“Agreed.”
I looked at Melissa.
“And you.”
She met my eyes.
“No more disappearing.”
Her face crumpled slightly.
“I don’t want to disappear anymore.”
That broke the last hard piece inside me.
I moved beside her.
She took my hand.
For several minutes, none of us spoke.
Then Melissa asked something I had not expected.
“Is the oak tree still there?”
I looked at her.
“What oak tree?”
“The one behind the market.”
My throat tightened.
“That tree is older than I am.”
“You hung a tire swing there.”
“When you were six.”
She smiled.
“I remember.”
Calvin turned toward the window.
I think he was trying not to cry.
Before leaving Havenwood, Dr. Foster cautioned me that recognition did not mean everything was restored.
Melissa would still have difficult days.
She might remember a Sunday breakfast from thirty years ago but forget a conversation from yesterday.
She could not simply walk out and resume the life everyone else remembered.
