\u201cShe said her name was Marlene,\u201d the baker whispered. \u201cShe said she was family.\u201d<\/p>\n
My eyes moved across the crowded backyard until they stopped on a woman standing near the back fence, half-hidden behind the balloon arch. She wore dark sunglasses and a pale gray coat, far too heavy for the warm afternoon. While everyone else laughed and celebrated, she simply watched Sophie.<\/p>\n
Daniel lifted the strange object toward the sunlight. It was an old silver locket, scratched and tarnished with age. He carefully opened it.<\/p>\n
Inside was a tiny folded photograph.<\/p>\n
And three words were scratched into the metal:<\/p>\n
\u201cAsk her mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sophie suddenly went pale. She looked at me, then toward the woman standing by the fence.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom,\u201d she whispered. \u201cWhy is she here?\u201d<\/p>\n
Before I could answer, the woman slowly removed her sunglasses.<\/p>\n
And after thirty years, I was staring into the eyes of the sister I had told everyone was gone.<\/p>\n
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