I had always felt a strange tension with my math teacher, but I never understood why. One day, while browsing through my school’s 1989 yearbook, I stumbled upon something that changed everything. There, in a class photo, was my teacher at 16, wearing a jacket with the same unique initials as my mom’s. I realized my mom had attended the school a year ahead of her, and as I flipped through more pages, I found a photo of them holding hands, gazing at each other in a way that felt more intimate than friendly.

I never suspected my mom had a past relationship with a woman. I kept my discovery to myself until graduation, when my mom looked visibly uncomfortable upon seeing my teacher. The teacher handed me a note that read: “Ask her.”