Over the past few months, Arthur had dragged Rita to every house they’d ever called home. She’d clawed back plenty of memories along the way, but they all centered on one thing: her life with him. Those recovered pieces had welded their marriage back together, sure—but everything that came before Arthur? Still a black hole.
That was why Rita had felt so untethered when Sophie came rushing over and seized her hand. Rita had stood there completely adrift, scrambling for some emotional anchor to the woman in front of her, and coming up empty.
But the second Sophie started spinning stories about their shared childhood, something cracked wide open. That vault Rita had kept locked for God knows how long just exploded.
Sophie and Rita had only been five years old when they’d sworn themselves to each other for life—two little girls slipping away from Maxine’s sharp gaze, sneaking off to some grassy clearing in the woods to seal their pact.
Their faces had worn this dead-serious expression, way too grave for kindergarteners, their squeaky voices rising as they’d chanted their promises into the air.
The dam shattered. Rita abruptly reclaimed all her lost memories. Tears flooded her eyes, and her voice splintered as she choked out, “Sophie!”
Sophie went perfectly still for one heartbeat, and then her whole face lit up like sunrise. “You finally remember everything?”
“Yes!” Rita nodded so hard that tears flew. “I remember! Every single thing!”
The two women crashed into each other, sobbing without shame.
Arthur felt the shift in the air and rushed over. “Rita—did something else come back?”
Rita nodded frantically, words tumbling out between gasps. “It did! All of it—every damn thing, right back to the day I was born!”
Jarrett joined them, smiling but already steering them gently toward the exit. “This is incredible news, and I know these are happy tears—but maybe we take this celebration somewhere private? People might get the wrong impression.”
Only then did Rita and Sophie remember where they were standing—in the middle of the ballroom at their kids’ wedding. Breaking down like this out in the open would just feed the gossip mill. Hand in hand, they slipped away to the lounge to talk where no one could eavesdrop.
? ? ?: g?ν．
Arthur and Jarrett traded a quick look and then split off to hunt down Elliana and Cole.
When Arthur and Jarrett finally spotted the newlywed couple, Arthur didn’t waste time on pleasantries. “Elliana—your mother just got all her memories back.”
“Really?” Elliana’s face blazed with shock and joy all at once. She’d spent months praying for this exact moment—begging the universe to restore her mother’s past so they could finally piece together what happened to Adah’s mom. Now that it was actually happening, her brain short-circuited with excitement.
Elliana didn’t think twice. She grabbed fistfuls of her wedding dress, hiked it up, and took off sprinting toward the lounge.
Cole bolted right behind her.
Just as they hit the lounge doors, Elliana slammed to a stop. She yanked out her phone and hammered out a text to Adah. “Adah, my mom just got all her memories back! Get to the lounge. Now!”
.
.
.