JUNE
It takes four days for Vanderbilt to release me.
Sixty minutes to Wildwood. Another seven minutes through the stoplights.
Nick carries me up the castle tower in less than five minutes.
Four rings satisfy my soul.
I love this castle, love this tower, love Dad’s relentless obedience to the vision I once despised. It must take as much strength for a normal man to walk a crazy path as for a crazy person to walk a normal path. I know that now because I am like him far more than I realized. I think of Ruby and cover the bandage over my chest. Nick rings the bell again, saying, “One to grow on.”
I take my first deep breath since waking up.
“Now what?” Dad asks.
“We wait,” I say.
None of us know what we’re waiting for.
Constance and Gladys fidget, Dad and Nick stretch, I stare at the horizon and find myself talking to a God I don’t know. I can’t see you, I say. I don’t know if you’re real, but I’m asking for a miracle.
“Ring it again,” I tell Nick.
He tugs the long braided rope and the old church bell spreads itself out like an auditory quilt over the county.