Chapter One<br > "I m not your birth mother." Anna Silvero s voice trembled and she clutched<br > the flowered handkerchief in her hands.<br > "Why...why didn t you tel/me this before?" Clair s words came out with a<br > jerk. She felt the blood rush from her head， and a cold numbness settled over<br > h~ bod~<br > Anna stretched out her arms to her daughter. "We were so happy with you，<br > your dad and I. When we first saw you， it was love at first sight. We have<br >i: always loved you as if you were our very own. And you are ours， Clair. We have<br > always felt that way about you. We have never thought of you as adopted，<br >: that s how strongly we love you， how close we feel to you." She sighed and<br > looked down at her hands. "We just never had the heart to say anything to you<br >iwhen you were a child. We didn t want to spoil what we had， didn t want to<br >!~upset you. And the next thing we knew， you became a grown woman."<br > "What about Danny?" Clair asked woodenl)~<br > Anna hid her face in her hands for a moment and let the tears come.<br >: Finally， she lifted her face to her daughter. "Not long after we ad~ted you，<br >!t became ~t. It was like a miracle. But we never once compared you<br > thought of you as different. You were bot/~ ours?<br > battered through Clair s defenses. She doubled over with sobs. Anna<br > for lua; but Clair pulled away.<br > q~lQ!" she cried. UDon t touch me! You_~ i to me! All these years you lied<br >~0 rod" She ran out<br >. ~ of the room and up the stairs to her old bedroom.<br >. ~ let the teats flow fred); hiding her face in the bedspread. Her sobs<br > quieted， and she sat up on the bed， fingering the purple flowers sprin-<br > ~ the white bedspread.<br > ~ttiz tWenl~ve years old，~ the young woman said to herseff. "Let s<br > ~quietly surveyed the small room that had been hers from cb.i/dhood.<br > it had b~.n seven years since Clair had moved to her own apart-<br > ~her mother hadn t changed anything. "-"<br > ~alcalay rll make it into a sewing room，" Anna would say. Then she<br > ~ her eyes twinkling. "But maybe I shouldn t， in case one day we<br > ~ ~ jewelry box still graced center stage of the white vanity.<br > ~-teaehed o，/er and gently flipped the clasp， opening the box. A perfect<br >