I smiled.
Then I remembered the day I had followed them in fear.
“Mom, I truly thought you and Aunt Clara were doing something terrible.”
She took my hand.
“I know, sweetheart. Sometimes people imagine the worst because they don’t know the whole story.”
At that moment, Lily came running toward us.
She was wearing her little white doctor’s coat.
“Mrs. Margaret, today I’m a doctor! May I listen to your heart?”
I smiled.
“Of course, sweetheart!”
She placed her toy stethoscope against my chest.
For a few seconds, she remained completely silent.
Then, with a very serious expression, she announced:
“Your heart is fine. But you cry too much!”
I hugged her.
And in that moment, I understood something important.
When I overheard my mother and aunt saying, “This time, we’ll switch the girls one by one,” I imagined the most horrifying possibilities.
But they weren’t exchanging children. They were helping those children change the way they imagined their own futures.
