His face broke.
“Natalie.”
“No.”
She covered her mouth.
“This can’t be happening.”
I wanted to hold her.
She moved away from me too.
“Everybody stop touching me.”
We did.
PART 12 — THE FIRST NECESSARY FACT
Christopher took control.
“We need facts.”
He looked at Aaron.
“Do you have your adoption records?”
“Some.”
“Get them.”
Aaron went upstairs.
Natalie sat at the kitchen table staring at nothing.
Helen whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
I turned on her.
“Not now.”
She nodded.
PART 13 — THE FILE
Aaron returned with a folder.
His adoptive parents had given it to him after they died.
His original birth certificate was sealed, but he had non-identifying
information.
Male infant.
Born October seventeenth.
St. Matthew’s Hospital.
Premature.
Emergency abdominal delivery.
Birth mother, age twenty-seven.
One existing male child.
My son Christopher was four when I gave birth.
My legs gave out.
I sat.
PART 14 — THE MEDICAL NOTE
