Chapter 56

“Then let’s go to the car.”

By the time we got to my parents’ house, Anthony, who’d been too excited to sleep on the plane, was nodding. We got him bedded down in my old room; then we went to the living room to visit.

“Now,” Dad said, “tell us about it.”

“Wine first,” I said.

“Give us a minute,” Mom said.

They left the room and returned a couple of minutes later. Dad was carrying a bottle of Bordeaux, and Mom had a tray containing five wineglasses.

“I opened this last night,” he said, “but never got around to sampling it.”

He filled each glass half full, and Mom handed them to us, starting with Grandma. Kevin and I each took a sip and then let out sighs of contentment.

“Okay,” Dad said. “Now give.”

Taking turns, we told them the story, commencing with Adam’s sudden appearance at our door back in February and concluding with our experience in the judge’s chambers earlier. They listened in silence, and when we stopped talking, reacted predictably.