“I wanted Mom today.”
I didn’t want to, which meant I had to.
“Mom,
If you’re reading this, please don’t punish Liam. I asked him to keep my secret.
I have a daughter. Her name is Rose. I named her after Grandma because I wanted one piece of home that didn’t hurt.
I don’t know if you can forgive me. But I need to know if you can love me without owning me.
If yes, ask Liam where I am.
If no, please let me stay gone.”
“If you’re reading this, please don’t punish Liam.”
I pressed the letter to my chest.
I grabbed my phone.
“Camila,” he said. “Wait.”
“No. I’m calling Liam.”
“Don’t call him like you’re about to put him on trial.”
The words hit because they sounded like Livia.
“We have a granddaughter.”
I stared at the phone until my breathing slowed. Then I called.
Liam answered on the second ring.
“Mom?”
I looked at the torn beanbag, the dress, the letters, and the baby I had never held.
“Come home,” I said.
The line went quiet.
“You know what I found,” I said.
I looked at the torn beanbag.
He didn’t answer.
He arrived just after dark. His backpack slid off his shoulder.
“You knew she was alive?” I asked.
His eyes filled. “Yes.”
I slapped the letters against his chest.
“You let me bury her every day.”
His face changed.
“No, Mom. You kept digging the grave because it was easier than asking why she left.”
He arrived just after dark.
“I am your mother.”
“And she’s my twin.”
“You hid my grandchild from me.”
“Rose isn’t a prize you lost,” Liam said. “She’s a baby Livia was scared to bring near you.”
The room tilted.
“I loved her. I gave her everything.”
“Everything except room to disappoint you.”
“You hid my grandchild from me.”
John stood in the doorway.
I turned to him. “Tell him I only wanted to protect her.”
John looked at the letters on the floor.
“Camila,” he said quietly, “sometimes you don’t give people room to be themselves.”
“Don’t.”
“I kept quiet because it was easier than standing between you and the children.”
Liam wiped his face with his sleeve.
“Tell him I only wanted to protect her.”
“You both made the house feel like a courtroom,” he said. “Mom judged, Dad settled, and Livia and I waited for the sentence.”
Nobody spoke after that.
Finally, I picked up Livia’s letter.
“Where is she?”
Liam shook his head.
“Liam.”
Nobody spoke after that.
