Chapter 5 - THE GIRL CALLED EMMA
St. Agnes closed in 2001.
Its records were transferred to a diocesan archive in Pennsylvania.
Emily traveled there with Margaret and Detective Morris.
Ashley refused to come.
The archive occupied the lower floor of an old brick building.
A clerk carried out a thin folder tied with faded string.
Inside was an intake form for “Baby Jane Carter.”
Date of birth: May 14, 1993.
Mother: unknown.
Father: unknown.
Left-ear crescent birthmark.
Placed for private adoption six weeks later.
Adoptive name:
Emma Grace Reynolds.
Emily stared at the page.
Thomas had created a circle of false identities.
Emma Carter became Emily Carter.
Emily Carter became Emma Reynolds.
Two children switched not once, but twice.
Margaret found the adoptive parents’ names.
Samuel and Ruth Reynolds.
Both deceased.
Their daughter, Emma Reynolds, was alive.
She lived in Portland, Maine.
Emily felt fear for the first time since the DNA result.
“What do we say to her?”
“The truth,” Margaret answered.
“Which truth?”
“All of it that we can prove.”
Emma Reynolds agreed to a video call only after reviewing court documentation.
She appeared on screen wearing glasses and a gray sweater.
Early thirties.
Dark hair.
A crescent-shaped birthmark beneath her left ear.
Emily forgot to breathe.
Emma looked exactly like old photographs of Caroline.
Not identical.
But enough.
“Are you Emily?” Emma asked.
“I have been.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Emily swallowed.
“Yes.”
Emma held up her adoption papers.
“My parents told me I was abandoned.”
“You were not.”
“You do not know that.”
“No.”
Emma’s voice remained controlled.
“Why are you contacting me now?”
“Our grandmother left a letter addressed to Emma.”
“Which one?”
The question pierced through the call.
Emily had no answer.
The envelope could have been for either of them.
Emma Carter by birth.
Emma by upbringing.
Judge Sloan ordered the envelope opened in court with both women present.
Emma Reynolds flew in under a confidentiality agreement.
When she entered the courthouse, Ashley was waiting outside the hearing room.
Ashley stared at her.
“You look like Mom.”
Emma stopped.
“Did she know about me?”
Ashley’s face changed.
“I do not know.”
“You lived with her.”
“So did Emily.”
Emma looked at Emily.
“Did she love you?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt everyone.
Emma nodded.
“Then she loved the child she believed was hers.”
Emily said, “I think so.”
“That is not the same as loving me.”
“No.”
Ashley crossed her arms.
“You are here for the estate.”
Emma looked at her.
“I came because someone erased my name.”
The courtroom opened.
Judge Sloan placed the cream envelope on the bench.
A forensic document examiner confirmed Eleanor sealed it in 2018.
The front read EMMA.
Inside was a second envelope.
It read:
TO THE GIRL I CALLED EMILY AND THE GIRL WHO WAS BORN WITH THAT NAME.
Judge Sloan unfolded the letter.
Before reading, she looked at all three women.
“This court will not release the contents publicly without further order.”
Ashley leaned forward.
Emily took Emma’s hand without thinking.
Emma looked down at their joined fingers.
Then allowed it.
May you like
Judge Sloan began.
“My dear girls, if this letter has reached you, then I failed to tell you while I was alive…”
