Chapter 5 - The Name in the Envelope
They found the storage unit before midnight.
Inside were seventeen years of records.
Anna had never stopped searching.
Neither had Matteo.
But the final discovery was inside an envelope addressed to Roman.
It had never been mailed.
Roman opened it beside Noah's hospital bed while the boy slept.
I watched his eyes move across the page.
Then stop.
“What does it say?”
Roman handed it to me.
Anna had found Matteo eight years earlier.
His adoptive name was Daniel Reed.
Noah's father.
I stared at Roman.
“Noah is Matteo's son.”
Roman looked toward the sleeping child.
“My sister's grandson.”
Suddenly everything made sense.
The familiar eyes.
The song.
Anna's photograph.
Even Noah's middle name.
Matteo.
Roman covered his face.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Noah woke.
“You look terrible.”
Roman lowered his hands.
Noah squinted at him.
“Did somebody die?”
“No.”
“Then why are you crying?”
Roman touched his cheek as if surprised to find tears there.
Noah became worried.
“Roman?”
Roman moved closer.
“I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I knew your grandmother.”
“My grandma Anna?”
“Yes.”
Noah smiled.
“She would've liked your tattoos.”
Roman laughed through his tears.
“She probably would've hated them.”
Then his expression changed.
“And Noah?”
“Yeah?”
“I knew your real grandmother too.”
The boy frowned.
Roman swallowed.
“She was my sister.”
Silence.
Noah stared at him.
Then came the question Roman clearly wasn't prepared for.
“So you're my great-uncle?”
Roman nodded.
Noah thought about it.
“That's weird.”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean you're family?”
Roman couldn't answer.
Noah reached out.
His tiny hand closed around one of Roman's tattooed fingers.
“You can just say yes.”
Roman bowed his head.
May you like
“Yes.”
---
