The Discovery - 5. Chapter 5

Kyle growled under his breath in frustration as he waited for another response from another county clerk in his ongoing quest for a needle in a haystack. Sitting at his desk in his office, he had spent all morning getting all the cases off his schedule and explaining to a dubious Monica that he needed to focus on something else. Occasionally, he would get an associate in his office, asking questions which he was happy to answer if only to get them back out the door as quickly as possible. Rosette was assisting him with his research, but she wasn’t getting any further than he had. Jacob had no useful knowledge of his parents’ history. All he ever mentioned to Kyle in decades was that she died when he was very young and didn’t remember anything about her. That he and his father moved around several times so that Jacob could not remember everywhere they had been until they settled in Kellington when he was just finishing junior high.

That left Kyle with the unenviable task of reaching out to one county after another looking for anyone who had a death certificate on file for Kathrine Eaton. By noon, he had covered most of the western counties and was moving into the central counties in the state. At the same time, he was searching for any obituaries with that name in the state but when that proved to be an even bigger haystack, since he didn’t have a date or even a reliable year to start searching. He eventually stopped and decided to wait for the hope of finding the death certificate first. While he was feeling a higher than usual level of frustration in his search, it was matched by a determination to see this all the way through. Maybe, in a few weeks he and Jacob could meet his long lost… Sister? That would be nice. The idea of Matt and Aaron having another aunt or uncle made him smile. Maybe they had children of their own? The possibilities were vast, and he wanted to find out everything, but first, he had to find the right county clerk!

His office door opened, and Rosette poked her head in. “Nothing in Beaver County.”

Kyle looked up and groaned. “No word from Allegheny or Washington?”

She shook her head. “Want me to call them again?”

“Please. I’m going to start calling up some of the central counties to see if they have anything.”

“You should hit the eastern ones first,” she advised. “They’ll take longer to look and there’s a chance she may have lived there.”

He paused for a moment and considered her words. “Maybe I’ll call Stephanie and see if she can check in Dauphin and a few neighboring counties herself.”

“When do you want me to stop looking?”

“When we find it,” he replied. The look he gave her let her know this was his top priority.

“You have a client meeting in fifteen minutes,” she advised. “Don’t let him settle for less than what you’d take just because you’re obsessed with this.” She didn’t wait for an answer before she shut the door.

Kyle chuckled despite feeling a little miffed that she thought he would commit that kind of breach of trust with a client, but he knew she was saying it to remind him what his main job was. He stared at what he could find online for another few minutes before closing the windows on his laptop and turning to prepare for his next meeting.

****

David was sitting quietly in his study, with his fingers tapping away at the keys on his computer. The orchard was closing up soon and he was wanting to get a jump on putting in the final figures and making notes for next year so he could officially close up shop for the year. For forty years, he had been doing this on his own and it pleased him to know he could get it done so quickly and have all the figures ready to send off to his accountant months in advance. He could remember how difficult it had been in the beginning when there was no internet or home computers to keep accurate records of his gains and losses in the orchard. It helped that back when Kyle was just a child, he had focused on just farmer’s markets and selling his crop to bigger companies. The frantic final weeks to get everything together before taxes came due always seemed taxing to him back then. Now, he was doing it all with a steady hand and the confidence that came from decades of experience. He used to wait until the end of the year to do all of it, but that changed once he and Colt had started spending time away from the house more often. He hoped that this year would be no different.

Just as he was thinking about putting the rest on hold for the day, there was a knock on the door and Colt entered the room. David looked up at him with a bright smile. Without a doubt, Colt was the best thing to happen to him in years. His quiet, calm exterior that can be friendly when prompted and his more fun-loving side that he shared only with a select few around him. Kyle had asked him once what David saw in Colt and he only had one answer to give. “We understand each other.”

Colt returned David’s smile with his more reserved smile as he stepped up to the desk where David was sitting. Retirement would have never been the same without being here with this person who gave him a new family to appreciate and feel part of. He wasn’t one for a lot of affection, with a few exceptions, but he knew between the two of them, some words never had to be spoken. “What are you up to?”

“Working on the books for end of the year,” David replied. “What’s up?”

“Nothing much. Just wondered if we were still putting our plans on hold for the rest of the year or not?”

David sat there and thought about it. From what Kyle hinted at in their talks, the odds were that the situation would not get resolved any time soon, if at all. Jacob seemed to be fine, the last two days and gave no hint that anything was amiss. Kyle informed him this morning that he and Jacob were going to make an appointment with their therapist this week which indicated to him that they were taking care of the situation on their own. Aaron’s birthday was coming up and he was getting along just fine in his new surroundings at school. All the boys seemed to be taken care of for the moment and he couldn’t see a reason why they shouldn’t go ahead with their own plans. But he felt a little modification was in order. “Maybe this year we wait until after the holidays are over before we head out. Then we can spend a solid two or three months down there with no hopping back and forth like we did last year.”

Colt pondered the idea. “I don’t see a problem with that. Is everything alright?”

David’s eyes sparkled slightly as he looked at him. “Everything is fine. There’re a few things going on, but nothing that I think needs my attention other than what I’m doing right now.”

Colt stepped closer to him, putting a hand on David’s shoulder. “Okay. But how do you feel?”

David smirked and waved him off. “I’m fine. I’m just looking forward to having some parties around here before we leave is all.”

“Well, I don’t see a problem with that,” Colt said. “I just want to make sure you don’t need anything.”

“Everything I need I got right here.” Their eyes met and all the words they didn’t need to say were understood between the two of them. Colt’s calm, quietly caring attitude did a lot to give David someone he could lean against when he needed to. And the boys trusted him and saw another elder figure for them to look up to that expected and gave respect. It was no wonder that Colt seemed to make himself a part of the house and the area with the quiet confidence he carried in him. David was suddenly reminded how lucky he was that the two of them met.

“You are an incorrigible flirt, David Howard.” Colt’s blank faced humor seemed to be on full display for him. “How about I make some beef stew for dinner tonight?”

“That sounds like a perfect idea. Gives me a break when I know I’m going to be cooking ribs for everyone for Sunday football next weekend.”

Colt squeezed his shoulder once before letting go and heading back to the door. “Done. I’ll get that started in a couple hours. How about you take a break, and we can go take a walk through the orchard?”

That was an offer David could never turn down. “Let’s go.” He got up from his chair and joined Colt at the door. As they moved through the house, their hands found each other before heading out into the sun warmed September air.

****

Kyle had just finished his meeting and gone back to his search when there was a knock on his door and Rosette stepped inside with a file in her hands. She wordlessly crossed the room and set it down on his desk. “Pittsburgh finally called back.”

He picked up the file and opened it. There was a single piece of paper. A photocopy of a death certificate for Kathrine Eaton. “Good job.”

She waved off his compliment and walked back to the door. “All I did was answer the phone. Anything else?”

“No. Thank you.” He heard the door close as he started to read the information in front of him. Her birthdate and time of death was duly recorded on the sheet. He skipped most of the information for now and focused his attention to the cause of death. When the words came into focus and his brain digested the information a sudden chill crept up his spine. “Postpartum hemorrhaging.” The implication was startling and caused him to recheck the dates on the page to make sure he understood. In the end, the message was clear. Jacob’s mother had died in childbirth or shortly after. And it could not have been Jacob because it was nearly two years after Jacob had been born. One year, ten months and twenty-two days to be precise. He put the paper down and got onto his computer, searching for verification.

Within minutes he found himself reading her obituary. A close study of that revealed more clues. At the time she had been survived by a brother named Randle O’Neal. He hit the print button to make a copy of it to add to the file sitting next to him. Once added to the pile, he started his search for Randle O’Neal. Curiously, the obituary mentioned her husband and Jacob, but no other surviving children. It pained his heart to realize Jacob was barely walking when his mother died. Little surprise then that he had no memories of her.

Kyle sat there for long minutes, trying to decide what to do next. He had a name and a possible lead on Jacob’s past. But no more clues about the sibling. His mind raced, trying to figure out any legal means he could employ to find out more. He had to reason, if a child had been born and no knowledge of that child was mentioned in either parents’ obituaries, then it was more than likely the child had been either adopted or died shortly after birth. But there would be no record of their DNA had they died, so adoption was the child’s most likely fate. All he had to do was find the records.

A soft knock on the door prompted him to look up just as Monica stepped inside. “How was your meeting?”

“Oh.” He felt a little relieved to think about something other than this mystery. “I think we can probably settle with the defendants. Just a matter of finding the right number both sides will agree to.”

“Good. Nice to know things are working out as we both expected.”

“Thanks.” He got the impression that wasn’t what she came in to say. “Was there something else?”

She smiled a little to herself before answering. “I have five interviews next week for new associates. If they go well, I’ll be sending them to you, and you can meet with them and decide what you want to do.”

Kyle smirked slightly. “Okay. How many do we have to have?”

“Three would be good enough,” she answered. “But, if you wanted all five, then we can make that work too.”

Kyle leaned forward in his seat. “Where will we find the room for five new lawyers?”

“Well, we have two options.” Monica smiled, letting the statement hang in the air.

He could tell she had thought this through for a while now. “Those are…?”

“The first option would be finding a new office building. The second option being renting the space down the hall and combining the two together into one unit for the whole practice.”

Kyle frowned in thought. “That would be ten lawyers, five paralegals and six secretaries and Rose. Let’s keep it to three for now. We’ll likely need more support staff with the new lawyers.” He wanted to have enough people on staff but also be a little more conservative in case things dried up.

She nodded as if she expected that answer. Her next words were spoken with a more measured tone. “Rose tells me you’ve been making a lot of calls. Something about a death certificate?”

He sighed and frowned slightly. Monica was not fond of the office resources being used for personal use. Not that he expected her to complain considering it was his office. But it annoyed him that she would penny pinch on an issue she knew little about. “Yes. I’ve been looking into a little mystery of sorts.”

“Oh? What about?”

He weighed the benefits of telling her or not before answering, but he got the impression she was genuinely interested. “My husband got a shock the other night when we were all sharing our DNA results. Turns out he has a sibling. We’re not sure if there’s a brother or sister yet since he’s lived his entire life thinking he was an only child. I’ve been trying to backtrack his family history to see if I could verify any of it. And I just did a few minutes ago.”

Monica looked at him with mild curiosity. “What did you find?”

“His mother died, from what I can tell, in childbirth. Nearly two years after Jacob was born.” He opened the file and turned it towards her so she could read it.

She stepped closer and stared at him for a moment in surprise while still analyzing the information. “Have you gotten her medical records?”

Kyle frowned slightly. “Hadn’t thought of that. How would I get them?”

“Have Jacob petition for their release,” she replied with a shrug. “As her son, he has a right to them. I’d suggest promising to not start trouble for her death if they seem unwilling to give them up. Put it in writing and they’ll likely hand them over.”

“I’ll have to ask him if he wants to do that. You think they would mention the gender of the child?”

“I don’t see why not. Have you found anything else?”

“No. I found mention of a relative of his. I may try to contact them. But as far as this DNA match is concerned, I’m not sure how I would figure out who it belongs to and where they are.”

“While you’re at it, you may want to look into the adoption records,” she added. “If she died, it’s possible or rather likely, that his father is the one who signed those.”

“The thing I don’t get,” Kyle muttered more to himself, “is why Joe would have put one child up for adoption and not the other?”

She shrugged as she stood to leave. “That’s a mystery that will likely go unsolved. If you run into any roadblocks, let me know. Good luck.”

“Thanks.” He watched her leave, wondering just how many roadblocks he was going to find.

****

Troy stood quietly outside of the school, leaning back against the door of the car as he patiently waited for kids to start streaming out of the doors. It had been a while since he had picked up Chase from school. Normally, Liz or Andy would pick him up along with Tanner and one or two of his other friends. But today, it was just going to be the two of them so he could finally get some private time and talk. He and Andy had left work less than ten minutes earlier and were now just standing there, waiting and talking with each other. Occasionally, one of the other parents would walk up and join them in conversation. Most were old friends from school, and they enjoyed catching up and sharing memories of their times together in the same building they now stood outside of.

The closer they got to the time for school to let out, Andy and Troy were left standing there alone to talk to each other. Inevitably, it was Andy who asked the question that had been on both their minds after seeing the other parents out with them. “Is it just me, or has everyone we went to school with gotten older than hell?”

“Are you saying we didn’t,” Troy countered with a smirk.

“Well, you have, sure,” Andy replied casually. “But me and Bri? Hell, I haven’t found a gray hair on him. And I know he’d give me shit if he ever saw one on me.”

Troy rewarded his friend’s joke with a half-hearted glare. “Thanks.” Andy gave him a mischievous grin as Troy self-consciously ran a hand through his brown hair that he knew held a few gray hairs in it. He ignored them when he looked in the mirror when they were just one or two. Lately, their numbers have gotten harder to ignore. “I don’t know. I don’t feel any older than I did when I was in college, to tell you the truth. But watching the boys grow up kinda makes me feel old. It doesn’t seem like they should be this old yet. Can you imagine in two years they’re going to be in high school?”

Andy laughed softly. “Yeah. I keep thinking about Dad. How I could see it in his eyes sometimes. How when we started high school how excited he got but pissed at the same time that he had one kid in college and one in high school.”

Troy chuckled. “Then I won’t feel so bad when I feel the same way when my time comes. I still have time though. Emily has a long way to go before high school.”

“Lucky you,” Andy said. “So,” he lowered his voice as he changed subjects, “are you ready for this?”

Troy sighed. “No. But it’s gotta be done.”

They heard the faint sound of a bell ringing and Troy turned his head to watch the doors, waiting for his son to appear. In his mind’s eye, he could almost see four boys who were the closest of friends walking out the doors together, as they always did so long ago. Full of youth and promises of the future that laid before them. Four boys who would go on to do memorable things in their lives. But they would always be together. Even when they were separated by distance and broken hearts, their friendship would endure in a way none of them ever could have imagined. Remember the voices and the connections between them that in a way had always been there and was just never noticed. He turned his gaze back to Andy with a soft smile. While he may look older, taller, his face lined with dark memories from a faraway place and an air of quiet confidence around him, Troy could still remember how Andy looked when they once stepped out of those doors.

Chase and Tanner came running up to them. “Dad!” Chase sounded in good spirits and happy to see him, so Troy felt he was on good footing so far. “What are you doing here?”

Troy grinned at his son. “I’m here to pick you up. Hope I didn’t spoil any after school plans.”

“We’re good,” Tanner said as he stepped up to Andy. “Just some basic homework tonight. Then Dad gets to torture me some more.”

“It was you who decided you needed to start wrestling,” Andy helpfully reminded him with a smile.

“I know,” Tanner replied with a miffed sigh. He looked up at Troy’s questioning gaze and added, “Dad says I need to start dieting.”

Troy shrugged. “We had to do the same thing when we were swimming. If we could do it, you can too.”

“See?” Andy put his arm around Tanner’s shoulders. “Let’s get home and knock out your homework then I’ll start cooking dinner.”

Tanner fell into step with Andy and yelled over his shoulder, “catch you later, Chase.”

“See ya.” Chase turned as Troy opened his door for him and slid inside.

Troy went around to the other side and hopped into the car. “So, how was your day?”

Chase shrugged as he looked over at his dad. “No big deal. History is so boring.”

“Don’t let Brian hear you say that.” Troy started up the car and carefully pulled out onto the street. “He’ll make you like it.”

“Ugh. Good luck to him then.” Chase sat back and relaxed as his dad drove.

“Any other news,” Troy inquired.

“About what?”

“I don’t know. About your classmates. Your homework. Any… girls catch your eye lately?”

Chase’s eyes widened slightly as his cheek tinted pink. “Dad!”

Troy laughed lightly. “There’s nothing wrong with it. I’m just curious.”

“No. No girls.” His voice carried a hint of concern about where the conversation was going.

Troy took a breath, let it out and started easing into it. “You know what to do though, right?”

“What do you mean?”

Troy kept his eye on the road as he drove through town. “I mean, if you like a girl, you know how to talk to them right?”

Chase gave Troy a completely confused look. “If I like them? Dad, if I like them, I just be nice and make friends with them.”

Troy sighed. Chase was making this harder than it needed to be. “No, no. I mean, if you… like them, like them.” To forestall any other misunderstandings, he added, “like the way I like your mom.”

Chase’s voice cracked as he squealed, “Dad!?”

Too far into it to decide to stop now, Troy pressed on. “I’m just saying… things are changing. You’re growing up now. You’re going to be going through a lot of changes and things are going to feel strange for the next few years. I know because I went through it around the age you are now.” There was no response and he glanced over to see Chase staring straight ahead, looking unnerved with his hair covering his eyes. “I don’t know exactly what you’re going through over there, but I’m just letting you know that I’m here to listen if you ever want to talk.”

“Dad,” Chase began with a hint of caution in his voice, “I know all about… you know… things.”

“Sex,” Troy said bluntly to his own surprise. “You can say it and not make it a dirty thing.”

Chase unconsciously squirmed. “Okay. But, yeah, we learn about it in health class. So, we don’t need to talk about it.”

Troy smirked. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t enjoy talking about it with you either, but I know I have too. Not for me, but for you. I don’t want you making any mistakes that you can’t undo before you’re eighteen at least. While I’d prefer you didn’t make any mistakes at all, I know you will and it’s okay if you do. I made plenty of mistakes myself.”

“Like what,” Chase asked hesitantly. This wasn’t a conversation he imagined happening between the two of them. He’s used to his dad talking to him like he’s a kid. But this felt different. Even his dad’s tone implied a sense of Troy seeing him as more mature than he had been. That helped calm his nervousness.

Troy sighed slightly and answered, “sometimes I wish your mother and I had had a real wedding instead of a simple courthouse thing. I watched your uncles get married and I sometimes wish we had something similar.”

Chase was a little surprised to hear this. He had never really thought about how his parents got married. “Well, why did you then?”

“Well, it’s a little complicated.”

Chase looked over at him and said quietly, “it’s okay. You can tell me.”

“Well, if you think about it, you’ll understand.” There was a silence between them for a moment before Troy continued. “You’re twelve years and five months old. Your mother and I have been married for thirteen years and two months. Do the math.”

He frowned in thought as he thought about it. It didn’t take him long to realize the answer. “Me?”

“Not exactly,” Troy answered. “We had a feeling she was and when she got tested and found out she was pregnant, we decided to go ahead and pull the trigger. It was already something we wanted to do, just not something we had planned at that point. Plus, there was other stuff. We were crazy about each other already. It was only a matter of time. You just hurried us up.”

Chase wasn’t sure how to react. He had an odd sense of guilt for some reason, though he knew it wasn’t something he should feel. “Okay.” He noticed then that his dad was driving away from home. “Where are we going?”

“Shopping,” he answered. “You need some new clothes and I just want to spend some time alone with you. If that’s okay.”

Chase smiled. “I could use some new shoes.”

Troy grinned. “Then we’ll get those too.” He held onto the steering wheel. This wasn’t a conversation that was going to be had in minutes. But he felt he laid down a good start for their journey into what would become Chase’s adulthood.

****

Dinners throughout the week at the Howard home were usually normal, uneventful affairs. The meals would usually be whatever was handy in the house and involved only slight effort on whoever volunteered to cook. Typically, David cooked through most of the week unless Jacob or Colt decided to undertake the task themselves. Conversation around the table was usually as uneventful as the rest of the meal. If anything, most of the attention was focused on Matthew and Aaron. Making sure they ate their fill and asking about their day.

When Kyle got home from work that Monday evening, dinner was only minutes away from being ready which gave him little time to talk to Jacob privately. He had just enough time to change clothes and put his briefcase on his desk before he heard Colt call everyone into the kitchen. Before he left the room, Kyle grabbed a note from the pocket of his suit pants and stuffed it into his jeans.

He did his best to look relaxed at the table, as if it was just another normal day. The beef stew helped, and he gave Colt genuine praise for his work. David asked the boys about school and that also took Kyle’s mind off work as he listened and added in his own questions to them both. It was striking in a way how much older Matthew looked when he was sitting next to his brother. The smile came so easily to his lips as he listened to Matthew describe his day in school. His clear eyes seemed at ease as he spoke with a voice that seemed almost older than it should be coming from that mouth. Last year, he barely had time at home due to his work and the major case he had taken upon himself. And it was then, listening to Matthew speak, that he truly felt as if he missed a lot by not being home.

David spoke up a little louder to get everyone’s attention. “I think this weekend I’m going to take the apples we have left and start working on making apple butter.” His lips betrayed a small smirk at the few groans at the table. “Don’t give me that. It sells and we can always use the extra money it will get us. So, on Saturday morning, I want everyone ready for breakfast and ready to work. I’ll get the process started Friday, so we have a head start.”

“I’m still not sure I know what I’m doing,” Colt said with an unconvincing tone.

David looked over at him and grinned. “I’ll be happy to run you through it again on Friday when everyone else is at school or working.”

“Thanks.” Colt turned his head slightly so David couldn’t see him roll his eyes.

Kyle smirked. It wasn’t his idea of a fun weekend, but it had its own kind of special moment. For now, as they were finishing up dinner, he knew he had to have a private talk. Turning his full attention to Jacob he said with a serious expression, “before it gets too late, you and I should go take a walk.”

Jacob gave him a concerned look, wondering what his husband had been up to all day. “Well, I guess we should do that now. Matt, when you’re done eating, go ahead and finish your homework. Aaron, sit tight and we’ll take care of you later. Your dad and I shouldn’t take very long.” At least he hoped they wouldn’t.

“It’s fine,” David said to Jacob. “We’ll keep Aaron occupied while we load everything up.”

Kyle nodded and rose from his seat before placing a hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “We’ll be back soon.” Jacob said nothing as they both exited through the backdoor, heading into the orchard.

This time of year was not the time when Jacob most enjoyed the orchard. The chill creeping into the air along with knowing that soon the leaves would be falling and everything would come to a stop almost as if all the life drains out of the orchard. Sometimes you could find a few apples still hanging from a tree, which would be later plucked and either eaten by one of the boys or saved for later. Kyle and Jacob were still working on how to make the apple butter themselves from the same recipe his dad uses but it was never easy for them to get the time to properly perfect it as well as David has. One of them was almost always busy with one job or another and it left most of the tending of the orchard to David. They still pitched in to help when they opened for visitors when the apples were ready to be gathered, but most of the little things had been neglected. Eventually, he knew the two of them would have to begin taking more active roles if they wanted to maintain the orchard as David had. Jacob thought of that as they walked through, hoping next year things would be different.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, headed to one of the more familiar areas of the orchard for them. A small copse where the two of them had spent their younger years together. The place they shared their first dance. Their first kiss. That first time they knew that their feelings for each other were stronger than either of them were ready to admit. Despite worrying about what Kyle had to say, those memories lingering in the air around him, putting him at ease as they sat down under one of the trees together. It was the right place for them to talk about the changes their lives were taking over the years. The two men sat down together near an old apple tree and Jacob looked to his husband, waiting to hear what he had to say.

Kyle hesitated for a moment and looked down at the ground before he began to speak. “Today I found out your mother died on January 13^th, 1987. She was twenty-three at the time.”

Jacob felt a heaviness settle into his chest. It was an odd sensation considering this wasn’t something he didn’t know beforehand. All his life he knew his mother had died. She didn’t leave or disappear or any other explanation for her absence in his life. He just always knew. But hearing it said like that made the fundamental loss of his mother more real. Something he had never gotten to understand or mourn. He sat there, taking it in before moving past those feelings, to put them out of his mind for a while until he’s in a better place to process them. “Okay. Why was this something we needed to talk about in private?”

“I didn’t want to just blurt it out. It was your mom, sweetheart. It’s not something that should just be tossed around like unimportant information in front of everyone.” He reached for Jacob’s hand between them in a show of unspoken sympathy.

Jacob smirked and softly squeezed Kyle’s hand in his. “Thank you. I appreciate that. But there’s more, isn’t there?”

Kyle nodded. “I found her death certificate. It listed her cause of death as ‘postpartum hemorrhaging.’”

Jacob’s face fell as he heard the words. “So… she died while giving birth?”

“It would appear so.” Kyle leaned over to let his head rest against Jacob’s. “I’m sorry.”

“No. There’s no need to apologize Kyle. You were right, I guess.” Jacob started to feel that knot of confused emotions beginning to work its way into the forefront of his mind again. “It wasn’t a mistake. I have a brother or sister somewhere out there in the world.”

“I have an idea, but I need you to go along with it.”

“What’s that?” Jacob kept his face as neutral as possible while at the same time feeling annoyed by Kyle dancing on eggshells.

Kyle tried to find a way to explain it in the most factual way to not bring about any unwanted pain in Jacob. “If you were to allow it, I could petition the court to give us access to the adoption records. I can’t say it’ll be easy, depending on what course of action your father took, but it’s worth trying to see if perhaps we could find something out about this person. I can also have the hospital give us access to your mom’s medical records so we can find out if it was a boy or a girl. Not sure if there’ll be a name there or not, but it’s worth trying.”

Jacob listened and felt a little stupid about why Kyle made it sound as if it was going to be hard. “What problem would there be in finding the adoption papers?”

“Well, in Pennsylvania, there are two types of adoptions. Open and closed. An open adoption could mean that the records are available to the adopted child while a closed adoption means no one can see the records at all.”

Jacob nodded in understanding. “Okay. And if they’re closed, what can we do to change that?”

“I’m not certain yet,” Kyle admitted. “But I might be able to get the court to grant them to us, by you asserting your right as your father’s heir and executor to his estate. See, when someone dies, their estate can still be represented in most cases. It’s possible a judge may grant a special dispensation to unseal the records we ask for. Like a closed adoption.”

Jacob didn’t fully understand but he trusted Kyle enough to go along with it. “Sounds fine to me then.”

Kyle moved to look at Jacob carefully. Searching his face for any pain or worry in those blue eyes. “It won’t be instant. It will take time. But right now, all I really care about is that you’re okay with all this.”

Jacob smirked and shook his head. “Honestly, honey, I’m fine. I’ll admit this is all coming at me in a rush. Four days ago, this isn’t what I expected to be dealing with. Now, it seems like everything’s turned upside down. It’s going to take me some time to deal with it. And, by the way, I made the call and set up the appointment. But I think I should go by myself this time if that’s alright with you.”

“I’m fine with it,” he replied. “Just know I’m always here to talk afterwards.”

“Good.” Jacob leaned over and kissed Kyle softly on the lips. That was enough to settle his feelings back into place. “Anything else? We shouldn’t keep Dad and Colt waiting for long.”

“One more thing.” Kyle rose to his feet, digging his hand into his pocket. “Your mom has a living relative. Her brother. Randle O’Neal. I looked it up online and found out he’s still alive.” Kyle pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket and held it out to him. “Here’s the address I found for him. In case… you wanted it.”

Jacob looked at it as he stood and took it from Kyle’s hand. He held it for a moment before deciding not to read it and placed it in his pocket. “Thanks. I’ll give it some thought.”

Kyle said nothing about it and opted to just fall into step next to him as they made their way back to the house. “Sometimes, I wish we were still young. Able to stay out here as long as we want or as long as the cold let us.”

Jacob smirked to himself. “Nope. We have homework to get to, work to do ourselves and get to bed as early as possible before we do it all over again tomorrow. Just like the grown-up adults we always wanted to be.”

They continued in silence, holding hands as they headed up to the house and back to their regular lives.