Sofia, alone in her bedroom that night, re-read certain parts of her mother's diary.

"If Mama and Daddy knew that I was going with an older boy, they'd ground me for life. But he is so sweet, so handsome... I'm not writing his name just in case someone sees this diary."

Sofia skipped a few pages.

"I'm not sure if I can write about what happened tonight. I thought he was so nice, so caring.. but tonight he... no. I won't write it down, and I'm never going to tell anybody...what happened tonight. I'm just going to try to forget. If I CAN forget."

Sofia skipped a few pages.

"I don't know what to do now. I just found out I'm pregnant. I'm only fourteen, and I'm pregnant. Pregnant by a rapist. Now I'll HAVE to tell Mama and Daddy everything."

Sofia turned the page.

"Mama and Daddy have been so good about this. No lectures, no "We warned you." Just love and support. But Daddy did say that it's a good thing that...(I won't write the word Daddy used) doesn't live around here any more. (His family moved to Chicago a few weeks ago.)"

Sofia went on to the next page.

"Mama and I are going to stay with Aunt Sofia for awhile. Daddy arranged for me to be excused from school for a "family emergency." My lessons will be mailed to the house, and Daddy will forward them to me. As if school even mattered right now!"

Sofia paged through the diary again.

"It's over. My baby, my son, is gone. I pray to God that his adoptive parents will be good, kind, loving people.
Aunt Sofia has been wonderful through all this. If I ever have a daughter, I will name her Sofia."

###

The next day, Derek and Felicia were having a conversation in Felicia's living room.

"As I grow older," Derek began, "I want more and more to know who I really am."

"You are Derek Dane, one of the sweetest guys I've ever known," Felicia said.

"That's just it, Fanny. I'm not Derek Dane. Not really. Oh, yes, my first name is Derek, but Dane is not my real last name, not the name of either one of my parents. I was named the way the foundlings in Oliver Twist were." He quoted:

"We name our foundlings in alphabetical order. The last was a S,-Swubble, I named him. This was a T,-Twist, I named himThe next one comes will be Unwin, and the next Vilkins. I have got names ready made to the end of the alphabet, and all the way through it again, when we come to Z."

"Does it really matter so much to you?" Felicia asked. "I mean, if you found your parents, what would you do?"

"I don't know," Derek admitted. "Maybe nothing. Maybe, if they are alive, try to get in touch with them. But even if I never get to meet them, I'd like to know about the family I never knew. Do I have any siblings? Am I an uncle? Things like that."

"I understand," Felicia said, "and I'll do anything I can to help you."

####

Sofia was at CARLINO'S, helping Paulina in the kitchen.

"Joe told me about your mother's diary," Paulina said quietly.

"I think I'm glad that you know," Sofia said. "It's just too bad Joey can't get his hands on that lowlife who..." Sofia could not finish her sentence.

Paulina nodded.

"But don't forget," she told Sofia, "that he must be an old man by now, if he is still alive."

"I hope he is dead." Sofia spoke with unusual vindictiveness. "I hope he is dead, and, God forgive me, I hope he is in Hell!"

####

Miles from Bay City, in the Wechsler Nursing Home, an old man sat in a rocking chair, rocking back and forth slowly, very slowly, and muttering, "God forgive me. God forgive me."