Page 52 of Meet Me at Christmas
Mary Jo gave her a challenging look. “What if he’s right?”
* * *
“I have no idea how I’m going to get the article done,” Stella admitted to her mother after telling her the latest on Henry. She sat at the kitchen table and stared at the two measly paragraphs she’d written. “Henry only just started to be cooperative in the sessions, and I didn’t really get a whole lot even then. Now I have to start over with an elderly man named Herbert Ferguson. I’ll have to line up a whole new angle of research to support what I observe in his sessions.”
Mama was getting yet another sheet of cookies out of the oven, and Stella wondered if all the cookie baking was her mother’s way of occupying herself so she wouldn’t have to think about Pop’s absence.
She set the pan on a trivet on the counter and faced Stella. “Maybe you could just write the entire article about Mr. Ferguson.”
“Maybe.”
While Mama slid her spatula under the cookies to transfer them to the cooling rack, the sweet scents of cinnamon and sugar filling in the air, Stella checked her email. Her mind was only half on the task when she opened the most recent correspondence from her editor. The message landed in front of her like a gift from above.
Hey Stella,
I saw this piece and thought it might be good to consult. Hope you’re doing well out in the hills! Got everything crossed for you for that President’s Award!
Happy holidays,
Amy
The pressure of the award mounting, Stella took a deep breath, clicked on the attachment, and read the title of the literature review: “Effects of Chronic Stress on Memory.” Interested, she scanned down to the findings: “Higher levels of stress were associated with more incidents of memory loss when coupled with a traumatic event or injury.” She immediately connected the description to Henry and how he’d changed since she arrived. Her mind spun a hundred miles an hour as she considered how she could use this to support the anecdotal records from Henry’s therapy.
“So the happier he is, the better chance he has to remember…” she said to herself, scanning the summary. “That fits perfectly with Ms. Weixel’s approach, but it also...”
“What’s that?” Mama asked.
“My editor might have just saved my butt.” She opened the document with her notes from Henry’s sessions. “And Henry might just be on to something.”
Mama set her spatula on the counter and lowered herself in the chair across from Stella, clearly interested. “What did you find?”
“This article explains how memory loss can worsen with stress.”
“He has been under a lot, I think, given what Mary Jo told me.”
“Henry swears he doesn’t need therapy because he remembers more when he’s with me. Which makes me think that, for some reason, I bring his stress down.”
“So being with you really does give him the chance of remembering.”
“Yes. If his anxiety is reduced, there’s a greater chance of success, which now makes absolute sense. The therapist was trying to get him to think positively.”
But then the indecision that had plagued Stella reared its head once more. She really wanted to start over with him, maybe create a friendship first, the way she’d planned… But the more time she spent with him, the more she fell back into her old feelings, and from the way he looked at her sometimes, she was willing to bet he felt those old feelings too. If she spent more time with him, he was likely to recover his memories more quickly, which could change everything. Could she find a gentle approach to tell him what happened in her own way before he remembered how she left? Should she?
“How lucky was he that you decided to come home now,” Mama said.
“Yeah…” Her answer withered on her lips.
“Speaking of luck, any news on the necklace?”
“The jeweler said it would be a few days.”
“The story behind it is just so intriguing. I’ve been reading more about it.”
With no answers, Stella welcomed the change in conversation. She closed her laptop. “Did you discover anything else?”
Mama grabbed her phone and typed. “I did! Let me see if I can find the article I read last night…” After a bit of scrolling, she said, “Here we go. I searched for ‘Christmas Diamond jeweler’ and look what I found.” She set her phone on the table between them.
Stella leaned over and read the section.
