And Noah…had helped her walk again.
Not with medicine.
Not with therapy.
But with the same strange, intuitive method he was now using with Lily.
Before the system separated them.
Before Emma disappeared into foster care.
The realization hit Ethan like a quiet storm.
This boy wasn’t guessing.
He was remembering.
Rebuilding something he had already lost once.
Not everyone believed it.
Ethan’s mother, Margaret Caldwell—a woman of wealth, influence, and unshakable skepticism—arrived unannounced one afternoon, her immediate disapproval and cutting.
“This is absurd,” she said sharply. “You’re letting a street child experiment on your daughter?”
Dr. Harris, Lily’s physician, was more measured but equally doubtful.
“Be careful,” he warned. “False hope can be more damaging than no hope at all.”
Ethan understood their concerns.
He shared them.
But every time he considered stopping… he remembered Lily’s laughter.
And he couldn’t take that away from her.
