“I don’t need to see him,” Emily replied firmly. “That’s not why I’m here.”
Helen lowered her eyes.
“I understand.”
She didn’t demand to meet Sophie.
She didn’t try to defend her son’s behavior.
Instead, she reached into her purse and removed a small photo album.
“These are pictures of our family,” she said. “I thought Sophie might want to see them someday.”
Emily accepted the album.
When she returned home, Sophie spent almost an hour looking through the photographs.
There were pictures of family gatherings, holidays, birthdays, and relatives she had never known existed.
Eventually, she closed the album.
“Mom, I don’t think I’m ready to meet any of them.”
Emily nodded.
“That’s okay.”
“But maybe someday I will be.”
“Then we’ll figure it out together.”
That evening, they finally held Sophie’s birthday celebration.
Martha came over, along with several of Sophie’s friends and an elderly neighbor who had known the family for years.
