Her mother spoke quickly, with a nervous tone in her voice. "I think I've found your dad ... he's in the paper."

Several minutes before the call, a patron of Kragen Auto Parts on Prospect Road left a copy of the Saratoga News at the counter. Tina Hernandez, Evelyn's mother and an employee at Kragen, casually picked it up and turned to "The Inn Crowd" cover story about homeless men. She was shocked to see a photo of Evelyn's father, Greg Hernandez, who had been missing for 15 years.

"My mom called me right away," Evelyn says. "I just started crying and calling everywhere. I couldn't believe it."

After hanging up the phone, Evelyn went into her mother's room, looking for pictures and poems left by her father. She immediately contacted the Saratoga News and Inn Vision, an advocate group working for homeless people. Within one hour, her father was on the corner of Montgomery Street in central San Jose, waiting to meet his long-lost daughter.

Evelyn, who is now 28, had not seen her father since she was 13 years old. She has been living in San Jose the entire time, and since June in a house that is only a quarter-mile from Inn Vision's main shelter. "We were so close, but so far away," she says, as her father nods in agreement.

A happy reunion

On the second day of their reunion, Greg and Evelyn sit closely next together in a snug apartment shared by Evelyn and her mother. The two laugh a lot. Sometimes an unsure silence comes into the conversation, which is followed by Greg breaking into a smile while grabbing his daughter for a sideways hug.

"I spoke to the paper because I wanted to get the message out about homelessness," he says. "But I also hoped to get the word out because I've been looking for her."

Although Greg told of family in Nebraska in the article, he also had a prior family in San Jose, which he says he was seeking all along.

"He looks smaller than I remember—and his hair is gone," Evelyn jokes. "But he looks good for his age." Although Evelyn remembered her father with a full head of hair, what did not change was her memory of "his soft voice, his laugh and his smile." She adds, "It's weird to see him, but it's nice."

After picking him up, Evelyn spent the day at home with her father, "laughing and finishing each others sentences," she says. Greg then joined Evelyn and his former wife—who Evelyn says is OK with the new development—for dinner. They made him taco salad and he says he "ate more than I have for months. It was the best meal I've ever had." Evelyn then laughs and points to her dad, "I told him he's going to gain weight living here."

On his second night reunited with his daughter, Greg went back to the shelter to collect his things. He will now live with Evelyn and spend Christmas with the whole family.

"I told her I don't have any money to buy Christmas gifts, but to me the greatest present is her," he says. "And vice versa," Evelyn quickly adds.

"I never thought I'd see him again," Evelyn says. "But when I saw him, I knew it was him right away. We both waved at each other and started crying."

Greg went looking for a job at a day-labor company his second day with Evelyn, but the rain prevented him from getting work. He says he will still continue to seek employment, but right now his main focus is catching up with his daughter.

"It is so exciting, I am very happy. I missed her all these years. She's beautiful," he says. "All that is important now is my daughter. My life now is going to be here with her. I'm staying here until the wheels fall off," he adds with a grin.

The two have been discovering likenesses over the past two days, such as hating seafood and loving the color blue. "We think almost alike," Evelyn says and then muses, "and we forget things the same way, too."

After making dinner on the first night, Greg watched several movies. Evelyn said it took some time for him to relax, as he sat in the same spot for hours without taking off his shoes. "He was nervous, but I'm not," she says. "At first he didn't want to look at me because he felt bad, but it's OK. I want to include him in everything now."

Greg now plans to take things "one day at a time" because "there is too much excitement in my heart and my mind," he says. "It is still hard for me to say this is actually happening. It feels really good, I never thought I would get to see her again. It's just overwhelming."

Although Greg still harbors some nervousness, he is quickly becoming used to his new surroundings. "Last night, I slept good for the first time. And I dreamed last night for the first time in a while. I really went to sleep—my ears were down and I relaxed." Greg explains that he never could relax while on the street or in the Community Inns program because, "when you finish dinner and the day's gone, you lay down and just twist and turn because you think so much."

Now, however, he can look forward to sleep-filled nights and a family Christmas celebration.

"It feels good, I appreciate this so much. It's too overwhelming to express how it feels," he says. "The facts are the facts and what's taken place has passed. But now, we are together. Being reunited feels really good—each day is just going to get better and better."