It hurt so much to come home to an empty house, permeated with the presence of someone who was no longer alive.
I quit my legal career because I couldn’t cope and began teaching students. But in the evenings, I was still alone.

One day, watching TV, I came across a program about lost relatives. I spent my whole life in foster families, so I desperately wanted to find my roots. That’s when I ordered a DNA test online.
When it came, I was horrified — I HAVE A DAUGHTER?! WHAT?! IS THIS SOME KIND OF MADNESS?
But when I saw her, I could not believe my eyes—she was my carbon copy!! But how?!

When I was sixteen, I went through a pretty rough time. I’d run away from a bad foster situation and ended up living in a shelter for about four months. No one knew I was pregnant. Not even me, not really. I was so disconnected from my body, from life, from everything. I was just surviving, day to day.

Then, one night, I collapsed from pain and exhaustion. The social worker who took me to the hospital later told me I was already in labor. I barely remember it. Just flashes—pain, cold sheets, a nurse’s soft humming.

They told me the baby didn’t make it. That she was too small, too early. I cried, not because I truly understood, but because I felt emptier than I already did. I signed some papers through my tears, and that was it.

I never talked about it again.

So when the DNA test said I had a daughter—a living daughter—it felt like the world cracked open beneath me.

I thought it was a mistake. I emailed the company. They double-checked. Nope. Same result.

And then, I got a message through the site’s portal.

“Hi… I think you might be my biological mother. I’ve been trying to find you.”

Her name was Jessa. Twenty-one years old. Lived two states away. Studying photography and working part-time at a bookstore. She sent a picture.