Ella had been changed into clean pajamas, but she still wore Andrew’s oversized shirt over them and wouldn’t let anyone take it away.

Natalie told her gently that the rescuers had found her father.

Ella stared at her without blinking. “Is he mad because I called?”

“No,” Natalie said. “He’s alive because people kept searching, and you’re safe because you made that call.” “Did he forget me?”

Natalie nudged Buddy a little closer to Ella’s arm. “No. He was doing everything he could to come home.”

Only then did Ella begin to cry — not the loud, frightened sobs people expect from a scared little girl, but quiet tears that slid into her hair as the weight she’d been carrying finally lifted from her face.