Gemotions

"Mom?" Sarah asked, her voice barely a whisper. She stared at the woman across the kitchen table, her mother, the person she'd always believed was her blood relative. The words from the DNA test report spun in her head, the truth a tidal wave threatening to consume her. Her throat constricted.

Her mother's face was etched with a mixture of confusion and concern, her usual jovial expression replaced with a look of worry. Sarah picked at a loose thread on the tablecloth, the motion providing a small measure of focus. The silence stretched, filled only by the ticking of the kitchen clock. Her heart hammered in her chest, a frantic drumbeat against the quiet.