Chapter 4 - Two Mothers, One Missing Childhood
Naomi didn't sleep that night.
She stayed on her friend Imani's couch, surrounded by photographs and old newspaper clippings.
Every few hours, her phone lit up with another message from Ruth.
Please call me.
We need to talk.
Baby, I'm sorry.
Naomi read them but didn't answer.
By morning, she had made a decision.
She called Evelyn Whitmore.
The elderly woman answered before the second ring.
"Naomi?"
"I found something."
Evelyn was silent.
"I think you need to see it."
An hour later, Naomi sat in Evelyn's study.
Julian stood beside the fireplace.
On the desk lay the newspaper clippings Ruth had kept.
Evelyn touched the missing-child photograph.
Her hands trembled.
"I remember the day this was printed."
She looked up.
"We had just received another false sighting."
Naomi sat across from her, holding the storage box in her lap.
"Ruth found it two years after she took me in."
Julian frowned.
"Who is Ruth?"
"The woman who raised me."
"Did she know you were missing?"
Naomi swallowed.
"She recognized the picture."
Julian turned toward his mother.
"This needs to go to the police."
"I know," Evelyn said.
Naomi's stomach tightened.
"Will Ruth go to jail?"
Julian hesitated.
"That's not something we can answer."
He leaned against the desk.
"If she knowingly concealed a missing child, there may be legal consequences."
Naomi looked down.
Ruth had lied.
She had stolen years from Evelyn.
But she had also been the person who taught Naomi to ride a bicycle and stayed awake whenever Naomi was sick.
The truth didn't erase either side.
Evelyn noticed her expression.
"We can take this one step at a time," she said.
Julian shook his head.
"Mother, we have to be careful. We don't even have a confirmed identification yet."
Evelyn looked at him.
"She's wearing Clara's necklace."
"That's not scientific proof."
"And the scar?"
"Compelling, but not conclusive."
Naomi raised her head.
"He's right."
Both turned toward her.
"I want to know for certain too."
Evelyn nodded.
They arranged DNA testing through an accredited laboratory and provided the historical materials to investigators.
Naomi also gave a formal account of what Ruth had told her.
The process was uncomfortable.
There were questions about her childhood records.
Questions about Leon.
Questions about how Ruth had enrolled her in school and obtained identification documents.
Naomi answered what she could.
The truth was that she'd never questioned most of those things.
Why would she?
Children trusted adults to explain their lives.
Later that afternoon, Evelyn asked whether Naomi wanted to stay for lunch.
Naomi hesitated.
"Will people think I'm trying to get something from you?"
Evelyn looked startled.
"Why would they?"
"Because you have money. And I work for a catering company."
Evelyn was quiet.
Naomi continued.
"I saw how your son looked at me."
Evelyn sighed.
"Julian lost his sister when he was twenty-two. He's watched a lot of people give us false hope over the years."
"That doesn't mean I'm lying."
"No. It doesn't."
Evelyn placed her napkin on the table.
"And he owes you an apology for making you feel that way."
Naomi looked toward the windows.
She didn't know whether to feel comforted or overwhelmed.
Everything in Evelyn's home was expensive.
The furniture.
The artwork.
Even the flowers seemed carefully arranged.
Naomi remembered Ruth's old apartment with its squeaking radiators and chipped kitchen tiles.
For years, she'd believed those things were simply the landscape of her childhood.
Now she wondered what her life might have looked like here.
A larger bedroom?
Private schools?
A father who lived long enough to see her become an adult?
She hated herself a little for wondering.
As though imagining a different life meant betraying the one she'd lived.
That evening, Naomi returned to Ruth's apartment to collect clothes.
Ruth was sitting at the kitchen table.
She hadn't touched her dinner.
"Did you tell them?" she asked.
"Yes."
Ruth closed her eyes.
"Everything?"
"Everything I know."
Ruth stared at the table.
"I suppose they'll come for me."
"I don't know."
Naomi put several shirts into a bag.
"Where are you going?"
"Back to Imani's."
"You don't have to leave."
Naomi stopped packing.
"I can't stay here right now."
Ruth's eyes filled.
"You're choosing her."
Naomi slowly turned.
"No."
Ruth looked up.
"I'm choosing to find out what happened to me."
"After everything I did for you?"
Naomi flinched.
For the first time, she understood how easily love could become something used to demand obedience.
"You did a lot for me," she said.
"I know."
"And I can be grateful for it without agreeing that you had the right to keep me from my family."
Ruth looked away.
Naomi closed her bag.
As she reached the doorway, Ruth spoke again.
"There's something else."
Naomi stopped.
Ruth stared at the table.
"Leon came back once."
"When?"
"Years after he brought you."
Naomi felt her pulse quicken.
"What did he say?"
May you like
Ruth swallowed.
"He told me why he took you."
