Sophie paused.
“She doesn’t have one yet.”
The rest of the drive passed mostly in silence.
When we got home, Sophie immediately carried the baby upstairs.
I reheated leftovers for dinner.
Neither of us ate much.
That night, after Sophie went to bed, I found myself sitting alone in the kitchen staring at the diaper bag.
I told myself I would wait until morning.
I almost succeeded.
Then I noticed something sticking out of one of the side pockets.
I pulled it free.
It was a folded hospital sticker.
And printed across it was a name.
Mia.
I stared at it.
Mia.
The girl from housekeeping.
Suddenly, Sophie appeared on the stairs.
She stopped when she saw what I was holding.
“Mom.”
“Who is Mia, sweetheart?”
Sophie slowly sat across from me.
“My friend from the resort.”
“Your friend whose newborn baby is currently sleeping upstairs?”
Sophie dropped her gaze.
“She needs time. That’s all I can tell you.”
“Time for what?”
“I promised her I wouldn’t say anything.”
“Why?”
“Please don’t make me break that promise.”
I studied my daughter.
And for the first time, something became clear.
Sophie wasn’t hiding something because she was ashamed.
She was protecting someone.
“Fine,” I said quietly. “For tonight.”
But if Sophie refused to explain what was happening, I needed answers from somewhere else.
The next morning, while Sophie was showering, I called the resort.
After several attempts, a young woman named Jenna answered.
I introduced myself.
“You’re Sophie’s mom?”
“Yes. I’m trying to find Mia.”
Silence.
“Is she okay?” Jenna finally asked.
“I don’t know. How well do you know her?”
“We worked together. Mia was in housekeeping.”
“And Sophie?”
Jenna hesitated.
Then she said something that made my stomach tighten.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Why Sophie came here.”
I stood completely still.
“What do you mean?”
“Sophie already knew about Mia before she started working here.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“What?”
“She was asking people about Mia during her first week.”
I felt the room around me go strangely quiet.
Sophie hadn’t met Mia at the resort.
She had taken the job because she was looking for her.
But why would my daughter travel three hours from home to find one particular girl?
“How did she know Mia?”
“I don’t know.”
I thanked Jenna and hung up.
When Sophie came downstairs, I was waiting in the kitchen.
“You knew Mia before you took that job.”
She stopped walking.
“Mom…”
“You went there looking for her.”
Sophie looked away.
“Who is she?”
“I promised I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Then tell me why you were searching for her.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because of Dad.”
I stared at her.
Daniel had been dead for five years.
“What does your father have to do with Mia?”
“I can’t tell you. Not yet.”
“Then who can?”
Sophie whispered one name.
“Laura.”
I hadn’t heard that name in twenty years.
My entire body went cold.
“Is Mia Laura’s daughter?”
Sophie wouldn’t look at me.
That was answer enough.
The baby suddenly didn’t feel like the biggest secret in the house anymore.
Whatever Sophie had discovered about her father had somehow led her back to the one woman I had spent two decades trying to erase from my memory.
“Where does Laura live?”
“I promised Mia I wouldn’t involve her.”
“Sophie.”
My daughter closed her eyes.
Then she gave me the address.
It was in the same city where Daniel and I had lived during the earliest years of our marriage.
The city we had abruptly left twenty years earlier.
The city I never wanted to return to.
The following morning, I told Sophie I had errands to run.
She obviously didn’t believe me.
But she didn’t stop me.
A few hours later, I stood outside a faded yellow house.
I knocked.
Laura opened the door.
The moment I saw her, twenty years vanished.
Suddenly, I was young again.
Pregnant with Sophie.
Standing in the doorway of my bedroom.
And finding Laura with my husband.
That affair had nearly destroyed my marriage.
Maybe being pregnant was the reason I stayed.
Maybe I was simply terrified of raising a child alone.
Whatever the reason, I had given Daniel one condition.
Laura disappeared.
No phone calls.
No messages.
No secret meetings.
Nothing.
A month later, Daniel and I moved away and started over.
Now Laura was standing in front of me again.
“Karen.”
“Laura.”
Neither of us smiled.
“I’m looking for Mia.”
Laura’s expression instantly changed.
“How do you know my daughter?”
My daughter.
The words struck harder than I expected.
“Sophie went looking for her months ago.”
Understanding slowly spread across Laura’s face.
“You really don’t know.”
It was the second time someone had said that to me.
“Know what?”
Laura stepped backward.
Then she said the words that changed everything.
“Mia was Daniel’s.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“Daniel never knew. I never told him.”
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