“Birthmother, then. Anyway, many years ago, she told me about you, Miss Miller. And she gave me something to read to the both of you in the event you ever met.”

“If she went to all this trouble, why didn’t she just find me herself?”

“She tried a couple of times. Used social media, but had no luck. Couldn’t really afford a private investigator at the time.”

Kate sighed. “Go on.”

“Okay,” Carl said, cutting his eyes at Mia. He opened the envelope with a letter opener and put on his reading glasses before clearing his throat again. Mia was going to suggest some allergy medication to him after this whole thing. “Here is what she wrote…”

To my daughters,

I know this whole thing is going to come as a huge shock to both of you, and that’s why I want to explain.

When I was sixteen years old, I found myself pregnant. He was my high school sweetheart, and we were over the moon excited. Of course, we weren’t prepared to raise a baby, either one of us. We were immature and had stars in our eyes, but that wouldn’t have made for a good set of parents for a precious baby.

When I told my parents, they were angry. My boyfriend’s parents were the same. We thought about running away, but in the end I knew we couldn’t take care a baby. We didn’t even have jobs. Somewhere in my young mind, I knew what I had to do.

My boyfriend got sent away to military school, so then I was all alone in making the decision. I never saw him again. I truly loved him, so I knew my baby was made with love. It always seemed like enough, but it wasn’t.

When I was seven months along, my mother took me to an adoption agency and basically forced me to sign papers. She said either sign them or be disowned. It was an awful day.

The adoption was private because my mother said it had to be that way. I never knew who adopted my baby, but I named her Gwendolyn. She was beautiful with chubby cheeks and green eyes. She was very long, so I bet she’s tall like her father.

For years, I wondered and worried about her. When I turned twenty, I found myself pregnant again with Mia. I was now an adult and got to make my own decision, and I wasn’t about to let her go. I spent my life scrimping and saving to take care of her, trying to prove to myself that I could be a good mother. And I think I am.