“Stefano?” Mrs. Frey said softly.
Nothing.
“Seth?” Mrs. Frey tried.
Seth’s eyes popped open. How does she know my name? he wondered. He was sure that Maggie had said that the people visiting couldn’t know their real names.
Mr. Frey looked at Maggie, who just stared at Seth and Mrs. Frey. She was confused. Then Mr. Frey explained, “Our boy, you know his name is Stefano. We used to call him Stef for short. He was only four when he was kidnapped. When you asked him what his name was, he would say ‘Seth’ because he couldn’t pronounce ‘Stef.’”
Maggie felt as if the bones had been ripped out of her legs. Juju rushed up behind her and steadied her. With Maggie rendered speechless, Juju took over. “Are you sayin’ you think Seth is your kid?”
Mrs. Frey nodded as she looked into the eyes of the child she once held. In his eyes, she could see the past. Stefano had the exact same eye color as she did, and if she blocked out all the illness, she could see the eyes of her four-year-old boy. Mr. Frey was pacing the small room and raking his fingers through his thick head of hair.
Maggie forced herself to live in the moment. They had found Seth’s parents. It was everything she’d hoped for and more. They were a nice couple who had dedicated their lives to helping others after Seth had disappeared. But she didn’t expect to feel a tinge of nervousness at the thought of losing Seth to his parents. What if they took him from her now? What if she didn’t get to spend their last days together? Panic rose and fell in her chest; it rose and fell again, a vicious cycle that was making her feel light-headed. Find your voice…find your voice, she willed herself, until a low gurgle started to make its way out of her mouth.
“How do you know it’s Stefano?” Maggie finally managed.
“Because of the birthmark on his wrist,” Mrs. Frey said unnervingly, lifting Seth’s wrist.
There was a long stretch of silence, which none of them knew how to fill. The Freys had so many questions for Maggie. They wanted to know everything their son had been through and how the two knew each other. After a strained moment, Mrs. Frey spoke.
“Can we take him to the hotel with us?” Internally, Mrs. Frey was screaming, this is my kid, and he’s coming home with me!
Before Maggie could answer, and to be clear, the answer was no—she didn’t even know these people and wasn’t about to send Seth with them—Seth lifted his head off the pillow. His bottom lip was quivering.
“I want to stay with you, Aggie,” he said in a trembling voice.
Maggie rushed over to him and gathered him up in her arms. She rocked him back and forth. “Everything is going to fine, Seth. I don’t want you to worry. You’re not going anywhere. You’re staying right here with me and Juju,” she said and thought, Oops, I just said Juju’s name…tough shit.
Maggie looked from Mr. Frey to Mrs. Frey, and reluctantly, they both nodded. Then Mrs. Frey stood and walked toward the door of the apartment. Maggie followed the couple out into the hallway.
Mrs. Frey looked at her, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Will you tell us your name?”
“Maggie. Seth has been with me since he was four years old. I love him. He’s like my own child, but I want him to know who his parents are before…before it’s too late. I don’t want to fight with you over him. You have to understand there isn’t much time left, and I don’t want to spend it fighting. All I care about is that Seth lives his days out peacefully and surrounded by love,” Maggie stated.
Mrs. Frey looked disheveled and battered. Maggie felt sorry for her and put her hand on the older woman’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. Together, we can do this,” Maggie said with the wisdom of a fifty-year-old.
Mrs. Frey reached over and hugged Maggie close. “This is a lot for the mind to process. I’m so happy to finally have found him, and yet I know there’s so little time left to love him.”
Maggie nodded. She completely understood. Then she gave Mr. Frey a hug. “Come back tomorrow night, OK?”
The couple turned to leave when all they wanted to do was go back, grab their boy, and take him somewhere he could be cared for properly. As they walked down the hall toward the stairs, Mr. Frey turned. “We’re thankful he’s had you. We hope to better understand what his life has been.”
Maggie nodded. “I’ll tell you everything there is to know.”
When Maggie was back in the apartment, Seth was awake and more aware than he’d been in a long time. “Were they really my mom and dad?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. I think they were. I mean, their story sounded real and all,” Maggie rambled.
“Aggie, I wanna know them, but…but, you won’t let them take me away from you, right?” Seth asked.
“Right, sweetie. I need you to focus on feeling better. You’re not going anywhere without me,” Maggie said, forcing a smile.
A few hours later, sometime during the early morning, Maggie and Juju fell asleep. They had stayed up for hours thinking through their options. If the Freys really were Seth’s parents, they could easily take him home. Maggie had imagined finding Seth’s parents and being happy to meet them, but then they’d go on their merry way, realizing that Seth belonged to her. She had raised him for most of his life, longer than his parents had been with him.
During the same hours, Mr. and Mrs. Frey lay awake in their hotel room discussing what they’d do. They wanted their boy back home with them. They loved him and had missed so much of his life. They could provide him with all the things he needed. They would get the best AIDS doctor on earth to review Seth’s case and treat him. Maybe they could reverse the disease. Their hopes and thoughts about being reunited with their child were endless.
But shortly before the Freys fell asleep, Mrs. Frey told her husband, “We need to put our son’s needs before our own. If we can do that, then surely we’ll do all the right things for him.”
But could the Freys actually put Seth’s needs ahead of their own need to reunite with their son?