I said, “The new neighbor looks like me.”

He didn’t react at first. Then he did.

Too quickly.

Too sharply.

And in that moment… something didn’t feel right.

Two days later, I learned why.

He had already gone next door. He recognized the last name on a package—the same name of the couple who had adopted my son.

He hadn’t forgotten.

He had just buried it.

Three days after the truck arrived, Miles knocked on my door.

“I made too much coffee,” he said. “Want to come over?”

I should have said no.

I didn’t.

When I stepped into his house, everything stopped.

There, draped over a chair…

was the blanket.

Blue wool.
Yellow birds.

Mine.

The one I had been told was destroyed.

I pointed at it. “Where did you get that?”

He picked it up. “I’ve had it my whole life.”

Then he said, gently,
“I was adopted at three days old. My parents told me my birth mother left me with this… and a note.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“What note?” I asked.

He looked at me.

“‘Tell him he was loved.’”

That was the moment I knew.

Not suspected.

Knew.

My father appeared behind me.