Nana glanced at the front of the room, where the last visitors mingled about, then returned her gaze to Vera. “Like I told you, she had tried to find a way to adopt me back when I was a child, but in the 1950s it wasn’t easy for a single woman to adopt without the support of a man. When she finally did get through the red tape, I had already been moved around a lot. She eventually lost track of me, but never forgot me. She ended up adopting five other kids over the years—one of which is the one who introduced her to Facebook.” Another dab-dab at the tears. “She just wanted to tell me that she never gave up searching for me.”

Never give up. The cliché was a lifestyle for Vera, words she breathed in and lived out. It helped uncover her past, introduced her to Bennett, revealed her sister Marin, and exposed another mother somewhere out there.

“Which brings me to something else I thought you should see.” Nana handed Vera a newspaper clipping, one Vera hadn’t seen before. “I found this in an old hat box my mother had given me before she died. I had never really looked through everything inside it until just recently.”

At the top of the article was a grainy picture of a woman who resembled the countless images of Alvera Fields that had imprinted on Vera’s memory. The headline sat large and bold in the center:

**

The Pittsburg Press

Pittsburg, PA

Tuesday, November 22, 1910

MISSING WOMAN MAY BE DISGUISED

Riverfront Merchant Certain Millionaire’s Wife Tried to Buy Man’s Clothes and Was Afraid of Identification.

Many false clues telephoned by persons who located Alvera Fields at various places are run down vainly by her distracted husband, Robert Fields.

Except for one clue, which may or may not be worth anything. Since the first day of the public search for wife to millionaire Robert Fields, and mother to newborn daughter Olivia Fields, who disappeared so completely the evening of April 16, no further productive results have been made. Until now.

Through the medium of police, detectives and lawyers who have been conducting a search under cover for over six months, a possible lead has surfaced. This single clue centers about the identity of a mysterious woman of apparent refinement who tried to buy an outfit of male apparel, avowedly for the purposes of disguise in a masquerade, and who wanted to pledge expensive jewelry in a waterfront pawnbroker’s warehouse yesterday afternoon. The jewelry was identified by Robert Fields as belonging to his wife Alvera. Hours later police were notified of the suspicious activity. The woman was later spotted at a suffragette meeting, but fled before authorities could identify her.