The letter arrived on an otherwise unremarkable Tuesday, forwarded through the adoption agency with a formality that made its contents considerably more alarming than the plain envelope initially suggested.

Lucien read it twice at his office desk before calling Ezra, his hands unsteady in a way he hadn’t experienced in years.

He sat for a moment after finishing the second read-through, staring at the letterhead as though it might rearrange itself into something less alarming if he simply looked at it long enough, the particular vertigo of a settled, hard-won peace suddenly threatening to unravel without warning. Nathan, passing his open office door, paused at the visible tension in his...