My Favorite Babysitter Disappeared on My 13th Birthday – 12 Years Later, She Appeared at My Door and Said, ‘Your Dad Thought He’d Gotten Rid of Me. It’s Time You Know the Truth’

It showed the hospital I was born in and named Richard, my dad, as my father.

    Anna was standing outside my house.

Then I looked at the line marked “Mother.”

I must’ve read the birth certificate 10 times before I spoke.

“This can’t be real.”

“It is,” Anna replied.

    “But my mother’s name was Laura.”

    “This can’t be real.”

Anna shook her head.

“There was no Laura.”

I laughed, but nothing was funny.

“Are you telling me that my dad invented a dead woman?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Anna looked at the yellow gift.

“Can we sit down?”

    “There was no Laura.”

***

We moved inside and sat at my dining table.

I put the birth certificate between us.

“Start at the beginning.”

She nodded.

    “I met your father when I was 22. Your father was three years older.”

    “Start at the beginning.”