Talia decides to visit her mother the following weekend, inviting me along given my own direct connection to uncovering this unexpected piece of family history.
Margaret Hess lives in a quiet assisted living facility on the city's outskirts, considerably removed from the world of hidden trading floors and predatory contracts that eventually consumed both her daughter's career and, apparently, some forgotten piece of her own past.
"She has good days and bad days," Talia explains as we walk toward the entrance. "Memory's been declining for years, though I always assumed it was simply age catching up with her."
We find Margaret sitting near a window, sunlight catching gray hair pulled back neatly, expression peaceful despite whatever fragments of memory time has already claimed from her.
