I became a mother at seventeen—and my parents took my baby from me. Now, twenty-one years later, the man living next door looks exactly like the child I lost.

He whispered, “I didn’t know how to stop it.”

“And that kept you silent for twenty-one years?”

He had nothing to say.

Miles looked at me, his voice soft.

“Are you saying… you’re my mother?”

Tears filled my eyes.