The crowd of onlookers grew. When he turned toward Jamie, his breath caught. The boy’s dark hair, the familiar green eyes it was like looking into a mirror.

“Is he… mine?” he asked quietly.

Elena couldn’t speak. Her throat tightened, and the tears she had held back for years began to fall.

The man introduced himself as Adrian Cole, a technology investor from New York. He explained how he had searched for her for years, after the storm destroyed his phone and her contact information. “I went back to that road every month,” he said, voice trembling. “But you were gone.”

Neighbors gathered outside, pretending to tidy their porches, unable to look away.