He lowered his head.
“Every year I told myself I would find the right moment. Then another year passed. And another.”
I felt anger rising inside me.
“You allowed us to spend our entire lives together without knowing the truth.”
“I know.”
“You watched us call each other sisters.”
“I know, Sarah.”
“How could you keep something like this from us?”
He began to cry.
“Because I was wrong. I thought silence would protect everyone. Instead, I let the secret grow until it became something much bigger than I could control.”
For a while, nobody spoke.
Then Emily asked the question that changed the atmosphere in the room.
“Did my mother love me?”
My father immediately reached for her hand.
“She loved you every single day of her life.”
He paused.
“She kept your first baby bracelet. She kept your hospital photograph. And she kept a small blanket she had wrapped around you when you were born.”
