For ten years, I raised my grandson believing his father had walked away. Then a woman from my daughter’s past forced me to question everything I’d believed about those final months. What I uncovered didn’t just change how I remembered my daughter – it changed the future I’d built for her son.
“I made your daughter a promise. Now it’s time you knew the truth.”
The woman standing beside Teagan’s grave held out a sealed envelope.
My name was written across the front.
In my daughter’s handwriting.
I forgot how to breathe.
“I made your daughter a promise.”
Teagan had been dead for ten years.
“Where did you get that?”
“She gave it to me.”
“When?”
“The day her baby was born.”
My fingers tightened around the flowers in my hand.
“Where did you get that?”
“You’ve had a letter from my daughter for ten years?”
The woman lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
Before I could answer, Lucas shouted from the bottom of the hill.
“Grandma! I found it!”
“You’ve had a letter from my daughter for ten years?”
My grandson was running back from the car, waving the birthday card he’d made for his mother.
The woman looked toward him.
“Don’t open this in front of him.”
I stared at her.
“Who are you?”
“Don’t open this in front of him.”
“My name is Trudy.”
“That tells me nothing.”
“I knew Teagan at the hospital. I was her nurse.”
My stomach turned.
Lucas was getting closer.
“My name is Trudy.”
Trudy pushed the envelope into my hand.
“My number’s on the back.”
