Part 2: Before my husband passed away, he asked me to deliver a sealed letter to a woman I'd never met — after she read the first line, she looked at me and asked, "Did he tell you everything?"

Rocked her.

Stayed awake through countless nights while she cried.

Now this stranger was suggesting that the child I'd raised hadn't been the child I delivered.

"What are you saying?" I whispered.

Catherine looked devastated.

"I thought you knew."

"Knew what?"

She reached for the hospital photograph again.

"That Emily was Rebecca's daughter."

My knees weakened.

"No."

Catherine began crying.

"Rebecca disappeared when she was sixteen. Three years later, she gave birth to a little girl."

I stared at her.

"And you think that girl was Emily?"

She nodded.

"Yes."

My hands began shaking.

"But I gave birth to Emily."

Catherine covered her mouth.

For several seconds, she couldn't speak.

Then she whispered, "You gave birth to a baby, Mara."

My name sounded strange coming from her lips.

She looked into my eyes.

"But I'm afraid someone took that baby away."

***

I sat down because I couldn't trust my legs.