She sighed heavily. ‘I…I walked over to the local orphanage, put her on the doorstep, knocked, and ran away. And then…I never looked back.’
My heart thumped against my ribs. The same orphanage where I grew up. The same orphanage where I’d been found as a baby.
Margaret shook her head. ‘I never told anyone. I married another man. I had Daniel. And I buried him. I thought I could move on with my life.’
She let out a dry, hollow laugh. ‘But then I met you, Emma. And tonight Mrs Reynolds told me the truth. She told me about the girl who was found that night, all alone, on the doorstep of the orphanage. And I…’ She interrupted, her voice choked. ‘I started counting. Years. Time. And I realised… it was you.’
I felt my body separate from my mind.
It wasn’t.
Margaret turned to Daniel, tears streaming down her face. ‘I never wanted to tell you this. But I had to stop you before…’ She covered her face, her body shaking.
I suddenly felt suffocating. The walls of the hotel room seemed too tight and the air too thick. I jumped off the bed, my legs shaking.
Daniel reached for me, but I pulled away.
‘I need air,’ I gasped.
I didn’t wait for an answer. I just ran.
I barely remembered how I got to the hotel balcony.
The cold night air touched my skin, but it didn’t help. My stomach twisted, my head splitting. This couldn’t be happening.
I gripped the railing, squeezing my eyes shut. I’d spent my whole life wondering where I’d come from. And now that I had finally decided I had found a family, it had turned into a nightmare.
I heard the balcony door open behind me.
Daniel’s voice was soft. Cautious. ‘Emma…’
I turned to him. He looked as lost as I did.
‘What if it’s true?’ I whispered.
Daniel swallowed hard. ‘We don’t know that yet.’
I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to catch my breath from panic.
‘How do we fix this?’ My voice cracked.
Daniel didn’t answer. We both knew that if we really were siblings, there was no way to fix it.
The night passed like a blur. I didn’t sleep, and neither did Margaret. She sat in the corner of the hotel room with her arms wrapped around herself, staring into the void.
At one point I heard her whisper: ‘I’m so sorry.’
Daniel didn’t say a word. By dawn, the answer was clear.
‘We need to do a DNA test,’ I said.
Margaret nodded immediately. ‘First thing this morning.’
I exhaled heavily. The truth was coming.
The scariest part was the waiting. Sitting in this sterile clinic, unspoken fears in the air, I could barely breathe. Every second felt like an eternity.
Daniel sat next to me, his leg bouncing restlessly. Margaret sat across from us, kneading her hands. Neither of us spoke.
Then the door opened. The doctor walked in, holding a thin manila folder. My stomach cramped.
‘The results are in,’ he said.
I clenched my fists. My heart was pounding so loudly I could barely hear anything. The doctor opened the folder, scanning the pages. Then finally looked up.
‘You’re not related.’
For a moment, no one moved. Then the air rushed back into my lungs. I felt slightly dizzy, as if I’d been holding my breath for hours.
Daniel exhaled with difficulty, his shoulders slumping in relief.
Margaret burst into tears. ‘Oh my God,’ she sobbed, pressing her hands to her face. ‘I’m so sorry. I…I thought…’
She couldn’t finish.
I reached for Daniel’s hand and squeezed it tightly. He squeezed it back.
The nightmare was over. But the truth still remained.
Somewhere out there, Margaret had a daughter. A girl who had been abandoned, just like me. A girl who didn’t even realise her mother had spent the last 24 hours tearing herself apart for her.
And now we had to find her.
Margaret wiped her face and squared her shoulders. ‘I have to do this,’ she said firmly. ‘I have to find her.’
Daniel nodded. ‘We’ll help you.’
I squeezed his hand, my heart steady now. ‘All of us will help.’
Margaret had already lost her daughter once. She wasn’t going to lose her again.