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Just there.

“She tried,” Sage whispers.

I stare at her.

“What?”

“Aunt Addy wrote that Mae tried to find him.”

Sean steps closer.

“She did?”

Sage nods.

“She couldn't. She said your family told her you were gone.”

Sean's face hardens.

But he doesn't say anything.

Not now.

Sage looks at me again.

“I thought Mae was my mother.”

“She was.”

Sage's eyes widen.

I swallow.

“She raised you. She loved you. She was there for every birthday and every scraped knee and every nightmare. I'm not going to take that away from her because I gave birth to you.”

Sage starts crying.

“So what are you?”

The question hurts.

But I understand it.

“I don't know yet.”

Her shoulders shake.

“I'd like to be whatever you'll let me be.”

Sage stares at me.

Then she takes one step.

I don't move.

Another.

Still, I wait.