Chapter 42

The more Steve Stone checked out the story of the man who claimed to be his father, the more he thought it was possible that he might be about to meet the man who had abandoned him and his mother when he was just a small child. The more he thought about the circumstances of the separation, the more uncertain he became about how he would react if and when he did finally meet John Stone.

Steve decided to try to reach Mrs. DiGiovanni, his old neighbor back in Philadelphia when his mother died. After all, this John Stone did mention that he had spoken with her shortly after his mother's death when he had come to Philadelphia trying to track him down.

He looked around until he found a Philadelphia phone book and looked up his old neighbor's phone number.

"Hello, Mrs. DiGiovanni? This is Steve Stone. I'm not sure if you remember me, but I used to be your neighbor."

"Who is this?" asked the old woman.

"About thirteen years ago, a woman and her teenage son lived in the apartment next door to you. The woman became real sick, and she died. Do you remember?"

The phone was silent for a moment as the woman tried to recall. "Ah, yes, I remember now. It was real sad. I wonder whatever happened to that boy."

"Well, you're talking to him right now."

"I am! Oh, goodness me. Where are you? What have you been doing? You must be all grown up now. How are you doing?"

"Well, I'm doing very well. I went to live with a woman who turned me around and got me headed in the right direction. I'm a doctor now, and I'm staying with the woman who took me in after my mother died. She's now the President."

"The President! Who is this really? Is this some kind of crank call?"

"No, Mrs. DiGiovanni, this is not a crank call. The reason I'm calling is that I received a letter the other day, and your name was mentioned in it. A man named John Stone is claiming to be my father, and he said in his letter that he had tried to find me, and that he had talked to you about me. Do you remember this man?"

Mrs. DiGiovanni thought for a moment. "Come to think about it, I do kind of remember a man coming around asking about you. He gave me his card. Let me see, I may still have it around here. Can you hold on for a minute?"

"Sure, I can wait."

She put the phone down on the table. Steve waited anxiously, wondering if the woman would be able to find the card.

Finally Steve heard her pick up the phone. "Hello?"

"Yes, I'm still here."

"The man's name was John Stone. I remember him now. He had some pictures of him when he was younger with a small child that he said was you and a woman who looked like your mother, but much younger. In fact, he even left a copy of one of the pictures here in case I ran across anyone who might have known what had happened to you. I remember telling him that you looked just like him, but that you must be at least six inches taller than he is."

"What is the address and phone number that he left you?"

She read it to him, and he wrote it on a piece of paper that was next to the phone. They matched the address and phone number in the letter.

"Mrs. DiGiovanni, I want to thank you very much for your help. You don't know how much I appreciate it. You may have helped reunite a father and son who have been separated for more than twenty five years. Thank you very much."

"Oh, Sonny, I hope I was able to help you. He seemed like such a nice man. I hope it is your father."

"I hope so, too. Thank you Mrs. DiGiovanni for all of your help. You take care now. Soon, I hope to stop by the old neighborhood and I'll try to stop in to see you, or maybe I'll have you down to the White House."

"The White House! Oh, no! I don't see how I could ever get down to Washington to the White House!"

"Leave that to me. Thank you, Mrs. DiGiovanni. Take care of yourself now. I'll be talking to you soon."

"You too, Sonny."

Steve decided to make one more call to try to find out what he could about John Stone. He would try to track down his Aunt Peggy and find out what he could from her. He found the last letter his mother had received from her and then looked up her phone number in the Fremont, Ohio phone book. Once again, luck was with him.

Steve dialed the number and listened to the phone ring. After the sixth ring, he was about to hang up and try later when the phone was answered.

"Hello. May I speak to Peggy Whitney?"

"Speaking."

"Aunt Peggy? This is Steve Stone."

"Oh my God! Steve! Is it really you?"

"Yes, Aunt Peggy. It's me."

"Oh, Steve, your father and I've been trying to track you down since right after your mother died. Where are you?"

"Aunt Peggy. You're not going to believe this, but I'm calling from the White House."

"The White House!? Then your father was right when he said he saw you with the new President."

"Yes. Kathy and I are very good friends. She was the one who took me in after Mom died. I didn't know how to contact you and I had no idea where my father was, so Mom had Kathy appointed my legal guardian right before she died. I was only a few months before my 18th birthday, so it wasn't for that long a period. I never bothered to look through Mom's old photo albums until a couple of days ago, and it was there that I found one of your old letters to her. Mom had even saved the envelope, which had your return address on it. That was how I tracked you down."

"Oh, Steve! I'm so glad you did. It's so good to hear your voice! I can't wait until I can get to see you again! The last time I saw you was when you were maybe six or seven years old."

"Well, needless to say, I'm a lot bigger than that now."

"I can imagine! Your father had said something about writing to you. Have you received a letter from him by any chance?"

"I received a letter the day before yesterday from a John Stone who claimed to be my father. As a matter of fact, that is why I'm calling you. I wanted to check out some of the things he said and to see if this man really was my father."

Steve then read the address John Stone had given him and asked his aunt if that was his father's address. She confirmed that it was.

They continued talking for another hour, beginning to catch up on twenty five years of lost contact. They agreed that Steve should meet his father at his aunt's house, but that Steve would have to make arrangements through the Secret Service before a final date could be set. Steve felt that it would be better if they could have their first meeting away from the fish bowl known as the White House, in relative privacy. He did not want the press butting in on his family reunion.

After Steve had hung up the phone, he called down to the Oval Office to see if his fiancee was busy. When he was told that she was in a meeting with her War Cabinet, he left a message for her to call him when she had a chance and that it wasn't anything that couldn't wait.

After a few minutes of contemplation, Steve then decided to call his father.

The phone was answered on the third ring. "Hello. May I speak to John Stone?"

"This is John Stone."

"This is Steve."

There was silence on the other end of the line while the news sank in on his father.

"Steve? Is it really you?"

"Yes, Dad. It's me. I received your letter the day before yesterday and I've been checking out what you said. Suddenly being in the public eye, you can't be too careful nowadays."