Chapter 6 - The Thanksgiving Question I Finally Understood
That night I remembered my first Thanksgiving with Daniel’s family.
I was twenty-six.
We had been dating six months.
Evelyn spent the first hour asking polite questions.
Where did I grow up?
What did my parents do?
Where had I gone to college?
Normal future-mother-in-law interrogation.
Then she asked my mother’s maiden name.
At the time, I thought it was strange.
I answered anyway.
“Collins.”
Evelyn relaxed.
Then she asked about my father.
I told her my parents were Tom and Linda Collins.
Still normal.
Later, Daniel’s aunt mentioned Julian.
I nearly dropped my fork.
I had never heard Daniel’s family talk about him before.
“You okay?” Daniel whispered.
“Just tired.”
I left dinner early.
For years, Evelyn used that night as proof that I was “dramatic.”
Now Daniel remembered something else.
“Mom called me the next morning.”
“What did she say?”
“She wanted your full name.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“She said she was ordering personalized Christmas stockings.”
“Did she?”
“No.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
He had forgotten because the request seemed trivial.
Now it looked different.
My full name.
My age.
Where I grew up.
Information enough to compare me to whatever Ruth had once told her about Julian’s pregnant girlfriend.
Daniel called Evelyn again.
No answer.
He texted.
Did you investigate Maya before our wedding?
No response.
An hour later, Caroline called.
She had found the JULIAN box.
But before telling us what was inside, she asked me a question.
“Maya, did you ever receive photographs of Owen after his first birthday?”
“No.”
“Did you ever tell the adoptive family you wanted contact to stop?”
“No.”
Caroline went silent.
My heart began pounding.
“What did you find?”
“Correspondence logs.”
Daniel reached for my hand.
Caroline continued.
“The adoptive parents kept sending updates.”
I stopped breathing.
“For how long?”
“At least six years.”
The kitchen blurred.
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” Caroline said quietly.
“The letters were sent.”
I pressed my free hand against my mouth.
“Then where did they go?”
Caroline answered.
“To Ruth first.”
A pause.
“And after Ruth died, the forwarding instructions changed.”
May you like
Daniel’s grip tightened around mine.
The new recipient was Evelyn.
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