Chapter 23 - THE NAME ON THE PAPER
The legal process of correcting Liam’s birth certificate finally ended.
He sat across from the clerk with Robert and Nora beside him.
The clerk asked:
“Would you like to legally change your surname to Hale?”
Robert looked away deliberately.
He refused to influence the answer.
Nora did the same.
Liam had thought about it for months.
“Hale is my father’s name,” he said.
Robert swallowed.
“But Reed is my mother’s name too.”
Nora looked at him.
“You don’t owe me that.”
“I know.”
Liam smiled.
“That’s why I want it.”
His new legal name became:
Liam Reed Hale.
Robert laughed.
“That’s going to take forever to sign.”
“You’re a lawyer. You like paperwork.”
Nora cried.
Liam pretended not to notice until she hugged him.
That evening Olivia made a handmade nameplate for his bedroom.
LIAM REED HALE.
He stared at it.
“You made this?”
“Yes.”
“It’s crooked.”
“You’re welcome.”
He put it on the door anyway.
Later Robert walked past and saw it.
He remembered the original documents that had erased Liam completely.
Now his son’s name was written on a bedroom door inside his house.
Not hidden.
Not altered.
Not denied.
May you like
Robert touched the edge of the sign.
Then continued down the hallway.
