I covered my mouth with my hand, scared of what would happen if I let the sickness in my mouth escape when I spoke.

“Oh, God…” I choked on the air I was breathing, tears gathering in bunches at the edges of my eyes for the millionth time that day.

I bent down, terrified of what the paper’s print said.

It wasn’t true, was it?

I knelt down, and with a shaking hand, fingered the edge of the certificate. There was a form with it, paper clipped to its side.

I undid the paper clip, and laid the form out in front of me, wishing that my eyes were seeing something wrong.

I didn’t want it to be true.

Child’s name : Aidan Keelan

Registry number : 19874894

Date of adoption : February 16, 1984

Adoptive parent(s) : Richard O’Callahan, Mohave Valley, AZ.

Biological parent(s) : Léá Keelan, Lewis Courtney.

Keelan…that name – Mama’s maiden name. Léá was supposedly my aunt, my ‘mother’s’ younger sister.

Has the world gone mad?

What was going on here?