“Your mother wasn’t your biological mother.”
I could hear the café around us.
Cups clinking.
A chair dragging.
Someone laughing.
But it all seemed miles away.
“Helen adopted me?”
“Unofficially at first.”
“Why?”
“Because your biological mother disappeared.”
I stood.
I need air.”
Outside, I leaned against the brick wall and tried to breathe.
Evelyn followed.
“My mother helped Helen take you.”
I turned.
“Take me?”
“That’s the part she has been carrying for thirty-eight years.”
I stared at her.
“What do you mean take me?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“The fire created chaos.
Records were destroyed.
Babies were moved.
Your biological mother had given birth only hours earlier and disappeared during the evacuation.”
“Why?”
“No one knew.”
“Then Helen just took me?”
“No.
Not exactly.”
“Then explain it.”
Evelyn’s voice dropped.
“Your mother believed someone was trying to kill you.”
I almost laughed again.
