I couldn’t even cry.
Miriam waited until I could breathe again.
Then she explained that further records would be needed.
The photocopy alone did not prove where the baby had gone.
It did not establish whether she had survived infancy.
It did not explain why Mark had told me she died.
But it gave us a place to begin.
And it made one thing impossible to ignore.
Mark had kept the document hidden.
When I left Miriam’s office, Vanessa was waiting downstairs.
She stood beside the window, holding a paper cup she hadn’t touched.
I stopped when I saw her.
“You knew.”
Her expression collapsed.
“Emily—”
“You knew there was something about my daughter.”
She looked toward the floor.
“I suspected.”
“How long?”
She didn’t answer.
“Vanessa, look at me.”
She raised her eyes.
They were filled with tears.
“I’ve been trying to find the right way to tell you.”
