Part One
Chapter 1
9 April 2003 – Los Angeles, USA
The day everything changed.
Morning
HANNAH SHAPIRO WAS having a wonderful day.
Presents and mimosas at breakfast. Just the one glass – but a twelfth birthday needed marking, didn’t it? She would become bat mitzvah – a Daughter of the Commandments – this coming Shabbat. But Saturday was three days away!
‘Come on, darling, take a sip …’ Jessica, her mother, said, her southern accent sweet and musical. ‘You’ll love it. It tastes just like an angel’s tears in a glass.’
And so she had. Even though she didn’t like the taste of alcohol, Hannah loved her mom more than anything in the world and wouldn’t think of disappointing her. She sipped, then half spluttered, half laughed. ‘I’ve got bubbles in my nose.’
‘That’s what you pay the good money for, sweetheart!’
Hannah laughed with her.
It was a perfect morning. The only thing missing was her father. ‘It’s a shame Daddy couldn’t make it back last night,’ she said.
‘It’s government business. He’d have been here if he could, darling.’
‘I know.’
‘And he promised he’ll try to make the three o’clock flight. Even if he has to fight the chief of staff to do it!’ her mother said, hugging Hannah and ruffling her hair.
Hannah giggled again. She couldn’t imagine her father fighting with anyone.
‘Come on, honey. Make a birthday wish on your first champagne.’
Hannah thought about it. Her best friends from school, Sally Hunt and Tiffany Wells, had already turned thirteen. Sally had been given a polo pony and Tiffany a diamond watch from Cartier. Both their parents had been divorced more than once.
Hannah looked at the family portrait hanging over the fireplace. Her father and mother so much in love, Hannah in the middle.
She gazed up at her mother, couldn’t believe how heartbreakingly beautiful she was. Couldn’t believe that her father could bear to spend so much time away from her.
So Hannah took another sip of her mimosa, looked again at the family portrait and made her wish: Catch that plane, Daddy!