Chapter 7 - The Road to Recovery
With the restraining order secured and the police investigation moving toward formal criminal indictments, the healing process could truly begin.
We enrolled Amelia in therapy with a wonderful child psychologist named Dr. Sarah Jenkins, who specialized in trauma and recovery. In her warm, toy-filled office, Amelia slowly began to process what had happened. She drew pictures of the pool, but over the weeks, the pictures changed. The dark, empty concrete pit was replaced by drawings of our new house, our big willow tree, and bright, colorful flowers.
One Saturday afternoon, about two months after the incident, Ethan and I decided to surprise Amelia.
We took her to a local animal shelter. We had promised her for years that when we finally got our own house with a backyard, we would get a dog.
As we walked through the kennels, Amelia’s eyes lit up. She stopped in front of a quiet, golden retriever mix with big, soulful brown eyes. The dog walked slowly to the edge of the cage and gently pressed his wet nose against the chain-link fence, right where Amelia’s hand was.
"He likes me," Amelia whispered, looking up at us with a spark of pure joy we hadn't seen in months.
"He loves you," Ethan smiled. "What should we name him?"
May you like
"Sunny," she said without hesitation. "Because he looks like a big splash of sunshine."
We adopted Sunny that very day. Watching him run around our massive, shaded backyard, chasing tennis balls and curling up at Amelia’s feet while she read her favorite books, was the best therapy we could have ever asked for. The laughter that had been stolen from our lives was finally returning, filling the rooms of our new home with warmth.
