“Really?” Mr. Russell said, stopping. “That’s great. What made you change your mind?”

“I guess . . . I just needed some perspective.”

Mr. Russell put a hand on David’s shoulder. “I can certainly understand that. Well, I’ll need you to fill out an entry form by the end of the day. There are a couple on my desk.”

“Okay, I’ll fill it out.”

Melissa heard the rumble of the postal truck and walked to the end of the driveway to retrieve the mail. Courtney would be home from the bus soon and Melissa liked to look through the mail right away and pay any bills that came so they didn’t hang over her. She’d learned that the hard way after a few were lost in the clutter of her desk. Shawn had been kind about the overdue penalties, but she’d made a mental note to be more on top of things.

Her life was, it seemed, all about overdue bills. Things she had done that she regretted and had squirreled away in her heart. She tried to forget the mistakes but they had a way of coming back and being delivered at the most inopportune times.

She looked through the junk mail and an envelope from a bank inviting her to open a line of credit. Halfway up the driveway she stopped and her jaw dropped when she saw an envelope with the return address of Jimmy and Susan Colton from Louisiana. She stared at it, her heart beating wildly, and willed herself to breathe.

Melissa had finally gotten through to the law firm and left her information, and she promptly forgot about it. She ripped the envelope open and saw a folded sheet of paper and hurried inside the house and unfolded it as she sat on the couch.

Inside was a high school senior picture of a young man with striking features. Dark-brown hair, spiked in the front, green eyes, a strong jaw, and a hint of a smile. He wore a necklace with a silver cross pendant, and she wondered if that was just a fashion statement or if it meant something more to him and he wanted others to know he identified with the cross.

Melissa held it up and the picture became blurry. She realized she was looking into that face again, the one she had seen in the hospital on that December day so many years ago. There had been a few pictures between then and now, but nothing like this, and her heart swelled with the vision before her.

She put the picture on the coffee table and spread out the handwritten letter. She wiped her eyes and read.

Dear Melissa,