Chapter 2: The Missing Years
Chapter 2: The Missing Years
The manager approached, confused by the scene, but the older woman raised a trembling hand.
“Please… give us a moment.”
The restaurant felt distant now, like the world outside their table no longer existed.
The young man pulled out a chair, forcing his mother to sit. She kept staring at the waitress like she might vanish if she blinked.
“I’ve been looking for you for twenty-two years,” she said quietly.
The waitress stepped back. “That’s impossible. I grew up in foster care. I don’t even know who my real parents are.”
The words hit the older woman like a physical blow.
“I never stopped searching,” she whispered. “Your name was Lily Hart. You were taken from the hospital two days after you were born. The police said it was a trafficking case… but there were no leads.”
The waitress shook her head, overwhelmed. “No… I would remember something like that.”
But her voice trembled.
The young man finally spoke, softer now. “What’s your name?”
The waitress hesitated.
“I… I was told it’s Emily.”
The older woman smiled sadly through tears.
“That was the name they gave you.”
She pushed the locket across the table.
“You’re holding the other half.”
May you like
The waitress looked down at her own necklace. For the first time, she noticed something she had never seen before—an almost invisible seam running through the heart-shaped design, as if it was meant to be joined with something else.
Her breath caught.
