He thought about that for a moment, his eyes glued to the floor. “She does.” He looked up at me. “Same eyes. Same hair. Same nose and lips. The chin is different.”

I laughed once without humor. “She has her father’s chin.”

He blinked, trying to process what I had said. “But their pictures?”

“The pictures of Liza and Olive were taken right outside my hospital room. Go over there now, and look. Liza isn’t wearing a hospital gown. I can promise you that. I can take you to the birth center at Saint Francis in the Springs. If the pictures show Olive as a newborn in a hospital, those pictures were taken there.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s just … I brought you here. You want to interrupt those people’s lives? I’m not okay with that.”

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“You know how I feel about you. I mean, you have to know. I’m not sure there’s anything I wouldn’t do for you. That sounds pathetically inadequate when I say it out loud,” he said, disgusted. “But this is …” He looked away, his voice trailing off. “We can’t do this to them.”

“I agree,” I said. “I don’t want to do anything to them either.”

He paused. “What is the plan, Falyn? I don’t think Olive knows she’s adopted. You’re not going to …”

“No. I just …” I took a deep breath. “My parents made me believe I had no choice, and I’ve lived with the decision I made. I’ll live with it forever, even now while sitting next door. I know she’s already suffered loss. I don’t want to turn her life upside down twice.”

Taylor looked like he’d been punched in the gut. “They made you give her up?”

“I didn’t tell them I was pregnant. I hid it until Blaire found me. I was on my bathroom floor, on all fours, soaked in sweat and trying not to push. I was barely eighteen.”

The visual disturbed Taylor, and he shifted his weight, unsettled.

“My mother heard noises coming from my room. She found me and took me to the emergency room.” I touched my fingers to my lips. “After Olive was born, I only had a few hours to decide. My parents said if I didn’t give her away, I would lose everything. My entire life, I had planned on going to college, having a career, making my parents proud.” I choked on my words. “A signature seemed like an easy solution. I didn’t understand what I was giving up.”

“How could your parents force that on you? That’s fucking atrocious, Falyn.”

The room grew quiet, and suddenly, it was too awkward to talk.