The Silence That Confirmed Everything
Lauren called Carol the moment she got home.
“Did you ever have another child?”
The pause on the other end of the line was long.
Too long.
When Carol finally spoke, her voice wasn’t defensive.
It was broken.
“Can you come over?”
They sat at the same kitchen table Lauren had grown up at.
The truth came out slowly.
Carol was 19. Afraid. In a controlling, abusive relationship.
She got pregnant.
She gave birth alone.
She held the baby once.
Then she gave her up for adoption and buried the memory so deeply she convinced herself it never existed.
“I wasn’t lying to hurt you,” Carol said through tears. “I was lying to survive.”
Lauren didn’t know how to respond.
She only knew that the woman she trusted most had carried a secret for 31 years.
And that secret now had a name.
Emily.
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