Even my own mother hesitated before holding them, as if afraid that touching them might confirm something she did not want to believe.
I stopped explaining myself after a while.
There are only so many times a person can defend a truth no one is willing to hear.
When the official documents arrived weeks later, I studied every line as if something hidden between the words would finally reveal the answer I needed.
Blood types were listed.
Dates were confirmed.
Everything appeared correct, and yet nothing made sense in the way I needed it to.
A doctor suggested genetic testing, but at the time, the cost was beyond anything I could afford.
