It showed my mother much younger, holding a baby in a yellow blanket on a porch.

Beside her stood Richard in uniform.

On the back, someone had written a date: Thirty-one years ago.

My birth year.

The paper was a copy of a legal document: Guardianship Appointment and Family Trust Addendum.

Beneficiary: Seraphina Elise Hayes.

“When your grandparents died, they left provisions for you and Whitney,” Richard said.

“Separate ones.”