SANFORD — For Lisa Gould, it is time to pick up the pieces, time to try and bring back a sense of normalcy for herself and her daughter Hailey after a week that has been anything but normal.

Gould, 32, is the mother of Hailey Traynham, the two-year-old who was returned to her mother late Tuesday after her father, Gary Traynham, took the girl and fled to New Hampshire.

Traynham, police said, violently assaulted Gould, the mother of his child. He scooped up Hailey and made away in a stolen pick-up truck. Thirty long, anxious hours later, police told Gould the words she had been waiting to hear: Her daughter had been found and was safe.

Traynham was arrested by Milton, N.H. police on a warrant charging gross sexual assault against Gould. He is held without bail at Strafford County Jail after a brief appearance in a Rochester, N.H. courtroom Thursday and will face an extradition hearing there Nov. 20.

It is the Journal Tribune’s policy not to name alleged victims of sexual assault. In this case however, Gould chose to speak to reporters at a Thursday morning news conference at Sanford Town Hall.

Gould appeared calm as television cameras rolled footage, print photographers snapped images and reporters asked questions and scribbled in notebooks. Hailey played on the floor behind her, rolling a ball and drinking from her sippy cup.

Gould said her daughter, at 2 years old, doesn’t seem to understand anything has been amiss, though on Wednesday night, she wanted a light on as she slept, her mother said. It was the first time the little girl had asked for a nightlight. She said she doesn’t plan to discuss what had transpired with her daughter.

Tuesday night, the pair had been reunited. Hailey’s grandparents drove the little girl from the Milton Police Station to where her mother was staying.

“I gave her a big hug, and a bath and tried to keep things calm,” said Gould. “I gave her the ”˜Ducky’ she’s had since she was six months old.”

Gould acknowledged she may appear calm, but she added “I’m keeping it together because I have to.”

Gould said she called Michael Grant, the Milton, N.H. man who was out hunting when he spied the Maine truck on a woods road. Grant had seen the Amber Alert, and after talking to Traynham for an hour, drove the man and the little girl to the home of a friend, retired Wakefield Police Chief Tim Merrill.

“I definitely see him as an angel, a hero,” said Gould. “He could have walked away, but he didn’t.”

Gould said she and Traynham had been a couple for five years but recently split up.

“We had stopped living together and I was trying to figure out the next steps,” said Gould. She said Monday had been a normal day until she and Hailey arrived home from some morning shopping.

Gould declined to outline what transpired next, but Hailey was gone and she was hospitalized.

“I felt a lot of worry, anxiety and kept praying she was going to come home safe,” said Gould. “I prayed for him not to hurt her, and he didn’t.”

When asked, Gould said there had been prior incidents of domestic violence, “but not towards Hailey.”

She said she believed Traynham had been a good father.

Gould said early on she had been unaware of the intensity of the search for Hailey. And she praised the efforts of all of the various police agencies who were on the hunt for the little girl.

“Amber Alert is truly amazing,” said Gould. “The police department was (on top) of everything right away. I was told early on there were 33 police officers looking for my daughter.”

Gould thanked those at Goodall Hospital where she was treated, Sanford Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, hunter Michael Grant, family and friends and others who came together to help.

“It is nice to see the support,” she said. “It’s the way life should be ”¦ Maine, big hearts.”

Gould will be taking a few days off from her job at Circle K and her classes in medical assisting.

“I’m looking forward to going to the playground, having fun with Hailey. She’s an awesome kid and she has a lot of family and friends,” said Gould.

As for Traynham, Gould said what transpires next is in the hands of the criminal justice system.

“I don’t know where his mind was,” said Gould of her child’s father. “I want justice to be served and let the prosecutors do what they need to do.”

For Gould, she said she’s looking forward to enjoying every day with her daughter, “getting up, having breakfast, lunch ”¦ she’s a piece of me.”

Hailey, at 2, kept her remarks to a minimum. During the news conference, she murmured a bit and said “Mama.”

And then, after about 30 minutes of talk from reporters and her Mom, Hailey said “bye.”

That meant it was time go. Time for Elmo and Dora the Explorer ”“ and time to move on.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report. Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.