The Short Walk Home

The following April, Lyla arrived at the Marianne Everly Rehabilitation Center with soil on one knee and a yellow ribbon in her hair.

Charles regarded the knee.

"We are opening a clinic, not excavating one."

"I looked at the flowers before we came. Yours is growing."

"I should hope so. I did all the digging."

She grinned and took his hand while Daniel checked that the path to the entrance was clear.

The center occupied a renovated brick building two blocks from the bakery that gave Lyla broken cookies. The sign above the door bore Marianne's name. Inside, Elena had insisted on warm colors and chairs Charles privately admitted were comfortable.

Thomas stood near the reception desk, looking up at a framed photograph of his mother.

Charles stopped beside him.

"Is that the one?"

Thomas nodded. "She hated having her picture taken. I had to catch her laughing."

In the photograph, Marianne sat at a kitchen table with her head turned toward someone outside the frame.

Charles looked at the image for a moment.

"You have her smile."

Thomas rubbed a thumb along the edge of his glasses.

"Apparently I've started using it more."

Across the room, Margaret rearranged brochures while Mrs. Bell told her they had looked perfectly straight the first time. Elena argued with a supplier over an item missing from a delivery. Daniel held a purple backpack that no longer looked absurd against his dark suit because Charles had grown used to seeing it there.

Charles had helped pay for every piece of equipment in the building. None of that explained the unfamiliar pleasure of knowing where everyone would be when he looked up.

He had not reached a miraculous ending with his legs.

There had been improvements and disappointments, adjustments to equipment, sessions cut short, and days when he used the chair because he had better things to do than exhaust himself crossing a room.

Today, with the route planned and the distance short, he intended to walk to the ribbon using his cane. Nina had already told him there was no prize for doing it if he felt unsteady.

He had told her he was familiar with ribbons and could survive missing one.

Now he looked toward the entrance and wished he hadn't sounded so confident.

Lyla tugged his sleeve.

"Your tie is crooked."

He looked down at her. "We've had this discussion before."

"You keep doing it."

She straightened it, reaching higher than she had a year earlier. Charles held still beneath her careful fingers.

"Better," she announced.

Elena came toward them holding the scissors.

"Ready?"

"You didn't mention there would be photographers."

"There are three. I refused the others."

Charles looked at the unfamiliar faces by the door. A year earlier, he would have occupied the room by making everyone conscious of his displeasure.

Today he handed Elena the gold watch.

She looked down, startled.

"Charles."

"It was always yours."

Her fingers closed around the oval case.

"I thought you might want to keep it."

"I know where to find you now."

Elena bent and kissed his cheek before he could pretend the remark had meant less than it did.

Then he stood, carefully, with the cane in one hand and the chair steady behind him.

Lyla held out her hand.

He took it lightly. She had learned to walk beside him without pulling, slowing when he slowed and waiting when he needed a moment.

The short distance to the entrance demanded his attention. He placed the cane, moved, paused. Lyla began to chatter about a ladybug she had found in the flower bed, then remembered she was supposed to be quiet and pressed her lips together.

"What happened to the ladybug?" he asked.

She looked relieved. "I put it on Grandma's tulip. It was the biggest one."

"Sound judgment."

When they reached the ribbon, he stopped and caught his breath.

Elena waited without announcing that she was waiting.

Thomas stood beside the photograph of Marianne. Margaret had put one hand over her mouth. Daniel had moved close enough to help if needed, but he was watching Lyla, who had begun trying to tie a bow in the end of the ribbon.

Charles looked at his sister.

"Shall we open your clinic?"

Elena nodded, eyes shining.

Afterward, there were introductions, coffee, and a woman who told Thomas about the months her husband had spent waiting for affordable appointments. Charles listened while his brother explained the fellowship without once mentioning what he had given up to create it.

When the last visitor left, Charles sat down with unmistakable relief.

Lyla climbed onto the chair beside him.

"I told you I could make you walk."

He looked at her pleased little face.

"You did tell me that."

"And you did it."

He glanced across at Nina, who was helping Elena move a stack of boxes. Dr. Feld had gone back to his office. Daniel was bringing the wheelchair closer for the trip to the car.

"A lot of people helped," he said.

Lyla nodded. "Mommy says we're good at that."

Charles smiled.

"I still owe you a million dollars."

Her nose wrinkled. "I still don't want that many dollars."

"What do you want?"

"Cookies. And the zoo."

"Both?"

"And you can read the bear book tonight."

He pretended to consider.

"That book again?"

"It's a good book."

"The bear still won't go to sleep."

"He will at the end."

Charles held out his hand. "Then we have a deal."

She shook it with both of hers.

That evening, they ate at Elena's yellow house.

Margaret brought too much food. Thomas washed dishes while Mrs. Bell corrected his method of stacking them. Daniel lost a card game to Lyla and refused Charles's offer of professional assistance.

Charles sat at the kitchen table with coffee in Adam's orange cup.

Elena put the gold watch on her wrist. The clasp caught, and she held her arm out to him without a word.

He fastened it.

Later, Lyla changed into her pajamas and brought the bear book downstairs. She settled beside Charles on the sofa, draping the yellow duck blanket over both their knees.

He read until her head grew heavy against his arm.

At the final page, she stirred.

"Are you coming back tomorrow?"

He looked toward Elena in the kitchen doorway.

"Yes."

"For lunch?"

"For lunch."

Lyla nodded and closed her eyes again.

Charles waited until her breathing deepened, then looked up at his sister.

"Will you help me get her upstairs?"

Elena crossed the room and gathered her daughter into her arms. Charles rose with his cane, taking his time. At the stairs, he used the rail while she walked ahead of him.

There was no audience and no reason to hurry.

In Lyla's room, he pulled back the blanket while Elena laid her down. Together they freed the rabbit trapped beneath her elbow.

Charles left the book on the bedside table.

At the door, Elena touched his arm.

"I'm glad she found you."

He looked back at the little girl sleeping with one hand wrapped around a rabbit's ear.

"So am I."

Downstairs, Thomas laughed at something their mother said. A cupboard closed. Mrs. Bell called up to ask whether anybody wanted more tea.

Charles took his sister's arm, and they went down to join them.

THE END