But I would have recognized it anywhere.
Todor Stoyanov.
My first love.
The boy who used to wait for me after school in Veliko Tarnovo. The boy who brought me wild daisies because he knew I didn’t like roses. The boy I once imagined building a little house with near the Yantra River, with a dog in the yard and three children running barefoot through the summer.
The man I had lost.
And the father of my daughter.
Silvia sat back down.
Her face had gone completely white.
“Who is that?” she asked.
No one answered immediately.
Todor turned toward the judge.
“I apologize for being late, Your Honor. There was traffic on the road from Ruse, and my car broke down near Svishtov. But I will not allow Mrs. Mileva to be declared incapable of making her own decisions before the whole truth is heard.”
The judge studied him carefully.
“You are?”
He took out his identification card and several documents from his leather briefcase.
“My name is Todor Stoyanov. I am the biological father of the child.”
The courtroom became so quiet that I could hear the air conditioner humming beneath the windows.
Mikhail was the first to explode.
“That’s absurd!”
The judge looked sharply at him.
“Mr. Milev, this is your final warning.”
