When the Eight-Year-Old Boy We Were Adopting Came Home With Everything He Owned in a Black Bag—Then My Missing Brother’s Watch Fell Onto His Bed

Then more.

Julian became Dad more slowly.

That was Oliver’s decision.

We never corrected him either way.

His surname became another issue.

The original story version of our lives would have:

Restored David’s surname.

Except David’s birth surname was Mercer.