When I got home, I confronted Grandma with the sweater, demanding the truth. Her sharp gray eyes gave nothing away as she claimed my mother had still abandoned me, twisting the story until it broke something inside me. She warned that if I went searching for Mom, I would be on my own—no home, no help. Still, I knew I couldn’t ignore this chance.

Secretly, I made plans to leave, but Grandma caught on, hiding my keys and threatening to keep Liam if I dared to go. It broke me, but I played along—for now. That afternoon, telling her I was taking Liam to the playground, I loaded him into a borrowed car instead. As I drove toward the charity center with the sweater beside me and my son in the back seat, my heart pounded with a question I couldn’t shake: Would she recognize me? And after all these years… would she still want me?