When the narrator was 10, she received a mysterious birthday card from a woman named Nancy. Her parents took it away and never mentioned it again. Years later, after her father died, she found the card hidden in a shoebox along with an old letter. The letter revealed the truth: she had been adopted, and Nancy was her biological mother. Nancy had reached out once to check if her daughter was safe and loved. Her father responded kindly but asked her not to contact them again, believing he was protecting everyone. Discovering this secret leaves the narrator torn between understanding the love behind the lie and grieving the truth kept from her.
