Chapter 14 - Grant Stood for a Different Reason
Physical rehabilitation continued.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Grant hated it.
He hated parallel bars.
Hated people counting repetitions.
Hated celebrating movements that six weeks earlier required no thought.
Then he remembered the bathroom.
His hands gripping the wheelchair.
Trying to hoist himself up because rage demanded action.
He had thought standing would make him powerful again.
His therapist gave him a different goal.
“Stand because you want to stand.”
Not because Camille needed to see it.
Not because staff needed proof.
Not because a wheelchair made him less of a father.
Because movement belonged to him.
Months later, Grant managed several supported steps across the rehabilitation room.
Ruth watched from the doorway holding Maisie.
The baby clapped because everyone else did.
Grant laughed.
Then sat down.
No cinematic miracle.
He still used the wheelchair for longer distances.
Some days were better.
Some worse.
The accident remained real.
So did progress.
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His authority no longer depended on whether he could stand over anyone.
That lesson was worth more than the steps.
