Chapter 2: The Second Figure in the Photograph
— PART 2 —
Charles didn't answer me.
He reached for the photograph instead.
I got there first.
My hands were shaking as I unfolded it.
There was a second figure standing beside Charles outside that maternity home.
A woman.
I recognized her immediately.
My mother.
"No," I said.
It came out barely a whisper.
"No."
Charles finally spoke.
"Evelyn, she was trying to protect you.
You were twenty-two.
You had nothing.
She thought—"
"She thought what?
That I wouldn't want my own daughter?"
Anna sat completely still across the table, watching us.
I turned to her.
"Did your mother know?
Did Mara know my mother was involved?"
Anna's expression told me everything before she said a word.
"There's a letter," she said quietly.
"My mom left it for me.
She wrote it before she p@ssed.
She said if I ever found you…
I should give it to you directly.
Not to anyone else.
Just you."
She looked at Charles when she said *anyone else.*
Charles pushed back from the table.
"Anna, I'm asking you not to do this here."
Anna opened her bag anyway.
---
What's inside Mara's letter — and how much did Evelyn's own mother hide from her?
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