My eyes burned.
Chloe turned a page. “Year six. Maya called her teacher ‘Mom’ by accident and cried in the car. I told her families come in different shapes. I waited until she fell asleep before I cried.”
At the very bottom of the box sat an empty frame with a small card inside.
“The mother-daughter photo we never got.”
“Oh my God. How dare you?” Elena screamed.
Chloe stayed calm. “You came here worried about how you’d look in front of your new family. So I wanted them to see the family you left behind.”
Elena turned on me. “Say something, David. Tell her this isn’t the whole story.”
I stood.
“It isn’t,” I said.
Elena’s face shifted, like she thought I might save her.
