Chapter 33
Inside were blankets, baby clothes, letters tied with ribbon, and a flat metal box.
Victor lifted the box onto the floor.
Sofia entered a number using the sequence from her locket.
The lid opened.
Documents filled the box.
Birth certificates.
Hospital records.
Photographs.
Handwritten agreements.
I sat on the floor beside them.
Victor picked up one file.
His face changed.
“What is it?” I asked.
He handed it to Sofia.
She read the first page, then covered her mouth.
“Tell me,” I said.
Sofia turned the paper around.
At the top was a birth record for a baby girl.
The mother’s name was Sofia Moretti.
The father’s name had been blacked out.
The child’s name was Anna Rose Moretti.
Date of birth: twenty-six years ago.
I counted silently.
“That child would be older than me.”
“Yes,” Sofia whispered.
“But the photograph said Annie was three months old twenty-four years ago.”
Victor looked at the file again.
“The dates do not match.”
Sofia searched the box.
She found a second certificate.
Same mother.
Same child’s name.
A different date of birth.
Two years later.
I stared at the papers.
“Which one is real?”
“I don’t know.”
Victor opened another folder.
Inside was a photograph of Sofia holding a newborn.
On the back, Daniel had written:
Sofia and Anna. The first day.
The photograph was dated twenty-six years ago.
May you like
Sofia sank onto the chair beside the crib.
“My father told me she was born two years later.”
