It’s the little things that get you, not the clothes or the toys because you expect them. Seeing the place she slept stirs a twinge in your heart, but it’s the little things because they’re unexpected.
The empty popper from the juice she drank while we were at the doctors surgery. She loves poppers, I’ve never seen a 14 month old drink like that from a straw before–is that a function of her mothers neglect? Did she have to learn to eat and drink from whatever was put before her in case that was it?
It’s the safety gate that I’d forgotten about, arriving at dinner time yesterday. The driver saying in an offhand, natural sort of way “for the baby?” “Yes” I replied while my mind screamed something else. That gate was bought because one baby getting into mischief in the kitchen is one thing, two is a whole other mess.
There are no guarantees with the law. We can be confident, certain even, that she’ll be returned only to have her left in the care of a selfish so called mother. Regardless of the outcome it’s still going to cost us a fortune, but we’ll find it somehow. I don’t know how, but we will. She deserves to know how much her family ache for her and how loved she is.
