My water breaking in the produce aisle.
Seventeen hours of labor followed by an emergency cesarean section.
When I woke, Eric placed Chloe in my arms.
She had a tiny pink cap and a serious expression.
I had never doubted she was mine.
“She is my daughter,” I said.
“No one is disputing that,” Mia replied.
“Then why is there an adoption file?”
“It isn’t Chloe’s adoption.”
She slid the document toward me.
The name at the top was Sophie Elaine Carter.
My maiden name was Carter.
The birth mother was listed as Rachel Carter.
But I had never given birth to a child named Sophie.
The date was two years before Chloe’s birth.
My stomach tightened.
“What is this?”
Eric closed his eyes.
“Rachel—”
“What is this?”
He sat down slowly.
Before Chloe, I had suffered what Eric and the doctors described as a late miscarriage.
