I stepped back.
“Come inside.”
Susan rose unsteadily and followed me into the kitchen.
I made tea, although neither of us drank much of it.
For several minutes, we sat across from each other without speaking.
Finally, I asked, “When did you realize who I was?”
“Two nights ago.”
“How?”
“Robert left some papers at my apartment. I was looking through them because I wanted to understand what had happened to Lisa’s investment. One of the documents had your full name and your address.”
She swallowed.
“I recognized your name. I remembered the thank-you card my mother had kept in that old envelope. I took out the photograph and realized…”
She couldn’t finish.
“You realized I was the woman whose baby you helped save.”
“Yes.”
“And you came here?”
“Not immediately.”
She looked ashamed.
“I spent an entire day trying to convince myself that it was a coincidence. I kept thinking there must be another Margaret with the same name. But then I found an old letter from your husband in the financial papers. It mentioned your son, Michael, and the year he was born.”
