While I was on vacation with my cousins, my phone lit up with one message: “Get on a plane home. Don’t tell your parents you’re coming.” When I landed, an attorney and two investigators

”

Elaine shook her head. Tears streamed down her face. “I wanted to call someone. I did. But he said she would go into the system. He said nobody would love her like we could.”

I backed into the wall.

“You knew?” I whispered.

Elaine looked at me, destroyed. “I knew after. Not at first. Not until the news said a baby was missing.”

The kitchen blurred.

“And continue reading …