The woman stared at the boy.

“That’s impossible.”

He flinched.

“My mom said you might say that.”

Her hands began shaking.

“I went to Anna’s funeral.”

The boy’s eyes filled with tears.

“She said there was no body.”

The woman went silent.

Memories rushed back all at once.

The closed coffin.

Her father refusing to let her see inside.

The sudden funeral.

The questions nobody answered.

She looked at the boy again.

“How old are you?”

“Ten.”

Her face went pale.

Anna had supposedly died fifteen years ago.

The boy reached into his pocket again.

“There’s something else.”

He placed a small silver necklace in her palm.

The woman gasped.

She had given that necklace to Anna when they were children.

“Where did she live?”

The boy lowered his eyes.

“Far away.”

“Why didn’t she come back?”

His lips trembled.

“She tried.”

The woman leaned closer.

“What stopped her?”

The boy looked terrified now.

“She said your father found her first.”

The woman’s entire body stiffened.

“My father?”

The boy nodded.

Then whispered the sentence Anna had made him memorize.

“She said, ‘Tell Claire I never abandoned her. Dad made sure she believed I was dead.’”

The woman covered her mouth as tears spilled down her face.

Then the boy looked at her with the same eyes she remembered from her sister.

“My mom told me one more thing.”

The woman could barely speak.

“What?”

His voice broke.

“She said if I found you… I wouldn’t be alone anymore.”

He paused.

“Because you’re my family.”