My mother-in-law gave her grandkids ipads, jewelry, and cash except my daughter….

Her mouth pulled tight as she reached inside and opened the envelope with trembling hands. She pulled out the first document. It was a copy of Zaya’s adoption papers.

Legal, signed by a judge. With Travis’s name clearly printed under Father. The court seal was stamped at the bottom.

She blinked hard, like maybe if she looked again it would say something different. But it didn’t. Next she opened a folded letter.

It was written in Travis’s handwriting. He didn’t flinch as she started to read, but I felt his grip tighten around my fingers under the table. Lorraine’s lips moved as she read silently, her face falling with every word.

It said, Mom, if you’re reading this, it means you have hurt my daughter again. Not just mine by love, but mine by law, by promise, and by choice. I have spent years watching you treat Zaya like an outsider.

I hoped it would change. I hoped you would open your heart the way I did. But if she ever had to hand you this box, it means she saw what I saw.

That you don’t consider her real. Zaya is my child. She is your granddaughter.

And if you cannot love her equally, then you don’t love me. I will not allow her to grow up thinking she has to earn a place in this family. She already belongs.

She always has. If you cannot accept that, you will no longer be welcome in our home or in our lives. Travis When she finished reading, Lorraine dropped the letter onto the table like it burned her fingers.

Her face was pale. She looked around, searching for someone to save her. No one spoke.

Then, like something inside her cracked, she screamed. Not a sob. Not a gasp.

A scream. Sharp and raw, like a curtain had been ripped away from everything she had pretended to be. She stood up so fast, her chair scraped against the hardwood.

Maddie flinched. Jonah froze. Her sister reached out to steady the table, but Lorraine had already backed away, muttering, I can’t believe you’d embarrass me like this.

Travis finally stood. We didn’t embarrass you, he said. You did that all by yourself.

Lorraine pointed at me. This is her doing. This girl turned you against your own mother.

I stood too. I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t need to…