Charlotte Fairchild was hopping up and down as she spoke.
Jericho Hawthorne could see how excited she was. He instinctively lifted his head, about to look for the child's mother, when a woman's voice called out from behind him:
"Jude, Ma fell down the mountain while picking tea! You have to come to the hospital with me, quick!"
At her words, Jericho Hawthorne pulled back his gaze. Without a backward glance, he strode away with the woman in the floral-print dress.
By the time Seraphina Quinn reached Charlotte Fairchild, all she saw were the backs of Jericho Hawthorne and a woman as they hurried away.
"Mommy, I really saw him! A daddy who looks just like the one on the gravestone..."
Charlotte Fairchild tugged excitedly at the hem of Seraphina Quinn's clothes, her head tilted back as she gazed up at her hopefully.
