I glance down at my wrist.
Noah sees the confusion, the disbelief, so he keeps going, gently, patiently, like he’s known this would be hard for me all along.
“America loves me, Alex,” he says with certainty. “She’s walked beside me since I was five. She knows every dream I’ve ever had—and every nightmare too.”
His palm is warm against my cheek. I hum without meaning to, leaning into his touch like a reflex.
“All I ever wanted was to stay in my dreams and wait for you to show up again. It was the only place you existed. And she knew that. SheknewI was waiting for you.”
He brings his face closer, his lips brushing the corner of mine. His hands stay on my face, grounding me.
Then he starts to tell me everything.
Not in a frantic burst or desperate sobs, just calmly. Almost dreamlike.
He tells me how he was found in a box between Greece and Albania. That he lived in a rundown orphanage in Athens with barely any water and even less food. That he spent years on ayacht that became his prison. Meera’s too. And even more years in the rain.
He tells me that he speaks Greek, English, and French.
And then—more than anything—he tells me abouther.
Meera.
The only person who ever showed him love.
The only one who came looking forme.
And, somehow, through it all, he smiles.
Not a bright, sunny smile. No.
A sad small one. Like the kind of smile you wear when you’re trying not to cry anymore.
But when he talks about the day he found out an American family wanted to adopt him, his smile grows. He says it like it’s the most magical news he’d ever heard. He’d have parents. A home. A brother. Abed—a real one.
He pauses, then adds with devastating innocence, “I wanted to sleep with you even then.”
And just like that—my heart splits clean in two.
I pull him into my arms, anger long forgotten, and press my mouth to the corner of his impossibly soft lips.
I murmur against him, voice thick with emotion. “You have the best smile, Noah. My parents would have adored you.”
I rub my nose against his, barely breathing. “I can’t believe you’re the boy they were going to adopt. I can’t believe you were her…angel.”
He startles at that, pulling back. His butt hits his heels as he sits up straighter, eyes wide. “Whose angel?”
“Mom’s,” I whisper, my mind flooding with a memory I haven’t visited in decades.
“Why can’t I go?”I whined, sulking as Mom wheeled her suitcase through the living room.
“Because you’re not old enough,” she said patiently, “and you have school. We’ll only be gone for four days.”
“But I don’t want to wait that long!” I stomped after her, full of protest. Grandma’s house was boring, and I didn’t like having to stay there. My sister, Teya, however, didn’t mind. I hated being left behind. “I want to meet my brother at the same time as you.”
Mom stopped, crouching down in front of me. Dad hoisted her luggage and disappeared out the front door.
She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and smiled. “Alex, this little boy is only five years old. He’s never had a family before. I don’t want to overwhelm him by taking you and your sister along. I’m sure he’s already nervous enough.” She cupped my cheek, eyes gentle.
