They were addressed to her mother.
The most recent was only three months old.
“My name is Ethan. I believe your daughter, Dorothy, is my birth mother.”
Dorothy’s hands started shaking.
The letter included his birthday.
The date matched.
“This was the only family address I could trace. Please pass along my number. She doesn’t have to call me, but I’d like her to know I’ve had a good life.”
Dorothy called immediately.
A man answered.
“Hello?”
“Ethan?”
“Speaking.”
“My name is Dorothy.”
Silence.
Then Ethan asked:
“Did you get my letters?”
“Only today.”
They met at a café.
When Dorothy approached the table, Ethan stood.
Then hesitated.
“Would it be okay if I hugged you?”
Dorothy nodded because she couldn’t speak.
He held her until she stopped shaking.
Eventually, Ethan asked about her life.
She showed him photographs.
Me.
Nancy.
Then Ethan stared at our daughter’s picture.
“You married him?”
“Yes.”
“Does he know about me?”
Dorothy shook her head.
“I have to tell him.”
Then Ethan asked:
“Could I meet her first?”
That was where Dorothy made another mistake.
Ethan hadn’t asked her to lie to me.
She chose that herself.
He was helping organize a concert and arranged three seats near the stage, along with a backstage visit.
Dorothy decided she would introduce Nancy to her brother first.
Then she’d come home and tell me everything.
That Saturday, Nancy climbed into the car holding the card she’d made for Grandma.
“Are we seeing Grandma later?”
Dorothy looked at her.
“Not tonight.”
Then she told our nine-year-old daughter something I still didn’t know.
“There is someone here I need you to meet.”
She explained that Ethan was her older brother.
That Dorothy had been very young when he was born.
That another family had raised him.
Nancy’s first question was:
“Does Dad know him?”
Dorothy hesitated.
“Not yet.”
Then she promised:
“I’ll explain everything to Dad tonight.”
Backstage, Nancy met Ethan.
Apparently, she accepted him with the uncomplicated curiosity only a child can manage.
She asked whether he knew every singer.
Whether he’d ever been onstage.
Whether he knew her name before meeting her.
Then, during the concert, a song Nancy loved started playing.
She threw her arms around Ethan’s neck.
“Thank you for bringing me!”
