Althea sighed heavily, not understanding what was happening. Six months of searches, six months of despair and hope, and her mother had been here all this time, at the lake house, fifty miles from home.
At that moment, Sienna came out of the house with a large pot in her hands. Seeing Althea, she smiled.
«Oh, you’re back. Welcome home.» She put the pot on the table in the gazebo. «Will you have lunch with us? I just made soup.»
«Sienna.» Althea pointed at her mother with a trembling hand. «This woman? How is she here?»
«Ah, Mrs. B.» Sienna looked at the elderly woman with tenderness. «She’s been living with us for many months now. Why?»
The baby on Beatrice’s lap waved a hand at Althea.
«Sienna.» Althea walked closer, her voice trembling. «This is my mother. Beatrice Vance. This is my mother.»
Sienna froze, the pot nearly falling from her hands. «So this is your mom?» Sienna was surprised, shifting her gaze from Althea to Beatrice. «My God, I didn’t know.»
«She walked out of the house and disappeared six months ago.» Althea spoke incoherently, tears already rolling down her cheeks. «Police searched, private detective. No one could find her. And I was so worried, thought I lost her forever.»
Sienna sank onto the bench as if her legs wouldn’t hold her.
«Sienna, please.» Althea grabbed her hands. «Tell me how she ended up here.»
«Okay, okay.» Sienna nodded. «Sit down. I’ll tell you everything. B, dear, can you play with Leo a little longer?»
«Of course.» Beatrice smiled at the baby. «We will feed the ducks.»
«Yes, sunshine.»
Althea sat opposite Sienna. Her hands were shaking, and she clenched them into fists to stop the tremors. «Tell me everything from the beginning.»
«It was a few days after you gave us the keys,» Sienna began. «I remember exactly, four days passed. Leo and I went for a walk to the river. There’s a very beautiful spot not far from here where you can sit on the bank. And suddenly I saw this woman.»
«Where exactly?» Althea interrupted.
«By the bridge. She was standing in the middle of the road and looked lost. I initially wanted to walk past, but she was so scared. I went up and asked if she needed help. She looked at me with such lost eyes and asked, ‘Where is the house? I am looking for the house.'»
Althea listened, not breathing.
«I asked which house. She named the street and number. This street, this house.» Sienna pointed to the lake house. «I was shocked. I said, well, I live in this house. Come on, I’ll walk you. We brought her here and she… she started crying. She walked into the house, looked around, and burst into tears. Said, ‘I know this place. I was here. We were here with Langston.’ She constantly repeated that name, Langston.»
«Langston is my father,» Althea said quietly. «He died when I was 25, 30 years ago.»
«See,» Sienna nodded. «She lives in the past, remembers her husband, remembers her youth, but everything that happened after his death, she doesn’t remember.»
Althea looked at her mother who was cheerfully talking to the toddler.
«At all? At all?»
«I tried to ask her about family, about home. She described the apartment where she lived with her husband, described her work. She was a teacher, right? But about you, about the fact that she has a daughter… nothing, as if it didn’t happen.»
«Need to show her to a doctor.» Althea wiped her tears urgently. «This is memory loss. Maybe trauma. Maybe she fell, hit her head.»
«I took her to a doctor,» said Sienna. «A week after I found her, to the local general practitioner. He said tests and scans were needed, but Beatrice refused. Was afraid of hospitals. I couldn’t force her.»
«It’s okay, I’ll find a good doctor.» Althea was already making plans. «We’ll do all tests, scans, find out what happened to her.»
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Althea couldn’t tear her gaze away from her mother. Beatrice held Leo in her arms and showed him how to throw breadcrumbs to the ducks. The baby laughed, and her mother smiled with such a soft, happy smile.
«So, all this time, she has been living here with you?» Althea finally asked.
«Yes,» Sienna nodded. «I couldn’t leave her alone, you understand? She was so lost, so helpless. I decided I would stay with her until… until someone from her family was found. I didn’t know it was your mother.»
«And how did you live? On what?» Althea remembered Dante talking about a job.
«I found a job at a store, here in the village not far. The owner, a wonderful man, allowed me to bring Leo with me. The pay isn’t big, but it was enough for us. Beatrice helped around the house, cooked, cleaned. She cooks beautifully, by the way.» Sienna smiled. «And she watched Leo when I was at work. He got so attached to her. Calls her Grandma.»
«Grandma,» repeated Althea. And a new wave of tears rose to her throat. She doesn’t remember her own daughter, but cares for a stranger’s child.
«Althea,» Sienna leaned forward. «I don’t know what to say. I am so sorry. If I knew it was your mother, I would have contacted you immediately.»
«You aren’t guilty,» Althea shook her head. «You saved her. You gave her shelter, cared for her. Sienna, thank you so much. That you didn’t abandon my mom, that you looked after her all these months.»
«Thank you.» Tears appeared in Sienna’s eyes. «You sheltered me and Leo when we were left with absolutely nothing. You didn’t even know us, but you helped. And I… I simply couldn’t abandon an elderly woman who needed help.»
They hugged, both crying from relief, from happiness, from everything experienced over these months.
«Sienna,» Althea pulled back. «This isn’t my business, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But how did you end up on the street with a child? What happened?»
Sienna wiped her tears and took a deep breath.
«I was married to a wealthy man, Richard. We met when I was working at his company. He was charming, generous, courted beautifully. I fell in love.» She fell silent. Her gaze became distant. «The wedding was lavish. He bought me a condo, a car, clothes. I thought it was love. But after Leo was born, everything changed. He started getting jealous of the baby, said I was giving him too much attention, and then he started hitting.»
«God,» whispered Althea.
«At first rarely, then more and more often. He controlled my every step. I couldn’t leave the house without his permission, couldn’t call friends. My parents died, and my brother lives overseas. I was all alone, and I was afraid he would kill me, or even worse, do something to Leo.»
Sienna ran a hand over her face, brushing away new tears.
«I saved money little by little. Hid it. Saved for six months. And when I saved enough for a bus ticket, I ran. Just took Leo and left while he was at work. Went to the station and got on the first bus that was leaving. Didn’t even know where it was going. Just went wherever my eyes looked, and then met you.»
«Is he looking for you?» asked Althea.
«I don’t know. Probably. The store owner hired me off the books, so Richard couldn’t find me through databases.»
Althea thought. «You know, Sienna, let’s switch to first names. I think after everything we’ve been through, it’s appropriate.»
«Okay,» smiled Sienna.
«I have a proposal.» Althea looked her in the eyes. «I want to offer you a job in my company. On normal terms, with official registration and a good salary. You said you worked as an accountant.»
«Yes, but…»
«No buts. You saved my mother. Cared for her when I didn’t even know where she was. I am the one who should be grateful to you. And also, I want to take you all home. Mama, you, Leo. I have a big house. There’s enough room for everyone. Leo will be better off in the city. More opportunities. Good doctors. Daycare.»
«Althea.» Sienna looked at her with amazement. «That is too much. You have already done so much for us.»
«It isn’t too much. It is right,» said Althea. «Mama will be with me. You will work. We’ll hire a nanny for Leo for the time you’re at work. And when he gets older, preschool. Everyone will be busy. All together. Like a family.»
«Like a family,» repeated Sienna. And tears flowed down her cheeks again. «I have dreamed of a real family for so long.»
They had lunch all together at the big table in the gazebo. Beatrice told stories about her youth. About how she met Langston. How they drove down south for their honeymoon. She spoke vividly, with a smile. And it seemed she had truly returned to that happy time.
Althea listened and cried, trying to do it unnoticeably. Her mother was alive, was nearby. But at the same time, she wasn’t. The woman sitting opposite didn’t remember her, didn’t recognize her. It was happiness and tragedy simultaneously.
The next day, Althea summoned the city’s best neurologist to the lake house. The doctor conducted an exam, asked many questions, and ordered tests and scans.
«Judging by the symptoms, your mother suffered a TIA, a mini-stroke,» he told Althea privately. «It happened most likely at the moment of disappearance or shortly before. A mini-stroke can proceed almost asymptomatically. The person doesn’t always even understand what happened to them. But the consequences can be serious. In your mother’s case, the areas of the brain responsible for long-term memory were affected.»
«So she will never remember me?» Althea’s voice trembled.
«I can’t say for sure. The brain is a complex system. Sometimes memory is restored partially or completely. Sometimes not. It takes time, rehabilitation, support of loved ones. I will prescribe treatment, vitamins, nootropics, and most importantly, surround her with familiar things, photographs, stories. This can help.»
A week later, they moved to the city house. Althea gave Sienna and Leo a separate suite on the second floor. She hired a nanny for Leo and processed Sienna into the company as an accountant.
Sienna turned out to be an excellent employee—attentive, responsible, a fast learner. Elias, who initially treated her with distrust, admitted a month later that it was a successful decision. Leo, while his mom was at work, stayed home with the nanny and Beatrice.
The elderly woman grew attached to the boy and cared for him with such tenderness that the nanny often joked, «I have nothing to do here. Mrs. Beatrice does everything herself.»
Gradually, very slowly, memory began to return. First, Beatrice remembered her friend Elizabeth, then the address of the house where she lived with her daughter, then Althea herself.
It happened three months after the move. Althea came home from work and her mother met her at the threshold with a smile.
«Althea, my daughter,» she said simply. «How I missed you.»
And they hugged, both crying from happiness. Beatrice didn’t remember the details of the last 30 years, but she remembered the main thing: that she had a daughter whom she loved.
Now they all live together in the big house. Sienna worked and gradually gained confidence in herself. Leo grew into a healthy and happy boy. Beatrice was recovering and remembered something new every day.
For the first time in many years, Althea felt she had a real family, not the one dictated by obligations and duty, but one created by love and mutual support.