“I can assure you,” Mr. Manneton said, “I have no intention of ending her life.”
The doctor frowned. “I don’t understand. There’s nothing that can be done for her. I can explain it further if you’d like.”
He shook his head. “That won’t be necessary.”
“I don’t?—”
He cut her off. “Transport will be here in two hours. Lydia Rosenberg is being removed from this facility. As a gesture of gratitude, the Rosenberg Foundation has issued the hospital a sizeable donation. The fate of Lydia Rosenberg will be in our hands now.”
“There’s nothing that can be—” The doctor looked at the check. “Whoa. This is very, um, generous of you.”
“Thank you for your time.”
The doctor swallowed. “Even transporting her somewhere has risks. She might not survive travel. You may simply be speeding up the inevitable.”
“A helicopter will land on the roof in due course. The rest is in our hands.”
“O-kay.”
Manneton nodded. “Again, thank you for your time.” He left the relevant paperwork, then turned and walked out.
The doctor looked at the nurse behind the reception desk.
“What on earth was that?” the nurse asked.
The doctor shook her head. “I have no idea.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Two months later
“The place is looking great.” Her dad crossed the Shrine lobby, striding toward her. Dressed in dark wash jeans, boots, and a heavy jacket over his Henley. Even in his late fifties he kept slim, probably burning a lot of calories racing to catch up with her mother all the time.
Except Mom had been waylaid talking to Sylvia across the other side of the room.
Dad caught her up in a hug. “Missed you.”
She chuckled. “I saw you at breakfast.”
They’d had her over to the RV to eat before she came here to work. Debriefing on their tasks for the day before they parted ways.
“I can miss you whenever I want.”
Eliana snorted. They’d had a heart-to-heart about her adventure day in the woods all those years ago. About how they’d found her asleep. But after she explained her dream, theysuspected that Lydia Rosenberg had shown up while she was out alone in the woods with Cabot.
They’d tried to find Lydia. Tried to figure out what she had done.
Nothing had ever come of it, and after Lydia seemingly never tried again to get to Eliana, they’d eventually stopped being scared she was a target and settled back into worry. No wonder she had grown up feeling as if she lived in a protected bubble. There had been a murderer in her nightmares, one who had found her when no one else knew where she was.
But Lydia Rosenberg would never hurt anyone ever again.
Neither would anyone from the Reverence Sisters. The group members had been rounded up and convicted, or rehabilitated, depending on their involvement in attempting to infiltrate the Shrine.
“How is Luci today?” Eliana said.
Her dad nodded, his arm around her shoulders. “She’s getting better every day. Doing well in rehab, learning the basics. I get the feeling she’s determined. That helps.”
“If anyone could get better through sheer strength of will, it’s Luci.”
