Her mother’s denial
During those long, anxious weeks of waiting, Emma had even tried to slip questions into casual conversation with her mother. She asked, as naturally as she could manage, whether the name Edgar Oakley meant anything. The answer had been firm and quick—absolutely not. Her mother’s voice carried no hesitation, no recognition whatsoever. That certainty only deepened the mystery. No one in her family seemed to know him, yet his blood said otherwise.
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