His eyes struggled to focus.
Ethan rushed from the other bay.
"What happened?"
"Call an ambulance!"
Ethan grabbed his phone.
Nora lowered Daniel carefully onto the floor.
She supported his head and looked directly into his eyes.
"Stay with me."
He tried to speak.
She brushed his silver hair away from his forehead.
"Please, Daniel. Stay with me."
Rain began blowing through the open garage door.
Her white blazer slipped onto the oil-stained concrete.
She did not notice.
Ethan returned with a clean folded jacket and assisted while following the emergency dispatcher's instructions.
Nora kept speaking to Daniel.
Telling him he was not alone.
Telling him help was coming.
Telling him to stay.
Then something small rolled from her open clutch.
A brass ring.
Tarnished green with age.
It came to rest beside Daniel's right hand.
His eyes shifted toward it.
For one moment, his expression changed.
He stared.
His fingers moved weakly.
Nora followed his gaze.
Then froze.
The ring.
The four-dollar promise.
The object she had carried across forty-six years.
Daniel's lips parted.
"That ring..."
Nora stopped breathing.
He looked toward her.
"Where did you get it?"
She picked it up.
Her hands shook.
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
"You gave it to me."
Daniel stared.
She held the ring where he could see it.
"On the bridge."
His face changed.
Confusion.
Recognition.
Disbelief.
Then something deeper.
He looked at her eyes.
Her mouth.
The white headband.
The way her hair framed her face.
He whispered a name.
"Nora?"
She nodded through tears.
"It's me."
Daniel stared at her.
The ambulance siren grew louder.
He tried to say something else.
But his eyes closed.
And Nora Whitfield, who had spent forty-six years fearing she would never see the boy she loved again, suddenly faced a new terror.
She might lose him at the very moment he finally remembered who she was.
The ambulance arrived six minutes later.
To Nora, it felt like six hours.
Two paramedics entered the garage carrying medical equipment while Ethan cleared a path between the motorcycle and the door.
Nora moved aside only when they asked her to.
She was trembling so badly that she could barely keep her hands still.
One paramedic knelt beside Daniel and checked his vital signs.
The other asked what had happened.
Ethan explained that Daniel had been working on the motorcycle when he became dizzy and collapsed.
Nora added everything she had observed.
He had been pale.
He had struggled to focus.
He had recognized something just before losing consciousness.
She stopped before mentioning the ring.
The paramedic looked toward her.
"Are you family?"
Nora opened her mouth.