**Part 2**
The following morning, Emily, Jake, and I arrived at the county records office.
Audra was waiting outside.
Seeing her in person was overwhelming.
She wasn’t identical to Emily.
Her hair was shorter, and her face slightly thinner.
But their resemblance was unmistakable.
Emily approached cautiously.
“You really frightened me yesterday.”
Audra lowered her eyes.
“I know. What I did was wrong.”
“You made me think something terrible might happen to my baby.”
“I’m sorry. I was desperate to get someone to listen, but that doesn’t excuse it.”
Emily folded her arms.
“Show us what you found.”
Audra opened a folder.
Inside were hospital documents and adoption records.
I examined the first page.
Mother: Maeve.
Child: Female.
Birth time: 2:18 a.m.
Seven minutes after Emily.
I sat down.
Audra explained that her adoptive mother had passed away the previous year.
Among her belongings, she’d discovered a box containing documents and a letter.
The letter described how Naomi had arranged the adoption with a couple she knew.
My mother had told them I had agreed to give up my second daughter.
But I’d never agreed to anything.
Then Audra showed me a document bearing my name.
A signature appeared at the bottom.
I stared at it.
“That’s not my signature.”
Emily leaned closer.
“Grandma signed your name?”
The records raised serious questions about how the adoption had been arranged.
Audra then showed me an old photograph.
Naomi stood beside a young couple holding a newborn baby.
On the back, in my mother’s handwriting, were the words:
“Audra. Three weeks old.”
My mother had known my baby survived.
She’d known all along.
For twenty-seven years, she’d allowed me to grieve a daughter who was alive.
I looked at Audra.
“Did anyone tell you I believed you’d died?”
She shook her head.
“I thought you’d chosen to give me away.”
I started crying.
“I never chose that. I went home believing I’d lost you.”
Audra covered her mouth.
For the first time, we both understood the terrible deception that had separated us.
Emily turned toward her sister.
“Why the black balloons?”
Audra wiped her eyes.
“Because Naomi made everyone believe I was dead. I thought if I made the truth impossible to ignore, someone would finally listen.”
“It was frightening,” Emily replied.
“I know. I wish I’d handled it differently.”
Despite everything, Emily stepped closer.
“Then we need to find out what Grandma did.”
That afternoon, we went to Naomi’s house.
When she opened the door and saw Audra standing beside us, her expression immediately changed.
“You shouldn’t have brought her here.”
Those words told me everything.
Not “Who is she?”
Not “What’s happening?”
She already knew.
“Mom,” I said, my voice shaking, “you told me my baby died.”
Naomi looked away.
“Maeve, you were nineteen.”
“You told me my daughter was dead.”
“You were young. You had no money. The girls’ father was gone.”
“Did I agree to give Audra away?”
She remained silent.
“Answer me.”
Finally, she whispered, “No.”
Emily covered her mouth.
My mother began defending herself.
“You couldn’t have managed two babies. I was trying to protect you.”
I stared at her.
“That wasn’t your decision to make.”
“Someone had to think practically.”
“Then you should have helped me. You shouldn’t have taken my child and lied about her death.”
Audra stood beside me, trembling.
Naomi insisted that Audra had been raised by a good family.
Then she accidentally revealed something even worse.
“I received updates. I knew she was doing well.”
The room fell silent.
Audra slowly looked up.
“You received updates about me?”
Naomi realized what she’d admitted.
Photographs.
Letters.
School milestones.
For years, she’d known where Audra lived and how her life was unfolding.
She’d known when Audra’s adoptive parents separated.
She’d known when her adoptive mother became ill.
All while I mourned her.
“You could have told me at any point,” I whispered.
Naomi looked down.
“I couldn’t undo what had happened.”
“So you kept lying.”
She had no answer.
Emily stepped forward.
“You even told Audra to stay away from me.”
“I was protecting your family.”
Emily placed a hand over her pregnant stomach.
“No, Grandma. You don’t get to call this protection.”
Naomi looked startled.
“You have no idea how difficult things were.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to decide who belongs in our family.”
Then Emily reached for Audra’s hand.
It was the first time I’d seen my daughters hold hands.
“We’re leaving,” Emily announced.
Naomi looked toward me.
“Maeve, you’re really going to turn your back on your own mother?”
I thought about the frightened nineteen-year-old girl who’d trusted her after childbirth.
Then I looked at my two daughters.
“You taught me that being family doesn’t give someone permission to control another person’s life.”
I opened the door.
“It took me twenty-seven years to understand that.”
Outside, Audra began walking toward Emily’s car.
“Audra,” I called.
She turned.
“I would have kept you.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
“No. I need you to understand. I would have chosen you. Every single time.”
She began crying.
“Then maybe we can stop living according to the choice she made for us.”
I embraced her.
For the first time in twenty-seven years, I held the daughter I thought I’d lost forever.
