**Asentí en silencio.**
**For sixty-two years, Benjamin had remained eighteen years old in my memories, with dark hair, wide shoulders and warm hands around mine. **
**Behind that door I was expecting an eighty-year-old man I no longer knew. **
**—What if there is nothing left of us? **
** Edward's face softened. **
**—No tiene que entrar.**
**Wren apretó mi mano.**
**Negué con la cabeza.**
**—No. I haven't come this far to be brave in a hallway. **
**Benjamin was sitting by the window in a wheelchair. **
**Un momento después, se giró hacia nosotros.**
**Sus ojos seguían siendo azules.**
**Antes de que mi mente lo aceptara, mi corazón ya lo reconocía.**
**—Dad, someone came to see you. **
**Benjamin looked at me with quiet courtesy. **
**The hope he had carried inside slowly bent in silence. **
**—No. My name is Isobel. **
**—Isobel," he repeated. **
**There was no spark of recognition. **
**I sat next to him and opened the blue box. **
**Study the silver ring. **
**—Nice. **
**Edward stepped forward, but raised my hand gently to stop it. **
**I didn't want anyone to protect me from reality. **
**—Do you remember a willow? **
**Benjamin frowned. **
**—A yellow dress? **
**His fingers began to gently slap the blanket. **
**—That's enough for today. **
**In the hallway, I leaned against the wall, unable to hold. **
**Wren surrounded me with both arms. **
**—Oh, Aunt Isobel," he whispered. **
**—Él regresó —dije en voz baja—, pero la parte de él que me recordaba nunca lo hizo.**
**Edward se secó las lágrimas con el dorso de la mano.**
**—¿Puedo volver a verlo?**
**Me miró sorprendido.**
**—Do you still want? **
**—I don't even know what I want anymore. But I know I'm not ready to go. **
**I returned two days later. **
**Then I came back twice more the next week. **
**Finally, I stopped pulling out the ring or asking if I remembered. **
**Some visitors listened. **
**Others I slept. **
**One afternoon, he called me by the name of his late wife. **
**The error hurt, but I let it go. **
**He was embarrassed. **
** “I keep losing people,” he said. In my mind and in reality. **
**On another visit, I was reading out loud when he interrupted me. **
**—That guy talks too much. **
**I smiled and closed the book. **
**—You spoke all night once. **
**—Ah yes? **
**—Under a willow, Benjamin. **
**—You were. **
**—Did it work? **
**—For over 60 years. **
**Smiled. **
**Later, Edward caught me in the hallway. **
**—This is hurting her, Isobel. I can see it. **
