People who had come to watch Valerie become Mrs. Collins instead stood in small groups and listened as Grandma told stories about Sarah.
How Mom once drove three hours to rescue a dog from a rest stop.
How she cried at commercials.
How she kept emergency chocolate in every purse.
How she forgave too much, but loved with her whole body.
Lily sat beside me, holding one of Sarah’s letters.
“She wrote that you liked moon necklaces,” Lily said.
I touched the charm at my throat.
“I gave her one.”
Lily smiled sadly.
“She told my parents that if I ever wanted to find my birth family, I should look for the girl with the moon.”
I couldn’t speak.
So I took off the necklace and placed it in her hand.
She shook her head.
“No, Chloe—”
“Just hold it for a while.”
She did.
And for the first time since Mom died, I felt something besides loss.
Not happiness.
Not yet.
But possibility.
The trials took months.