“Are these results certain?”
Nora shook her head.
“They’re preliminary. They want another independent test and a complete review of the hospital records.”
I exhaled shakily.
“Then we don’t know for sure.”
“No,” she admitted. “Not yet.”
I looked at her.
“How could this happen?”
“We don’t know.”
“Who told the adoption agency that her parents couldn’t be identified?”
“That’s being investigated.”
“And who told me Lucy had died?”
Nora had no answer.
The room seemed to spin.
I wanted to believe the report.
More than anything in the world.
But I was terrified.
Because if it was wrong, I would have to lose my daughter all over again.
Then Nora asked something I hadn’t expected.
“Claire… do you hate me?”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“If Ellie really is Lucy…”
Her voice broke.
“I brought her home. I adopted her.”
I slowly returned to my chair.
“Nora, you didn’t know.”
“But she’s your daughter.”
