“I watched from a distance. I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds frightening,” Sarah admitted.
“I know. I’m sorry. But I had one chance to choose where my daughter would go. I needed to know the man who sat in the rain with a forgotten girl was still that man… and that the woman beside him would love a child with her whole heart, no matter how she came into her life.”
Silence filled the room.
Then Sarah asked, “How do we know she’s yours?”
Amy gave a small, knowing smile. “I figured you’d ask.
She pulled out a worn photograph and handed it to me.
My hand stilled.
A newborn. Wrapped in that same pale blanket.
Sarah leaned closer, her breath catching as she recognized it too.
“I chose your station because I believed you would raise my daughter like she was the most wanted child in the world,” Amy said.
Sarah’s voice trembled. “You’re not here to take Betty… are you?”
“No.”
Sarah exhaled.
“I came because I needed to know I hadn’t ruined her life,” Amy continued. “I saw her last week—laughing outside school. I realized I couldn’t keep living off a memory. I almost came back so many times… when she was one, then three, then five. But I was afraid I’d destroy the only stable thing I ever gave her.”
“Did you get better?” Sarah asked.
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