My Mother Kept One Phone Number Tucked Inside Her Bible for More than Forty Years, and Last Week I Finally Called It

Two days later, I called William again. He answered immediately.

“I found a letter,” I said simply. “From my father.”

I picked up the phone.

William was silent.

“He knew about you. He knew I wasn’t his by blood. But he raised me anyway. He… loved me anyway.”

“I never doubted that,” William said. “Helen wouldn’t have stayed with someone who didn’t love you fully.”

“He asked me not to be angry. He asked me to be grateful.”

“And are you?” he asked gently.

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “I think I am.”

“Then I think Roger did right by all of us.”

“I think I am.”

“Would you like to meet me?”

There was a pause before he spoke again.

“Yes, Andrew,” he said. “I’d like that very much.”

***