I look up from the pages to see her staring at me. "That's all I wrote," I say to her.
"May I ask you a question?" she asks politely. I know what she's going to ask, so I prepare myself with the answers. "What happened after Sarah Mackenzie left?"
I smile inwardly as I also try to keep my sadness from showing. "You'll know by nightfall," I say as she leans back into her rocker and is silent for a few moments again.
"I don't mean to be nosy, but may I ask a few more questions?"
"Yes," I say.
"Well, I can't seem to recall, who are you, and who am I?"
I feel overwhelmed with sadness as I also do when she asks this. "I'm Ben," I say, "And you're Rosa."
"Oh," she says and seems to accept the answer I gave her. "Last question, I promise. Why do you treasure that notebook so?"
"It's from a piece of my life that I thought I'd never want to remember," I say, and she's quiet once again. "Would you care to go inside?" I ask, holding out my hand to meet hers, the one I slipped a wedding ring on so many years ago.
She nods and takes my hand. When our hands touch, it's like a shock hits her and she turns to me again. "Harm?" she asks, and I nod in relief that once again she has regained her memory, and feel terror that one of these days, she will never again know who I am.
"Thank you for telling me our story," she says. "I know that the Alzheimer's is harder on you than anyone."
"Any time." She reaches for me and envelops me in a hug. "Sarah," I hear myself whisper.
"Hmm?" she asks.
"Sarah, I love you," I say, feeling that the words cannot express how much she really means to me.
"I know how you feel," she whispers. "I love you too."
And with that, we join hands again and walk inside, leaving the notebook on the rocker, leaving a little bit of our wonderful past behind.
Author's note: Okay, I know I didn't say exactly what happened after the notebook finished or what happened to Rachel and Caleb, but if you really want to know, review and I might consider doing another story to say what actually happened.