When my 16-year-old daughter went on a road trip with her dad’s new family, she sent me a postcard on day five saying they’d be staying two extra days. When she finally returned, she apologized for not telling me sooner. I smiled and said, “But you did—you sent me a postcard.” Her expression changed instantly. “Mom… we didn’t send anything.” A chill ran through me as we sat in uneasy silence.
I pulled the postcard from the drawer. At first glance, the handwriting looked exactly like hers. But when she studied it, her hands began to shake. “This isn’t mine.” My stomach tightened. She explained they had no cell service and no way to mail anything from the remote area they visited. No one in her dad’s family had sent it. I looked again—no return address, a smudged date stamp, yet a message written by someone who understood our relationship too well.
