She wrapped her fingers around her cup.
"I don't want to freak you out more," she said, "but… I was adopted."
"If I asked about my birth family, they shut it down."
My heart tightened.
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"From where?" I asked.
"Small town, Midwest. Hospital's gone now. My parents always told me I was 'chosen,' but if I asked about my birth family, they shut it down."
I swallowed.
"What year were you born?"
"My sister disappeared from a small town in the Midwest," I said. "We lived near a forest. Months later, the police told my parents they'd found her body. I never saw anything. No funeral I remember. They refused to talk about it."
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We stared at each other.
"What year were you born?" she asked.
I told her.
She told me hers.
She let out a shaky laugh.
Five years apart.
"We're not twins," I said. "But that doesn't mean we're not—"
"Connected," she finished.
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She took a breath.
"I've always felt like something was missing from my story," she said. "Like there was a locked room in my life I wasn't allowed to open."
"My whole life has felt like that room," I said. "Want to open it?"
We exchanged numbers.
She let out a shaky laugh.
"I'm terrified," she admitted.
"So am I," I said. "But I'm more scared of never knowing."
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She nodded.
"Okay," she said. "Let's try."
We exchanged numbers.
I dug until my hands shook.
Back at my hotel, I replayed every time my parents had shut me down. Then I thought of the dusty box in my closet — the one with their papers I'd never touched.
Maybe they hadn't told me the truth out loud.
Maybe they'd left it behind on paper.
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When I got home, I dragged the box onto my kitchen table.
Birth certificates. Tax forms. Medical records. Old letters. I dug until my hands shook.
My knees almost gave out.
At the bottom was a thin manila folder.
Inside: an adoption document.
Female infant. No name. Year: five years before I was born.
Birth mother: my mother.
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My knees almost gave out.
There was a smaller folded note behind it, written in my mother's handwriting.
I cried until my chest hurt.
I was young. Unmarried. My parents said I had brought shame. They told me I had no choice. I was not allowed to hold her. I saw her from across the room. They told me to forget. To marry. To have other children and never speak of this again.
But I cannot forget. I will remember my first daughter for as long as I live, even if no one else ever knows.
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I cried until my chest hurt.
For the girl my mother had been.
For the baby she was forced to give away.
"It's real."
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