Even my own mother hesitated before holding them, as if afraid that touching them might confirm something she did not want to believe.
I stopped explaining myself after a while.
There are only so many times a person can defend a truth no one is willing to hear.
When the official documents arrived weeks later, I studied every line as if something hidden between the words would finally reveal the answer I needed.
Blood types were listed.
Dates were confirmed.
Everything appeared correct, and yet nothing made sense in the way I needed it to.
A doctor suggested genetic testing, but at the time, the cost was beyond anything I could afford.All five babies in the cribs were Black., My husband took one look and screamed, “They’re not my children!”, Then he walked out of the hospital… and never came back., I was left alone, holding five …
I chose instead to survive.
To feed them.
