Is that my son? she thought. Could that be him?

Melissa walked to the screen door and pushed it open and began weeping with her first steps. She put a hand to her mouth and tried to hold herself together, but her feet were running now and she couldn’t hold back the motion or the emotion. It felt like she was being drawn to him by some heavenly magnet.

David met her in a hug and all of the feelings she had held for eighteen years came gushing like a flood. She hugged David with one arm and covered her face with the other hand and sobbed.

All of the questions, all of the fear melted like wax and Melissa was simply there with her son. Instead of looking down at him in that hospital room so long ago, with David wrapped snugly in a blanket and Melissa holding the baby who didn’t have a name, she was looking up at him and he was holding her tightly as they stood in the driveway. The son she had placed in another’s arms had returned.

“It’s good to meet you,” David said.

She couldn’t answer. Tears were all she had.

Susan stood by Jimmy as they watched David and Melissa. It was as if Melissa melted when she reached him. Susan could only think of how grateful she was that such a reunion could take place.

Jimmy put his arm around Susan and neither could take their eyes from the scene. After a few moments, Susan couldn’t wait any longer. She approached the two and said, “Can I have a hug too?”

David stepped back and Susan hugged Melissa tightly and said over and over, “I love you, I love you.”

Then it was Jimmy’s turn. “Melissa, it’s good to see you,” he said as he hugged her. His was a more careful, tentative hug, but genuine.

Spent with emotion, Melissa retreated to David and stood in front of him, looking at him through blurry eyes. She had been overjoyed to see pictures. She was amazed at the videos. But having him here, standing in front of her, was beyond her wildest dreams.

When she could finally speak, she said, “I want you to meet someone.”

David had watched his mom and dad hug Melissa and felt as moved by their meeting as he had by his own embrace with her. When Melissa turned back to the house, David remembered his sister was waiting too. Having grown up as only child, discovering he had a full-blooded sister was stunning. But instead of that being simply information, he turned to the house and saw a girl in a pink T-shirt with her hair in ponytails.

Courtney walked tentatively through the door onto the porch and David met her there. Fighting tears himself, he said, “Hi, Courtney. Nice to meet you.”

With a shaking voice, Courtney said, “Nice to meet you, too.”