Margaret is stunned when she sees a beggar woman on the street with a baby who looks just like her deceased child.
For a long time after her husband and her daughter died, Margaret Union imagined she saw them everywhere. She thought she was going mad when she found herself chasing through the supermarket after a man with a toddler in his arms, sure it was Frank and Didi.
But the man turned around and it wasn't Frank, and she apologized and walked away on trembling legs. Her lost family haunted her awake and asleep, until one day she saw a woman on the street with her daughter in her arms.
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Ironically, her horror had started on Mother's Day. Frank and Didi had sneaked out of the house early to buy her flowers for Mother's Day, but a truck's brakes had failed at an intersection, and in an instant, her beloved family was gone.
Margaret had started going to therapy and things had gotten better until the day she saw the woman begging on the street, with a baby, the same age Didi had been when she died sprawled across her knees.
The greatest of griefs is the loss of a child.
The woman was around Margaret's age but she was worn down and marked by the hard life on the streets. Margaret felt a wave of pity engulf her. She couldn't imagine what it would be like, living with a tiny child on the streets.
She came closer and fumbled in her purse, looking for some money to drop in the woman's bowl, and then the child turn her head towards her. Margaret gasped! High on the little girl's cheekbone was a heart-shaped mole -- just like Didi's!
Margaret felt as if a giant fist had punched her in the stomach. She must be imagining it, hallucinating again. She closed her eyes tightly, then took a deep calming breath just as her therapist had taught her, then she opened her eyes again and looked at the child.
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The baby had the birthmark, it wasn't her imagination! Margaret approached the woman. "Hello," she said in a gentle voice. "You look hungry!" The woman raised her face and nodded.
"I'm very hungry," she whispered, "But I need food for my baby."
"If you'll let me help you," Margaret said, "you'll both have more than enough to eat, and a safe place to sleep tonight."
The woman looked a little frightened. "You won't take my baby?" she asked fearfully.
"Never," Margaret cried. "I've lost my child, and I would never do that!" The woman signed her agreement and got up, cradling the child tenderly. She followed Margaret to her car and got in.
On their way to Margaret's house, the woman told her story. Her name was Karly and she had been raised in an orphanage and left foster care at 18. She had lived a hard life, lonely and unloved, until she fell pregnant.
"They wanted me to give my baby up for adoption," Karly said. "But I know how I suffered at the hands of the people who adopted me and then abandoned me. So I kept my baby."
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Margaret sighed. "I'm sorry you've had such a terrible experience, Karly, because I was adopted too, and I have wonderful parents. My father passed away, but my mother's been living with me since my husband and baby died. You'll see how nice she is."
Margaret led Karly and her baby, Kim, into the house and introduced them to her mother, Leah. "Mom, Karly and her baby have nowhere to stay, and I want to help them," she said.
By then her mother had seen the baby's face and she gasped. "Oh my God, Margaret!" Leah whispered, "She looks just like Didi!" With Leah's help, Margaret gave Karly and Kim a warm dinner.
Then she showed Karly to the guest room and set out some clothes. "You can go and have a warm shower," Margaret said. "And I'll change Kim's diaper and find her some pajamas."
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Margaret and Leah were playing with Kim when Karly came out of the bath, wearing Margaret's clothes and looking like a different woman. In fact, she looked almost exactly like Margaret.
Leah gasped and pressed her hands to her mouth. "It's not possible!" she cried.
"What's not possible, mom?" asked Margaret.
"Look!" Leah said. "Look at her face!" Karly looked like Margaret if Margaret had spent the last 10 years living on the streets, going hungry, sleeping rough. Lines of suffering marked her face, but she was still Margaret's doppelganger.
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"Oh, Margaret!" Leah cried. "When we adopted you, the woman at the agency said you had a sister, but they didn't say she was your twin!"
Margaret and Karly were looking at each other in astonishment. "We're sisters?" asked Karly. "I never knew, no one ever told me I had a sister!"
Leah had tears in her eyes. "If I had known, I would have taken you both!" she said. And she stretched out her arms and hugged Karly. Karly was crying and hugging Leah, and Margaret joined them.
"We're together now, Karly," Margaret cried. "And I'll help you and Kimmy! You can count on me!"
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And so two people who desperately needed love and family found each other. Margaret got to lavish all her love on her little niece, and Karly felt cared for and secure for the first time in her life.
What can we learn from this story?
- The greatest of griefs is the loss of a child. Margaret's world fell apart when she lost her husband and her daughter, but she found comfort in her newfound sister and niece.
- Sometimes love and support arrive in the most unexpected ways. Karly had been alone all her life, but by some miracle her twin sister found her.
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