Chapter 4: Clara's Question
Chapter 4: Clara's Question
Several weeks later, DNA testing confirmed what neither of them had expected.
I wasn't David's daughter.
I had been born years after Sarah—now Emma—had disappeared.
David looked relieved for only a moment before guilt crossed his face.
"I'm sorry."
Emma shook her head.
"You don't need to be."
"You loved a child who wasn't yours the moment you met her."
He looked toward me playing in the backyard.
"I still do."
That afternoon I asked the question adults had carefully avoided.
"Mom..."
She looked up from the garden.
"Were you lying to me?"
She knelt until we were eye level.
"No."
"I was protecting you with the only life I had left."
I frowned.
"Then why was that man crying?"
May you like
She smiled sadly.
"Because sometimes people lose someone they never stopped loving."
