They were sleeping in an abandoned storage shed behind a nearby construction site. Her aunt had told her she was going to Dallas for work two weeks earlier. She had sold the furniture, locked the house, and never came back.
Maddie had been alone with Noah ever since. Keeping him warm. Finding food where she could. Protecting him the only way she knew how.
“I keep him warm,” she told Bill quietly. “The shed has a roof.”
Bill felt the weight of those words settle over him. He looked at this small, serious child who had taken on the full responsibility of caring for an infant and asked nothing of anyone except a bottle of milk.
“You’re not going back there,” he told her. “You’re staying here.”
Maddie’s eyes went wide. The word “staying” seemed to land on her like something she did not quite trust yet.
“I’ll work,” she started to say.
Carol, who had joined them by then, shook her head gently.
“You’ll help,” she said. “But you’ll also get to be a child.”
For the first time in a very long while, Maddie did not argue.
What the Doctor Found
Bill and Carol took both children to their family physician for a full checkup.
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