The Memory Keeper

Chapter 28

A wide set of ruby studded doors opened, and Natalie was escorted through them by two mind weavers. They did not clamp onto her elbows or prod her in the back, but simply walked beside, if not a little behind her. She wore a flowing smoke colored dress with shiny red designs, her hair braided at the nape of her neck, and there was a lift to her chin that had never existed before, her eyes like portals to the sky.

Colette had called on she, Piper, and Mr. Sheinfeld, just the way she had promised, and the whole affair had been both pleasant and terrifying. After the last session with Peter, it was like every detail of his memories that had slipped by expanded, shone like lamps in her mind. She was able to remember everything about she and Peter's relationship.

Their downfall had not been very different from Piper's parents. She learned that she had erased her own memories of Peter after he had found out she was a mind weaver, and then ended everything between them. He had wanted nothing more to do with her. It made sense to Natalie, now, she supposed, since she knew his sister had been taken away, mad because of a mind weaver and her assistant. Still, with the memories came the emotions, and when she thought about this, a deep sadness swept over her until she was able to push it behind and focus on where she and Peter stood now.

The letter Piper had given her before the last session was one written for Natalie. It was the gift he had mentioned to her in Willow Haven's manor, and the words quivered on the page as she fought to keep the tears in her eyes. The letter, which Peter had written a few days before their last session, explained almost everything.

Dear my Flower,

By the time you read this letter, I will not remember who you are, quite the same way you did not remember who I was the day I arrived at your doorstep that rainy day before dawn. It was the hardest moment of my life, to stand there in front of you, no more than a stranger. But I need you to understand, I did not do this, have you take my memories away, so that we could call it even. I want you to know that I am sorry I ever let any of this happen. If I had never walked away, just because of the gift you possessed, the fear I let control me, then you would not have been driven by your own heart break to erase your very own memories of me. I do not know much about the laws of Mind Weavers, but I do know one thing. That was not supposed to be possible. At Coldton palace, when Colette said you were sure-footed and brave, I knew she was right. You are a very powerful mind weaver, but I wish you had not used it to erase me. Remember the day in Willow Haven's library, when you asked how forgetting her was fighting for her, and I told you I felt like I did not deserve the memories, that I would wait and become a better man, for if she chooses me? It was true, of course. I would rather have given up my memories, so long as you could have them back. You deserve it all more than I do. And if you choose me, Natalie, then I hope you will fight for me, too. I hope you will take those letters from Piper, come to my house, and give them to me. Let me read them. I might think you are mad, but do not give up on me. I have asked too much of you, and for that I am sorry. First I asked you to take my memories, now I ask that you give them back. To me it was all worth it. I got to give our memories back to you, and I got to fall in love with you all over again. I hope you feel the same way. Until then, my flower.

Yours forever,

Peter Sheinfeld

A hall lit with torches of pink fire illuminated the hall toward a door at the far end. A window of opaque glass was embedded in the middle, and twinkling music could be heard from this side.

Natalie looked back at the mind weavers, who had stepped to each side, nodding their encouragement. The door opened soundlessly, and in the room, which was done up in roses and silk, sat a young woman about Natalie's age.