CHAPTER 3: THE SEARCH
Three days later, Reid left the Whitmore mansion.
He moved into a temporary apartment with Paige.
It was the first major decision he had ever made without his mother's approval.
And it was long overdue.
Paige sat beside him as private investigators followed the trail hidden inside the old documents.
The search lasted weeks.
Then one afternoon, the call finally came.
Helen Carter was alive.
Living quietly in a small coastal town nearly two hundred miles away.
When Reid arrived, his hands shook so badly he could barely open the car door.
The modest white cottage looked nothing like the mansion where he had grown up.
Flowers lined the porch.
Wind chimes moved gently in the breeze.
And sitting in a rocking chair near the front window was a woman with silver hair.
The same eyes from the photograph.
The same scar on her chin.
Helen looked up.
Their eyes met.
For a moment neither moved.
Thirty years of loss stood between them.
Then Helen slowly rose to her feet.
"Reid?"
His name broke in her voice.
Reid felt tears burn his eyes.
"Mom?"
The single word shattered both of them.
Helen covered her mouth and began crying silently.
Not dramatically.
Not loudly.
Just the quiet tears of a mother who had waited half her life.
The reunion lasted hours.
Then days.
Helen showed him every letter she had written.
Every birthday card that had been returned unopened.
Every photograph she had secretly kept.
Proof that she had never stopped loving him.
Never stopped searching.
When Paige finally met Helen, the older woman gently placed a hand on her pregnant belly.
"Thank you," Helen whispered.
Paige frowned.
"For what?"
May you like
Helen smiled through her tears.
"For finding the truth when nobody else was brave enough to look for it."
