#197-Is this wise?
The letters had to go through two mail drops before they got to her, but they came with clockwork regularity. Each one was read three times, no more or less, then put safely in a box under Nicole's bed. Some day, if even one god were smiling, Nicole would see Gwen again. She didn't hold that dream terribly close, though. There was little point. Nothing in her life worked out so simply. There weren't so many years before the girl turned 18, but so much could happen in that time.
As she read the most recent letter, she marveled at how the child had grown. Of course she'd always been mature in her sad way. Destined never to be a full woman as a result of medicine given her mother, there was no anger in Gwen. Just a melancholy that Nicole understood. There was so very much the girl could be angry about without question. When Nicole read the news accounts of the trial, it was all she could do not to throw things, but none of the letters contained a negative word.
"Some fathers don't love their daughters." No, some didn't. And some fathers didn't deserve daughters who were stronger and wiser than them. If she could claim to have done anything right in her life, getting Gwen well away from her father and his aftermath was it.
The next day Nicole took the letter, well divorced from anything that would identify where either sender or recipient were, and made a copy of it. She put it in an envelope and mailed it to the eleventh floor of One Police Plaza to the attention of Robert Goren. He should know, she thought, that the girl was well. He should know that she'd found a way to be certain of it.
301
As she read the most recent letter, she marveled at how the child had grown. Of course she'd always been mature in her sad way. Destined never to be a full woman as a result of medicine given her mother, there was no anger in Gwen. Just a melancholy that Nicole understood. There was so very much the girl could be angry about without question. When Nicole read the news accounts of the trial, it was all she could do not to throw things, but none of the letters contained a negative word.
"Some fathers don't love their daughters." No, some didn't. And some fathers didn't deserve daughters who were stronger and wiser than them. If she could claim to have done anything right in her life, getting Gwen well away from her father and his aftermath was it.
The next day Nicole took the letter, well divorced from anything that would identify where either sender or recipient were, and made a copy of it. She put it in an envelope and mailed it to the eleventh floor of One Police Plaza to the attention of Robert Goren. He should know, she thought, that the girl was well. He should know that she'd found a way to be certain of it.
301