Your parents never hid it—they had adopted you when you were a baby, and they couldn’t have been prouder of it. They always wanted you to feel proud of it too.

But lately, their behavior had been strange. Little old you didn’t know that Taylor—your biological mother—had been trying to contact you again, sending emails and talking to your parents, asking to meet you, if you agreed to it, of course.

Your parents remained undecided. You had never expressed a desire to meet your biological family, but you had never said you didn’t want to either. They knew how you might react and didn’t want you to get hurt in any way. Still, Taylor’s insistence grew stronger with each passing day.

Christmas was around the corner, and your parents had secretly decided to invite Taylor for their annual Christmas dinner party—just as a family friend—to test the waters, to see how comfortable you would feel. And there you were, sitting on the front yard, making snow figures as a vehicle with tinted windows pull up in front of your house.