EPILOGUE: The First One Brave Enough to Knock
By spring, Matteo was walking again.
It took months of therapy, a cane he refused to be photographed with, and an unusual physical therapist: a four-year-old in a yellow raincoat who held his other hand and counted every step aloud.
“Fourteen,” Poppy announced, “fifteen… sixteen! You’re getting so fast, mister!”
“Poppy,” he said gravely, “I think you can call me Matteo now.”
She considered this with great seriousness. “Okay, Mister Matteo.”
Rosalind never brought up the rule about the second-floor medical wing again. She did, however, offer me a different job: manager of the Sartori Foundation’s new children’s hospital program, with a salary I didn’t have to argue about and a small house on the estate grounds with a yard and a swing set. I accepted on the condition that Poppy would have a real bed. Matteo had one custom-built, with daisies painted on the headboard.
On a cool evening in October, I found the two of them on the back porch. Matteo sat on the steps with the cane across his knees. Poppy was curled against his side with Biscuit in her lap, half-asleep.
“She sings better every day,” he said quietly.
“She learned it from a thunderstorm,” I said.
He smiled, the first completely unguarded smile I had ever seen on his face.
“You know,” he said, “I don’t remember much from those forty-nine nights. Mostly dark. Mostly cold. But there was one thing I kept hearing, far away, like someone knocking on a door from the other side.”
“The song?”
“The song.” He looked down at Poppy’s small, sleeping face. “She wasn’t breaking the rules, Nell. She was just the first person who wasn’t afraid to come in.”
Poppy stirred, mumbled something about Sunshine, and settled closer against his arm.
Some doors stay locked until the right person knocks. Sometimes that person is three feet tall, carrying a gray stuffed rabbit, and brave enough to believe a sleeping stranger might just need a lullaby.
THE END
Note: This story is a work of fiction inspired by real events. Names, characters, and details have been altered. Any resemblance is coincidental. The author and publisher disclaim accuracy, liability, and responsibility for interpretations or reliance. All images are for illustration purposes only.
