Three weeks after she’d brought Will home from the hospital, she’d sent his father a copy of their son’s birth announcement along with a copy of the birth certificate. She’d shamelessly added a picture of herself just in case he’d forgotten their brief affair. Throughout the years, she had continued to send items marking Will’s accomplishments, the milestones reached as he grew up. Photos of the first day of school; first lost tooth; then, as he aged, driver’s license; first date; anything she thought a father would have been proud of. Again, all had come back, unopened and marked RETURN TO SENDER. After so many years of this, she should have learned, should have known that Will’s father had no desire to acknowledge him. To this very day, she’d never told Will for fear it would affect him in a way that she wouldn’t be able to handle. Recalling the hurt, then the anger each time she and her son were rejected, Lin tucked away the memories of the man she’d given herself to so many years ago, the man she’d loved, the man who had so callously discarded all traces of their romance and in so doing failed to acknowledge their son’s existence. When Will had turned twelve, she’d told him his father had died in an accident. It had seemed enough at the time.

But as Jack, her former employer and substitute father, always said, “The past is prologue, kiddo.” And he was right. She’d put that part of her life behind her and moved forward.

The elevator doors swished open. The main floor was empty but for a few couples gathered in the corner speaking in hushed tones. Most of the parents were either visiting other dorms or preparing for the evening banquet. Will hadn’t wanted to attend, but Lin insisted, telling him several of the college’s alumni would be speaking. She’d teased him, saying he might be among them one day. He’d reluctantly agreed, but Lin knew that if he truly hadn’t wanted to attend, he would have been more persistent.

She glanced at the exquisite diamond watch on her slender wrist, a gift from Jack and Irma the day she’d made her last payment on the diner she’d purchased from them eight years ago. “I’ll meet you in the banquet hall at seven. Are you sure you don’t want to come back to the hotel?”

Will cupped her elbow, guiding her toward the exit. “No. Actually, I think I might take a nap. Aaron doesn’t arrive until tomorrow. It might be the last chance I have for some time alone. I want to take advantage of it.”

Will and his dorm mate, Aaron Levy, had met through the Internet during the summer. Though they hadn’t met in person, Will assured her they’d get along just fine. They were studying to become veterinarians and both shared an avid love of baseball.

“Better set your alarm,” Lin suggested. Will slept like the dead.