I unfolded the letter, and my mother’s handwriting stared back at me. She wrote of a secret she had carried for over fifty years—a truth she had never spoken out loud. When she was young, before she met my father, she had given birth to a child she was forced to give up. She had prayed every night since that day, asking God for forgiveness and hoping one day I would understand.
In the last line, she revealed his name and where to find him. My heart broke as I realized I had a brother I had never met. Tears streamed down my face, but I also felt a strange peace. My mother’s greatest burden was no longer hidden, and it was now my turn to decide whether faith and love could heal what time had kept apart.
