The Truth Lila Carried
Silence pressed in around us until Lila began to cry.
“I found her,” she said through uneven breaths. “She was outside a church, wrapped in a blanket. It was cold, and she was alone.”
Rachel shook her head gently. “The baby wasn’t abandoned. She was taken by a nurse experiencing a psychological crisis. She left the child somewhere and disappeared.”
Something collapsed inside me — not only the fragile dream I had allowed myself to build, but the trust I had placed in Lila.
“You never reported it?” I asked.
She lowered her eyes. “I told myself I would. I even drove to a station once. But when she stopped crying in my arms, I couldn’t let her go.”
The confession landed between us like broken glass.
