The hospital investigated the allegations against Egeria and found them to be true.  She was not licensed by the state to practice psychiatry.  Dora’s mother grinned triumphantly as Hector Gomez escorted Egeria out of the building.  “I just want you to know I thought what you was doing was helping Dora,” he said as he placed a box of her files and things in the trunk of her car.  “Thank you,” she replied.  “Would you do me a big favor?” she asked.  “Sure,” he replied.  She handed him her card.  “Let me know how she’s doing in a few days.”

Dora’s dreams become more vivid and very intense.  Every night, the same dream, over and over again.  She’s driving a car at night.  She’s eating banana nut bread in her mother’s kitchen.  She’s in the hospital.  Her belly’s on fire.  Her baby is dead.  And each time -  she wakes up -  her heart racing -  she finds him safe and sound.  “That’s it!  Why didn’t I see it before?  My mother is planning to take my baby!”  Dora woke up to find her mother standing next to her bed holding her baby.  “You’re not taking him away from me!”

Dora grabs the doll’s little plastic arm and pulls it from its little plastic socket.  What?  No blood.  No scream of pain.  No cry for mommy.  How can that be?  Dora collapses into a state of shock.  She has lost her will to live.  They fear, once again, that Dora may slip into a coma.  Hector tells Egeria what happened.  He sneaks her into the hospital.  She connects with Dora’s unconscious mind and they talk about everything that has happened in Dora’s life from the time that she was just a little girl all the way up to the miscarriage.

Dora’s mother was sleeping with her man.  She drove to her house one rainy night and found them, nearly naked, in the kitchen.  A plate of freshly baked banana nut bread was on the counter.  And a knife.   She picked up the plate and flung it at them.  It crashed into the wall breaking into several pieces.  Dora ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She read the label on a jar of pills.  She took some.  She went back to the kitchen and vomited.  Her stomach hurt.  They drove her to the hospital where she miscarried.

Dora woke up feeling better than she ever remembered.  She decided she didn’t need to be in the hospital any longer.  She showered and fixed her hair.  She got dressed picked up her shopping bag and walked right out the front door.  She looked so beautiful no one even tried to stop her.  A car pulled up and she got in.  Hector, at the wheel, glanced in the rear view mirror, transfixed by her beauty.  Dora looked at the smiling woman sitting next to her.  “You’re going to be all right,” she said.   Dora smiled back and said, “I know.”