It had caught me off guard when she called him Oscar, but the plaque made it pretty clear why. Maybe he had gone by his first name before and needed a change after everything.

I didn’t understand why he hadn’t told his mother that he was alive, though. The woman was heartbroken; why let her remain in pain?

“I’m so sorry,” I murmured.

“I am too.” Her voice was barely over a whisper.

A moment later, she wiped beneath her eyes and turned toward me with a fraction of a smile. “I ...