She stared at it for a long time.
Then she sat down slowly.
“Where did you get that?”
“Eleanor’s lawyer gave it to me.”
She closed her eyes.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then she whispered, “I was afraid this day would come.”
My heart pounded.
“You knew?”
She nodded.
“Not everything. But enough.”
I felt something inside me break all over again.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Because I was afraid of losing you.”
“Losing me? Mom, I’m your son.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
She reached for my hand.
“When your father and I adopted you, we promised ourselves that we would give you a happy childhood. We didn’t want you to grow up believing that you had been abandoned.”
“Was I abandoned?”
“No!”
Her answer came so quickly that we both fell silent.
She stood, walked around the table, and knelt beside my chair.
