I adopted a five-year-old girl I found wrapped in my late daughter’s jacket – years later, she handed me a note and said, “Your daughter asked me to give this to you today.”

in her voice made me stand at once.

“What happened?”

She held out the jacket with both hands.

“I found something Lily left inside this.”

My heart started pounding so hard it hurt.

“What do you mean?”

She slipped her fingers into the torn pocket lining and pulled out a folded paper, yellowed and soft at the edges.

Ava sat beside me on the couch and turned continue reading …