Proof of Heaven

to Maine for a weekend of skiing when I remembered I was due to give
Betty a call to check on her progress. I called her on my cell phone, and
she answered.
“Well, in fact,” she said, “I do have some news. Are you sitting
down?”
I was in fact sitting down, so I said as much, omitting that I was also
driving my car through a blizzard.
“It turns out, Dr. Alexander, that your birth parents actually got
married.”
My heart hammered in my chest, and the road in front of me suddenly
turned unreal and far away. Though I’d known that my parents were
sweethearts, I’d always assumed that once they’d given me up, their lives
had taken separate directions. Instantly a picture appeared in my head. A
picture of my birth parents, and of a home that they’d made somewhere.
A home I had never known. A home where—I didn’t belong.
Betty interrupted my thoughts. “Dr. Alexander?”
“Yes,” I said slowly, “I’m here.”
“There’s more.”
To Eben’s puzzlement, I pulled the car over to the side of the road and
told her to go ahead.
“Your parents had three more children: Two sisters and a brother. I’ve
been in touch with the older sister, and she told me your younger sister
died two years ago. Your parents are still grieving their loss.”
“So that means . . . ?” I asked after a long pause, still numb, taking it
all in without really being able to process any of it.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Alexander, but yes—it means she is refusing your
request for contact.”
Eben shifted in the seat behind me, clearly aware that something of
importance had just happened but stumped as to what it was.
“What is it, Dad?” he asked after I’d hung up.
“Nothing,” I said. “The agency still doesn’t know much, but they’re
working on it. Maybe some time later. Maybe . . .”
But my voice trailed off. Outside, the storm was really picking up. I
could only see about a hundred yards into the low white woods spreading