There was a grainy photograph.
My mother.
Margaret.
Another nurse.
And three babies wrapped in blankets.
I stared at it.
“My mother saved babies?”
“She saved one in particular.”
My pulse quickened.
Evelyn looked straight at me.
“You.”
Everything inside me stopped.
I laughed nervously.
“No.
I wasn’t born at St.
Anne’s.”
“Yes, you were.”
“My birth certificate says County Memorial.”
“That certificate was amended.”
My mouth went dry.
“What are you saying?”
Evelyn pushed another paper toward me.
It was a copy of a hospital record.
Infant female.
Temporary name: Baby Jane.
Date of birth.
My birthday.
Mother listed as:
Unknown.
I looked at Evelyn.
“No.”
She nodded slowly.
“Your mother wasn’t your biological mother.”
I could hear the café around us.
Cups clinking.
A chair dragging.
Someone laughing.
But it all seemed miles away.
“Helen adopted me?”
“Unofficially at first.”
“Why?”
“Because your biological mother disappeared.”
I stood.
