She was driven, ambitious, only twenty-four, and convinced that this connection was fate rather than a complicated echo of her mother’s past. When I hesitated, she issued an ultimatum no parent ever wants to hear: accept this or lose her. So I stood by quietly as their relationship accelerated, even as unease pressed on my chest. On her wedding day, surrounded by soft music and carefully arranged flowers, I smiled for photos and raised my glass, doing everything expected of a mother. But the entire time, a sense of wrongness lingered like a shadow I could not step out of.

It was my son, Caleb, who finally brought the truth into the light. Steady, perceptive, and more intuitive than anyone realized, he led me outside during the reception and revealed what he had uncovered: