“What’s that?” David asked.

“I didn’t look like my parents. Not any of them or the relatives. I’d ask why my hair was black when they were both blonds, and they’d make some offhand remark about recessive genes. They had small features, and they were both short. I’m over six feet tall, and with this face.”

The men laughed and then began pointing at each other and making fun of who had the bushiest eyebrows or the most prominent nose.

Sully sighed. “Just sitting here looking around this room and seeing familiar features is the most gratifying feeling of my life,” he added.

Then Marc added a stroke of poignancy to the story that they could all appreciate.

“You can imagine how I felt when I first saw his picture! It was like looking at a younger version of myself. He was my blood, and I didn’t know he existed until the family gathering the night before Uncle Wayne’s funeral.”

“I knew something was wrong then,” David said. “But you didn’t say, and I would never have guessed.”

And then the subject shifted to Sully and Melissa and the big ring she was flashing on her finger.

“Nice move,” one of the men said.

“I’d have to take out a loan to put one like that on my wife’s finger,” another said, and more laughter ensued.

Sully was absorbing these people and their energy through every word and action—and trying to remember who was who, and how they were related—when his uncle David spoke up.

“Have you two set a date?”

“We’ve spent the last two weeks in planning, and we’re looking at the first week of November.”

“An exciting time, for sure,” Marc said.

A short while later, the men dispersed to other areas of the house. Sully went looking for Melissa, while Marc went in search of Lovey. When he saw her happily laughing and talking with old friends, it felt good knowing they’d already forged a bond beyond that of the son they shared.

She caught him watching her and winked just to let him know she was okay. Satisfied all was well, Marc went into the kitchen to talk to his aunt again and found Melissa writing down a recipe for one of the snacks June had made, while Sully stood there eating it.

Sully glanced up and saw his dad watching him, and in that moment a swell of emotion washed over Marc so strong that his vision blurred. None of them could change the past, but they had the rest of their lives to make a family out of what was left.

* * *

The next morning after breakfast, Sully decided to take his family to his fire station to introduce them. As soon as his car was brought up from valet parking, they drove away.

“This is going to be a surprise for the guy I talked to when I was trying to track you down,” Marc said. “He thought I was running a scam of some kind and was certain you weren’t adopted.”