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?"

she said.

“Not permanent adoption.”

I stared at her.

“What?”

Rebecca turned toward me.

“I told Zane I wanted six months.”

“Six months to relocate.”

“Get work.”

“Find housing.”

“Then contact Catherine.”

“Then decide what was safest.”

My stomach turned.

“Zane told me you surrendered her.”

“No.”

Rebecca shook her head.

“I told him if I didn't return in six months, he could begin adoption.”

“I wrote a letter.”

Emily leaned forward.

“What letter?”

Rebecca looked confused.

“I left it with Helen Ward.”

The social worker.

“I wrote to you.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“What did it say?”

Rebecca's face crumpled.

“That I was your mother.”

“That Claire was your mother too if she chose to be.”

“That nobody was allowed to tell you one woman had to be erased for the other.”

I closed my eyes.

Zane.

Again.

“Did he ever see it?”

“I don't know.”

We would eventually find out.