“What song?”
Margaret answered immediately.
“Blue Moon.”
Claire let out a sob.
Then she threw her arms around Margaret.
Margaret held her daughter for the first time in forty years.
No one in the room spoke.
Nathan turned away.
Sophie cried openly.
Rebecca wiped her eyes.
Margaret pressed her face into Claire’s hair.
“My baby.”
Claire held tighter.
Margaret repeated the words.
“My baby.”
Forty years vanished.
And remained.
Both things were true.
PART 8
The reunion was not magical after that.
It was difficult.
That mattered.
Claire had questions Margaret could not answer.
Margaret had memories Claire did not share.
Claire still loved Carol.
That was complicated.
Carol had lied.
But Carol had also raised her.
She had attended school plays.
She had cared for Claire when she was sick.
She had walked her down the aisle.
Love and betrayal existed together.
Claire struggled with that.
Margaret did too.
