Page 290 of Taken Away

The same name Anne had carried before she became Anne Langford.

Bennett turned one more page.

There, beneath Harold’s steady handwriting, was another entry.

Aubrey Caroline.

No flourish.

No explanation.

Just her name.

Written among the Blackwoods.

Aubrey stopped breathing.

For a moment, she did not understand what she was seeing.

Or maybe she understood too quickly, and her heart refused to keep up.

Her fingers hovered over the ink.

“That’s my name.”

Bennett’s voice was low.

“Yes.”

“In his handwriting?”

“Yes.”

She stared at it.

“He wrote me in.”

Bennett swallowed hard.

“He did.”

Aubrey pressed one hand to her mouth.

But Bennett wasn’t finished.

He turned deeper into the Bible, to a place where the pages had been opened and closed so many times they fell apart naturally beneath his hand.

Something was tucked there.

A small Kodak photograph.

Faded at the edges.

Bennett slid it free and placed it in Aubrey’s hand.

She looked down.

For several seconds, she made no sound.