He took a sip of his coffee and began. “It was one of the coldest nights on record. According to the report, a man coming off a late shift found you. He heard crying and, thank God, he didn’t just keep walking.”
“He took you back to his place to get you warm, then called us first thing in the morning. When we got to the scene, he showed us where he’d found you—an alleyway behind a grocery store. The wind was brutal, and the snow was so thick you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face. The doctors said you were minutes away from not making it.”
The detective looked at them with a heavy expression. “But there’s more. That same morning, just a few blocks away, we found a woman. She was deceased. No ID, no personal items. Nothing to tell us who she was.” He paused, letting the weight of the words sink in. “The medical examiner concluded she had given birth very recently. We were certain she was your mother.”
“Our theory was that she was running from something, or someone. She left you in a place where she hoped you’d be found before she succumbed to the cold herself. We never found out who she was or what she was running from. No one ever came forward to claim her.” Max listened, his heart aching. Alex sat with his jaw set, his hands clenched into fists.
They looked at each other, the reality of their mother’s sacrifice hitting them with full force. “You never found out who did it?” Max asked, his voice low.
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