I want to explain the origin of the trust established in my late mother-in-law’s name, and my reasons for believing I have identified the beneficiary.”
She spoke for twenty-two minutes.
She named dates, case numbers, the hospital, the agency.
She described the morning she signed the relinquishment papers.
She described the letter she received six years later from Gerald’s mother.
She described every step of the search that followed.
And then, near the end, she said something that made me press my hand over my mouth.
“The volunteer who has been visiting me — I will not name her here, to protect her privacy until she has been told — has a birthday that matches the birth record exactly.
Her adoption was processed through the same agency, in the same city, in the same month.
When I asked Mr.
Hale to verify her background, he confirmed the receiving family’s surname matches the partial record in my possession.” Eleanor paused.
