“When it began, I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
I remained standing.
“But eventually, you knew you were hurting me.”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
The honesty startled me.
Sarah wiped her face.
“At first, it was homework. Then hairstyles. Then school events and bedtime routines. Every time Emma came to me instead of you, I told myself it happened naturally.”
Her voice trembled.
“After a while, I stopped pretending I didn’t notice.”
“Why didn’t you step back?”
She closed her eyes.
“Because I loved how it felt.”
The answer was quiet, but it cut through the room.
She told me about years of fertility treatments, losses, doctor appointments, and hope that repeatedly ended in grief.
People had often told her she would be a wonderful mother.
Then she married Darren and met Emma.
“Whenever she hugged me or asked for my help, it filled something inside me,” Sarah said. “I knew she wasn’t mine. But for a few minutes, I could pretend I had the life I thought I would have.”
