We Thought Our Mother Abandoned Us—Until I Heard My Adoptive Mom Say, “Everything Went According to Plan”

take us again if she let go.

She placed that photo in one of the empty frames.

The second frame, she said, was for the future.

As for Clara, our relationship remained careful.

She wrote us a letter a few weeks after the confrontation. It was not perfect. Some sentences still sounded defensive. But one line stayed with me.

I told myself I was giving you continue reading …