Read Chapter 16: — GEORGE AND REBECCA

George and Rebecca became a couple with such reluctance that everyone knew before they did.

They argued about everything: colours, meal times, therapy language, furniture, whether Martin should be allowed near a spreadsheet.

"You like each other," Daniel told George.

"Statistically unsupported."

"You bought her preferred tea."

"Supply-chain optimisation."

Rebecca was forty-four. George was thirty-nine. She had once believed that after losing her first love, choosing again would betray him. George had spent years believing his mental-health history made him unsuitable for anyone's future.

They were each frightened for different reasons.

Rebecca's parents were frightened too.

Her mother was a retired university lecturer who heard "past psychosis" and imagined grandchildren inheriting disaster. Her father, a former civil servant, worried about stability, income and village life.

Martin disliked their assumptions but understood the instinct beneath them.

Parents feared what they could not control.

Claire, unexpectedly, became the diplomat.

"Don't argue with them about prejudice first," she told Martin. "Show them the man."

So Rebecca's parents were invited to Willowbrook.

George did not perform. He showed them the design system, the workshop, the accounts he managed, the relapse plan agreed with his clinician, and the home he had rebuilt with his father.

Rebecca's mother asked blunt questions.

George answered them.

"Could you become ill again?"

"Yes."

"Does that frighten you?"

"Yes."

"Does it frighten Rebecca?"

"You'd have to ask her. But we have a plan, not a guarantee. Nobody gets a guarantee."

The answer changed something.

Not everything.

Enough.