She pulled a crisp sheet of green security paper from the printer tray and stamped the bottom right corner with a heavy metal seal.

“Are the biological parents aware of the name change?” the clerk asked.

“The law requires me to ask whether there are any pending custody disputes.”

“There are no disputes,” Rachel said.

“They surrendered all legal rights this morning.”

“They don’t know anything about my life,” I said.

The clerk nodded and tapped a final key.

“The state will mail a sealed notice to their last known address, just for the official record,” the clerk said.