“I’m her mother,” Rachel repeated.

Richard uncrossed his arms and let them drop to his sides.

He looked at Rachel, then at the gold bars on my shoulders, and finally at the name tag on my chest.

The truth of the stage announcement finally settled heavily onto his shoulders.

“You changed your legal name,” Richard said.

“She took mine,” Rachel said.

“The week the adoption went through.”

Allison looked down at her phone and started tapping it again.