Dr. Rosenbaum took a seat next to Ryan and offered us a small smile intended to convey both sympathy and support. It looked forced, and it didn’t make me feel any better.
“Mr. and Mrs. Stuart,” Rosenbaum said, “today is really just the beginning of a long journey to reacclimate your daughter to a normal life. I know that seeing her again is cause for celebration and high emotion—as it should be—but the real work begins now, both for you and for the police. I’m here to assist you with the work that transition entails.”
“How long will she be in the hospital?” Abby asked.
Rosenbaum looked at Ryan, and Ryan nodded.
“We’re going to release Caitlin to you today,” Ryan said. “We see no reason to have her stay here overnight or for any further observation. Medically, she’s cleared and okay. We’ve asked her the questions we wanted to ask her. We’ll do more soon, though—don’t worry. Our investigation will continue.”
Rosenbaum cleared his throat. “I know you’re going to have questions about even the most basic things in Caitlin’s life. Does she go back to school at some point? Does she resume the life of a typical teenager?”
“Exactly,” Abby said. “I was wondering about school. Has she even been in school? What has she been doing?”
Rosenbaum offered the same forced smile. “We don’t have to tackle them all today. Like I said, this is a long road.”
“The press has no doubt gotten wind of this story,” Ryan said, “so we have to go put that fire out. I guess you can expect them to be knocking on your door soon enough. We’ll put out a statement asking for privacy. It will help some.”
“What are we supposed to do with her?” Abby asked. “I mean . . . what do we do?”
Rosenbaum nodded. “You have to understand something about taking Caitlin back to your home. It’s not going to feel like her home to her, at least not right away. Wherever she’s been or whoever she’s been with . . . that was home to her. Even if she was sleeping on the streets. She may not feel immediately safe in her old environment, the way we would expect her to be.”
“But it is her home,” Abby said. “It’s the only house she’s known. Her room is just the way it was when she disappeared.”
“The best thing you can do is make her feel safe,” Rosenbaum said. “That’s the biggest concern for victims of crimes like this. Keep her safe and secure. Expect some nightmares. But follow her lead and don’t rush her. You’re still parents, even after all this time. Trust yourselves. And she’s still your daughter. But she’s not going to be the same kid who walked out that door four years ago.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Four years have passed,” he said. “And who knows what trauma. The passage of time and events have shaped her just like they have shaped you. She’s not going to be the same person.”
Ryan cleared his throat. He had something to say.
“I wanted to check in with the two of you concerning your marriage. I’m merely trying to think of the best situation for Caitlin to come home to.”
“She’ll come home with both of us,” Abby said.
Ryan cocked his head, a little confused. “How’s that?”
“We’ll all go home together,” she said. “As a family.” I didn’t speak up, but Abby looked at me and spoke in my direction. “Caitlin needs me. She needs both of us. I don’t want her to think that her disappearance brought down her parents’ marriage.”
“It’s okay to tell the child whatever—”
She cut Ryan off. “No. We’re going home together. All of us.”
Ryan nodded. “Fair enough. Well”—he pushed himself to his feet—“I still have a lot of work to wrap up.”
“Doctor?” I said. “When we were at the police station, Caitlin said she wanted to leave. She didn’t act like she wanted to go home with us.”
“I explained the situation to her,” Ryan said, fielding the question. “She knows she’s leaving with you.”
“How did she respond to that?” I asked. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, and I almost couldn’t look him in the eye while I waited for the answer.
“Caitlin has a lot of things to get used to,” Rosenbaum said. “And being home with you is one of them. If you’d like, I can come to your house with you now, when you take Caitlin home. I could just observe her there and answer any questions you might have. I’ve done it before in similar situations.”
Abby turned to me. “What do you think, Tom? It sounds like a good idea.”
I considered it, but more than anything else, I wanted Caitlin home. With us, in our house. No strangers. No impediments or barriers between my daughter and me. “No, thanks,” I said. “I think we should just be there for Caitlin ourselves.”
Rosenbaum looked a little disappointed, but he stood up. He reached into his pocket and brought out a business card. “Do call me if you need anything tonight,” he said. “My cell number is on there. Otherwise, we’d like you to come to my office in the morning, and we can start working through the things we need to get through.”