I wish I could have watched you grow.
I wish I could have been there for all the ordinary days and all the important ones.
And I wish I could have told you this myself, with your hand in mine.
With all the love a mother can give,
Your first mom,
Alicia
Alicia.
That was my biological mother’s name.
I whispered it silently.
A woman I couldn’t remember had loved me enough to leave words behind in case she couldn’t stay.
I read the letter again.
Then again.
By the third time, tears were running silently down my face.
I looked up at Helen.
My mother.
She was watching me carefully, giving me space.
“She sounds like she was a good person,” I whispered.
Mom nodded.
“I’m sure she was.”
Then she reached for me.
“And Emma, loving her doesn’t take anything away from us.”
I started crying harder.
“There’s room for both,” she continued. “There always has been.”
