Marc gave her a quick goodbye kiss. “I wish fate had been kinder to the both of us.”

Lovey shrugged. “Life happens. The good part is we’re both still here to live it. Drive safe. Text to let us know you got home okay.”

“I will, and I’ll be in touch.” And then he packed up his things and left.

When he stopped at the house to tell Melissa and Sully goodbye, Melissa answered the door. “Marc! Come in. Sully is out back.”

“I don’t want him to stop what he’s doing. I just came to say goodbye for now.”

“Then I better get a hug,” Melissa said.

Marc obliged, adding a quick kiss on her cheek. “You’re going to be my favorite daughter-in-law. You know that, don’t you?”

Melissa grinned. “Duly noted. Now follow me, and I’ll let you out through the kitchen door.”

Marc gave the Elliot Graham painting one last look as they passed it, then followed her through the house and outside onto the patio.

“Sully!” Melissa called. “Your dad’s here!”

Sully turned and waved, then leaned his rake against a tree and loped back to the house.

“Hey, Dad. Are you leaving?”

“Yes. I finished the interviews. I already have a promise from Lovey that she’ll come with you guys to meet the family.”

“I can’t wait,” Sully said. “You just say the word and we’ll be there.”

“I never knew what I was missing until I found out you existed. After that, it was a physical ache. Thank you for being so accepting of letting me into your life,” Marc said.

“I understand that feeling,” Sully said. “Once I learned I was adopted, it created such a hole in who I thought I was that I knew I wouldn’t be happy again until I had some answers.”

“And thanks to a huge twist of fate, the impossible happened. Just prepare yourself for all kinds of hugging and kissing and crying and laughing…because that’s what big Greek families are all about,” Marc said.

“Something to look forward to,” Sully said, then walked his dad back to his car and stood on the front lawn waving until he was out of sight.

* * *

Two and a half weeks later, Sully was on I-70 with the two most important women in his life, driving back into Kansas City to meet his dad.

Melissa was in the seat beside him, and his mom was in the back seat, quietly looking at everything they were passing.

“Mom, how does it feel coming back after all this time?” Sully asked.

“I don’t exactly know how it feels. I hadn’t thought about this place in so long, but I do know that I left here without you, and the fact that you’re the one bringing me back makes the whole thing come full circle,” Lovey said.

“Oh, Lovey, what a perfect way to think,” Melissa said. “Sully is the common denominator between us. I knew him after you were gone, and loved him. Then you and I met years later, unaware of the connection we already shared, and now we’re coming back together to where it all began. That’s not coincidence. That’s karma, and I for one am happy to close the circle on that.”