She thought about my words for a long time.
Then she and Tom began exploring the adoption process.
Months passed.
There were interviews, paperwork, home visits, and more waiting.
Finally, they learned about a five-year-old girl named Ellie.
According to the agency, Ellie had entered protective care as an infant.
Her biological parents had never been properly identified.
The available information about her earliest days was incomplete.
Nora and Tom met her.
And almost immediately, something changed.
Nora called me afterward, crying.
“Claire, she’s wonderful.”
I could hear the excitement in her voice.
“She loves drawing. She asks a million questions. And she has the cutest little smile.”
I was happy for her.
Genuinely happy.
After everything she’d endured, my sister finally had a chance to become a mother.
Two weeks before she appeared at my door with that mysterious envelope, Ellie’s adoption was finalized.
Nora and Tom brought their daughter home.
