A child should never have to become a wall between her baby brother and the adults who were supposed to love them.

The afternoon sun poured through the high windows of Room 314 on the third floor.

Curtis sat upright in his hospital bed, no longer wearing the yellow fall-risk wristband. His white hair was neatly combed, his eyes clear, sharp, and alert—the eyes of the man who had built swing sets and laughed at cartoons on my porch every Tuesday morning.

When I stepped into the room, he set down his glass of water and looked at me.

"Nora," he said softly.

I walked over to the bed and pulled up a chair, sitting down beside him. I reached out and took his large, calloused hand in mine. His grip was strong, warm, and steady.

"How are you feeling, Dad?" I asked.

"My head feels like a thunderstorm just passed through it," Curtis said, looking down at our joined hands. "The doctors told me what happened... what Joanne did to me. What she did to my grandbabies."

He choked on the last word, his chest heaving as tears filled his eyes.

"I remember bits and pieces, Nora," he whispered, his voice trembling with profound shame. "I remember drinking the tea... it felt like my blood turned to lead. My legs wouldn't work right. When she parked the car, she locked the doors from the outside. I tried to reach for the lock button, but my hands wouldn't obey my brain."

He squeezed my hand tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"I saw Maisy in the backseat," he continued, looking directly into my eyes. "She was trying to fan Theo with her little shirt. The air inside that car was burning, Nora. It felt like an oven. I saw her hit the window with her shoe... she broke the latch on the vent window and unlocked the rear door from the outside."

I gasped softly. "Maisy unlocked the door?"

"She saved them both," Curtis nodded, tears streaming down his face. "She pulled Theo out through that rear door. When I finally managed to push my door open, my brain was completely twisted. I saw shadows everywhere. I thought... I thought the house was on fire. I followed her into the trees because I knew the creek was down there. I wanted to put them in the water..."

He stopped, pulling Maisy's pink shoe from under his pillow and holding it out to me.

"I fell in the mud near the ridge," he said softly. "My heart was hammering so fast I thought it was going to burst. I found her shoe in the mud... and I held onto it with everything I had left. I prayed, Nora. I lay there in the dirt and I prayed to God that you would find them before she did."

I took the small, muddy shoe from his hand, holding it against my chest.

"They are safe, Dad," I promised him, wiping my own eyes. "Theo’s fever is completely gone. He’s upstairs eating applesauce. And Maisy... Maisy knows you were trying to help her."