Selina returned the hummingbird necklace through her attorney.
I carried it to Phedra myself.
She stared at it for a long time.
“Do you want me to put it on you?”
“No.”
That surprised me.
“Why?”
She touched the scar beneath her collarbone where a port had been placed.
“I spent months thinking that necklace was proof I still belonged to myself. I don’t need it to prove that anymore.”
“What should I do with it?”
“Keep it.”
“For what?”
She smiled faintly.
“Give it back to me when I actually want it.”
So I did.
Phedra’s recovery was not miraculous. Her treatment was difficult. There were weeks when she improved and weeks when the scans frightened us. The settlement gave us access to specialists and allowed me to stop measuring every medical decision against whether I could afford another month away from work, but money did not purchase certainty. What it bought was opportunity.
