She smiled, a bittersweet curve of her lips. “I’m sorry for the pain this must be causing you. I didn’t anticipate this.”

“But you are Emily,” I insisted. “I know you. We had a life together. Lily is your daughter!”

Her eyes softened with an emotion that seemed like longing. “I am not Emily. At least, not anymore. My name is Amara now. I was given another chance, a different life.”

The world around me seemed to blur, the air thick with a reality I couldn’t grasp. “A different life? How can that be?”