I laughed. “This sounds like a scam. We don’t know anyone named Suzanne.”
“I understand,” he said patiently. “But Suzanne is real. She’s left Gabriel and Grace, along with your family, an estate worth approximately $4.7 million.”
The phone slipped from my hands. Mark caught it.
“She wanted me to tell you,” Cohen continued, “that she is their biological mother.”
Silence filled the room. Savannah’s fork clattered. The twins stared wide‑eyed.
Two days later, we sat in Cohen’s office. He slid a thick folder across his desk. “Suzanne wanted you to read this.”
Inside was a letter, written in the same desperate handwriting from that crumpled note ten years ago.
My dearest Gabriel and Grace, I am your biological mother, and not a day has passed that I haven’t thought of you. My parents were strict, religious people. My father was a pastor.
When I got pregnant at 18, they were ashamed. They locked me away, refused to let me keep you, and wouldn’t let our congregation know you existed. I had no choice but to leave you where I prayed someone kind would find you. I watched from a distance as you grew up in a loving home. I sent gifts when I could.
Now I’m dying, with no family left. Everything I own—inheritance, property, investments—I leave to you and the family who raised you. Please forgive me. Watching you grow happy in your parents’ home, I know I made the right choice. You were always meant to be theirs.
