If Eva went somewhere, Katie knows.”
“I agree, Chief Hastings, Katie has to know something.”
He looked at Mr. Casper and the two of them nodded in agreeance. “If that is permission from you, Dalton, we’ll get right to it.”
“Of course, you have my permission. Actually, I think it might be a good idea if I talk to my daughter first.”
“Let’s get started them. Mind if we use your office, Mr. Casper.”
“Of course not, right this way.”