Luke called me three days after my visit to the apartment.
He sounded unusually determined.
"Mom, I've been thinking about the hospital records."
I put down the cup I was holding.
"All right."
"I want to see the originals."
I knew this conversation was coming.
"Do you mean the records from the hospital?"
"Yes. Everything you still have."
I walked toward the cabinet in my bedroom.
There were several old boxes inside.
I had moved them from one house to another without opening most of them.
Some contained photographs.
Others held school certificates, birthday cards, and documents from years ago.
"I'll look for them," I said.
"Can I come over?"
"Of course."
He arrived about an hour later.
Ben came with him.
I was surprised to see him carrying a small notebook.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Just somewhere to write things down."
I nodded.
I understood.
They didn't want to forget anything important.
We sat on the bedroom floor.
I opened the first box.
There were photographs from Luke's childhood.
His first birthday.
His first day at school.
A picture of him sitting on a plastic chair with a missing front tooth.
He picked that one up.
"Remember this?"
I smiled.
"You refused to smile properly that day."
Ben leaned over.
"You looked ridiculous."
Luke laughed.
For a few seconds, they sounded like the boys I had known.
Then Luke placed the photograph aside.
"Let's keep looking."
I found an envelope beneath some old school papers.
It had the hospital's name printed on the front.
My hands stopped moving.
Luke noticed.
"Is that it?"
I nodded.
He reached for it.
I handed it to him.
Inside were several documents.
Some were receipts.
One was a hospital discharge paper.
Another contained information about the day Luke was born.
Luke read through them slowly.
Ben stood beside him.
Neither spoke.
Then Luke pointed to a date.
"This is the same date."
I leaned closer.
It matched the date on the document found at Ben's house.
I felt my stomach tighten.
Luke turned the paper over.
There was a handwritten note.
I recognized my own handwriting.
It was a short reminder about collecting something from the hospital office.
Luke looked at me.
"What were you collecting?"
I tried to remember.
"Possibly a copy of your records."
"Possibly?"
"It was a long time ago."
He looked disappointed.
I couldn't blame him.
Ben examined the papers.
"There's another number here."
He pointed to the lower corner.
It was similar to the reference number on the original document.
Not identical.
But connected.
Luke wrote it in his notebook.
Then he looked at me.
"Can we request the official records?"
I nodded.
"Yes."
He seemed relieved.
"I want to know whether anything was changed."
I looked at him.
"That's understandable."
Ben sat down.
"Maybe we should ask both parents to come."
I considered it.
"Your father too?"
Luke nodded.
"Everyone."
I felt nervous.
But I agreed.
We spent another hour sorting through the box.
There were more papers than I remembered.
Some were important.
Others were ordinary things I had kept without thinking.
A hospital receipt.
A handwritten appointment reminder.
A small card with a doctor's name.
Luke placed everything into separate piles.
He was careful not to mix them.
Before leaving, he looked at the photographs again.
"Can I take this one?"
He held the picture of himself at his first birthday.
"Of course."
He slipped it into his jacket pocket.
Ben looked at him.
"Why that one?"
Luke shrugged.
"Because I still like it."
I smiled.
I was glad he hadn't decided to throw away his childhood.
That evening, I received a message from Robert.
He said he had found another envelope among his personal papers.
He asked whether we wanted to see it.
I forwarded the message to Luke.
His response came quickly.
"Yes. Tell him to bring it."
I arranged a meeting for the following afternoon.
I didn't want another week of unanswered questions.
When we gathered, Robert arrived carrying a brown envelope.
Diane came with him.
Luke and Ben were already sitting at my dining table.
I placed the envelope in the middle.
Robert looked at Luke.
"This belonged to the records from that time."
Luke didn't touch it immediately.
"Why didn't you give it to us before?"
Robert lowered his eyes.
"I was trying to understand what should be shared."
Luke shook his head.
"That decision isn't yours anymore."
Robert nodded.
"You're right."
Luke opened the envelope.
Inside was a copy of a written statement.
It contained information about the circumstances surrounding his birth.
There were dates and signatures.
I read it carefully.
Then I recognized the name of the hospital employee who had appeared on the first document.
Luke noticed.
"Do you know this person?"
I nodded.
"I remember speaking to someone with that name."
Robert looked at me.
"So do I."
Diane sat quietly.
Luke placed the statement beside the other papers.
"Why is there a second copy?"
Robert explained that the document had been retained because the adults involved had been uncertain about what would happen later.
Luke looked at him.
"Uncertain about what?"
Robert hesitated.
"About how the truth would affect everyone."
Luke closed the envelope.
"I think it already affected everyone."
Nobody disagreed.
I looked at the papers spread across the table.
For eighteen years, we had treated them as something dangerous.
Now they were simply records.
Records that needed to be understood.
Luke picked up his notebook.
He wrote down another date.
Then he looked at all of us.
"I want the complete story."
This time, nobody told him to wait.
Click here to continue reading: PART 14: The Original Records Forced Us to Revisit the Hospital Conversation, and I Finally Admitted What I Had Been Afraid to Say
My Son Had Barely Been Gone Two Days When He Returned With a Secret That Changed Everything I Thought I Knew
Part 13 of 20
