Chapter Two

He watches the seconds tick by from the clock on the wall; he doesn't know why it seems longer when he sits in the dark, sipping whiskey from a paper bag; He only knows the ache grows stronger with each second that passes.

"Bo."

He hears the sound of his name but for a second he has to remind himself that he's not in their own private paradise-the one where Ellie is asleep in his arms and Nora is kissing his neck; he has to remind himself that reality and fantasy don't mesh.

"It's time," Hank says. He flips on the light and Bo allows himself a quick look at the photo still sitting on his desk. The lies still hurt even now.

"I'm not sure I can go," he whispers. He knows that's not what Hank wants to hear but he isn't really sure he can stand to face her. "I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to be in the same room with her right now."

Hank takes a deep breath as he faces Bo. "That's your choice. I just want you to understand something Bo. If you don't show up; If you leave her twisting in the wind; Well, just make sure you can live with the consequences of that; She might go to prison for a long time."

"Maybe it's what she deserves."

"Maybe—But is your pride really more important than what is fair and just. She lost three children Bo; I am not even sure that she really understood fully what she was doing; You should know better than anyone what grief does to you. I'm not asking you to take her back; I'm just asking you to think about where she was when she did it. Just try—try to show a little compassion; a little leniency. She is still your wife."

Hank closed the door and Bo was left alone in that cold, empty office. He wasn't heartless; there was still a part of him who did understand. He had lost those children too; He had lost Drew. Maybe she really didn't know the difference between right and wrong? He had heard about it happening—Grief becoming so severe that when you see another child—you see your own baby. Is that what happened? Did Nora's psyche just snap?

She was led down the hall into the courtroom; Hank was sitting at her table. Sometimes it was still so hard for her to believe that she had done the things she did. She was crying now.

"What's going to happen to me Hank? Am I going to go to jail," she asked?

"Not if I can help it," he said, and he kissed the top of her head.

Hank had been teaching law in Chicago but he left it all behind when Nora was arrested. He was a former D.A. but he knew that there was no one else who would touch her case; It was the first time he ever dabbled in defense work but Nora trusted him completely. He had once been in her shoes.

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She listened to the charges brought against her as the judge read the legal documents. As a lawyer she knew what it all meant; but as the defendant she was having a hard time believing she had really committed all these crimes.

"Do you understand the charges as I have read them," the judge asked?

"I do," she said.

"How do you plead?"

She was thinking about what Hank had asked her when he first came to see her.

"Did you know that you were committing a crime when you took her?"

"No," she said. "I still don't understand how I could have done those things."

"You were grieving Nora. It's possible that when you found that child, you believed she was yours. Do you think that's accurate?"

She looked up when she heard the doors open; Her heart still hurt to see him. She loved him so much.

"Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity," she pled.

It had been Hank's idea and she wasn't going to do it but he was right. She wasn't herself in that moment. When she picked up that child, all she could see was her children. She had been convinced that her daughter was alive. The lies that came after were told because she believed them. Grief could be a tricky thing.

The judge entered her plea and ordered her to be placed in a secure mental facility until she could be evaluated. The issue of bail would be revisited at that time.

"It's going to be okay Nora," Hank assured her. "I promise you, it will."

"Thank you," she said, and when she was being led back out of the courtroom, her eyes locked on her husband.

"I didn't think you'd come," she said.

"I wasn't going to," he said. "Then I realized that I wouldn't be able to live with myself If I didn't listen to what you have to say. "

"I…I love you Bo. I hope you know that."

"I do know that. It doesn't mean I forgive you but…I love you too."

He didn't know what made him hug her but suddenly he found himself wanting her to know that he still cared about her well-being… When the hug ended he cleared his throat and looked at her.

"Take care of yourself Nora. I mean that."

"You too," she said, and then he was gone.

For the first time since she was arrested, she had hope. Hope was all she had left.