Lucas wrote that he had lived with guilt, confusion, and anger toward his parents. He had undergone counseling before attempting contact because he did not want to arrive expecting Sophie to comfort him.
At the end, he included an email address managed through his attorney. He would answer written questions if Sophie had them, provide the documents, and accept silence if that was her decision.
There was no request for a meeting.
Sophie folded the letter and returned it to the envelope. She did not cry immediately. Instead, she asked whether Emma had ever wanted Lucas to come back.
“When I was young, I wanted everything to disappear,” Emma said. “Later, I wanted answers. Those are not the same as wanting him in our lives.”
Sophie nodded. “I don’t know what I want.”
“You don’t have to.”
They put the documents away and ate cherry cake after midnight. The candles had softened in the warm room, and the icing leaned slightly to one side. It was not the birthday Emma had planned, but Sophie still laughed when the first slice collapsed.
Over the following days, they read the records slowly. Emma’s memories did not always match the official language, and some documents reduced painful events to a few cold sentences. She stopped whenever the words became too much.
Sophie asked questions Emma could not answer. Instead of inventing certainty, Emma wrote them down. Élisabeth agreed to meet them again and explain what she personally remembered from the hospital.
The elderly nurse was careful not to turn memory into fact. She recalled Heinrich visiting frequently, Martha appearing exhausted, and Emma holding Sophie with fierce concentration despite being a child herself.
She also remembered a representative from Lucas’s family attempting to speak to Heinrich near the ward. Hospital staff asked the person to leave after Heinrich became visibly upset. That memory matched a note preserved in the hospital’s old administrative file.Plan Family Trips
Sophie eventually wrote to Lucas. Her first message contained only three questions: Why had he waited so long? What did he expect from her? Would he provide every document without requiring a meeting?
His answer arrived the following day. He had waited because he did not learn the full truth until years later and then spent too long believing contact would be selfish. He expected nothing, and he had instructed his attorney to release the records regardless of Sophie’s decision.
Weeks later, a secure package arrived. It contained Heinrich’s letters, financial records, and correspondence between Lucas’s parents and the official who had handled part of the case.Get Templates
An independent attorney reviewed everything for Emma and Sophie. The documents suggested serious misconduct, but the passage of time, deaths of several people, and limitations in the preserved records made legal action uncertain.
Emma initially felt defeated. Heinrich had saved proof for years, and she wanted it to produce one clear judgment. The attorney reminded her that evidence could still establish family history even when a courtroom could no longer provide a complete remedy.Plan Family Trips
