Chapter 5: The Blue Dress

A month after Liam left, I smelled smoke beneath his bedroom door, and that small danger opened the room where the truth had been hiding… Continue Reading ⬇️

His door was locked. I forced it open and found no fire, only a scorched power strip near his desk.

Then I saw the prom photo.

I sat in his yellow beanbag chair, weak with memory, and felt something strange beneath me. One part was soft. Another was hard. I flipped it over and found a seam stitched with red thread.

Livia had known how to sew.

When I tore it open, pale blue satin spilled into my lap.

Her prom dress.

Then came envelopes. Dozens of letters addressed to Liam. A courthouse photo. A sonogram. A hospital bracelet. A tiny picture of a baby wrapped in yellow.

Then one sealed envelope fell near my foot.

In Livia’s handwriting, it said:

“Mom: only if she can listen.”

I screamed so hard John found me on the floor twenty minutes later, surrounded by the truth. Continue Reading ⬇️