Contents
Part Two — Chapter Seventeen — October 2008
Overview
Valerie meets Lucky in Oneonta and confirms she is Lucky’s birth mother, revealing she was sixteen when she left the baby at a church and immediately returned to find her gone. Valerie seeks forgiveness and a relationship, while Lucky admits her crimes. Valerie refuses to arrest Lucky and instead offers help, shifting their dynamic from adversaries to family.
Summary
In Oneonta, Valerie begins by revealing she was sixteen when she fell in love, became pregnant, and left her baby on church steps believing it was best. She confesses she went back almost immediately to retrieve the child but found the baby gone.
As Valerie speaks, she studies the young woman’s quiet, contained grief and recognizes it. Valerie asks the young woman’s name, and she replies: “Luciana, but people call me Lucky.” Valerie withholds the name she originally gave the baby, choosing instead to share that she has counted every birthday and searched strangers’ faces for her.
Lucky admits she has done the same searching. Valerie acknowledges her deep mistake and asks for forgiveness, expressing a desire to know her daughter. Lucky counters that knowing her means knowing a criminal, promising to tell everything and then be arrested.
Valerie refuses to treat the meeting as an arrest. She says she already knows about Lucky’s crimes and still wants to help, asserting that her commitment to Lucky will not change. This turns their confrontation into the start of a possible relationship, grounded in Valerie’s offer of protection and connection rather than prosecution.
Who Appears
- Valerie MannDistrict attorney and Lucky’s birth mother; recounts abandoning and searching for her baby, asks forgiveness, and offers help instead of arrest.
- Luciana “Lucky”Daughter confronting her past; reveals her criminal life, expects arrest, but hears Valerie’s offer of support and a relationship.