The call came from an unknown number. Hesitantly, I answered, my voice shaky. “Hello?”
“Is this Mrs. Taylor?” a stern male voice asked.
“Yes,” I replied cautiously.
“This is Officer Hernandez from the local police department. We have some questions regarding your daughters, Sarah and Emily.”
My heart sank. “What’s happened? Are they okay?”
“They’re fine, but they’ve been brought in for questioning regarding a suspicious incident at your former residence,” he said.
My former residence? The house they kicked me out of? I was reeling.
“I’ll be there right away,” I managed to say.
When I arrived at the station, I found Sarah and Emily sitting in the waiting area. Their faces were pale, and they refused to look at me. I approached the officer who had called. “What’s going on?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“Your daughters filed a false report claiming you abandoned them and left the house voluntarily,” he explained. “They’ve been living there without permission, and we were alerted when your landlord filed a complaint about overdue rent and damages to the property.”
I was speechless. “But I’ve been paying the rent this entire time!”
The officer nodded. “The landlord verified that, but the payments stopped last month. When we investigated, we discovered the girls had been ignoring notices and using the house as their own. They even attempted to have the lease transferred into their names, forging your signature.”
I turned to Sarah and Emily, my voice breaking. “Why? Why would you do this to me after everything I’ve done for you?”
Emily finally looked up, tears streaming down her face. “We didn’t mean for it to get this bad,” she said softly. “We just… we wanted to move on from the past. You always reminded us of… him.”
Sarah added, her voice colder, “You’re not our real mom. You did your duty, and we thought you’d understand that we needed space to live our own lives.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “I loved you like my own. I gave up everything for you—how could you repay me like this?”
Neither of them answered. The officer intervened, explaining that while their actions were unethical, they hadn’t committed a serious crime. They would need to vacate the property immediately and return any belongings they had taken.
That night, I sat in a small motel room, replaying everything over and over. How could two little girls I had raised, loved, and sacrificed so much for betray me this way?
As I tried to make sense of it all, my phone buzzed again. This time, it was a familiar number—my estranged sister, Karen.
“Hey, I heard what happened,” she said softly. “I know we haven’t spoken in years, but you don’t deserve this. Come stay with me for a while. We’ll figure things out together.”
Her words brought me to tears. In that moment, I realized that maybe, just maybe, it was time to stop holding on to people who didn’t value me and start rebuilding my life with those who truly cared.
It was the end of one chapter, but perhaps the beginning of something new—something better.