Ellie thought about that.
“That’s sad.”
“Yes, sweetheart.”
Then she handed me a pink ribbon.
“This one’s for the left side.”
I told her I’d had a little girl who died when she was a baby.
Children have a way of bringing you back to whatever needs doing.
***
Now Nora was sitting across from me, looking at the envelope.
“What did they find?” I asked again.
She opened it.
Several papers slid onto the table.
“What did they find?”
The first was a formal notice from the adoption agency.
It said Ellie’s early placement summary contained material inaccuracies.
I read the sentence twice.
“What inaccuracies?”
I read the sentence twice.
Nora pointed to the next page.
It was a summary of a records review.
A hospital name appeared halfway down.
I recognized it immediately.
It was the hospital where I’d delivered Lucy.
I recognized it immediately.
