CHAPTER 5: Two Boys With His Eyes

The blond boy lifted his bear as though it might protect him from the enormous room.
Adrian lowered himself slowly, not close enough to frighten them, not far enough to pretend he was unaffected. He had negotiated with senators, banks, and men who bought silence like furniture. None of them had ever made his hands tremble.
'What is your name?' he asked.
The child glanced at Mara first. She nodded once.
'Eli,' he said. 'This is Captain Bear.'
Adrian tried to breathe. Eli. Another name from a conversation he thought had died with his marriage. Mara had wanted twins once, laughing at the madness of it while they painted a nursery they never finished.
Noah studied him with a seriousness no child should need. 'You look like the picture in the blue box.'
Adrian looked up at Mara.
Her face did not soften. 'I did not erase you from them,' she said. 'I refused to lie the way everyone lied to you.'