Yet even now, even after all this time, when she first heard Peter’s call it cracked her wide, and she almost forgot everything to run to him once more. When it comes down to it, what if she crumbles? What if she isn’t strong enough? What if she proves herself not the mother Jane needs, or even the mother Peter wanted, but simply the girl he left behind?

“I don’t know exactly what we’ll be facing,” Wendy says, “but I don’t think Peter will let Jane go easily. If I… If I falter, will you finish it, finish him, and make sure my daughter is safe?”

“I will.” Tiger Lily doesn’t hesitate.

Reduced as she is from her former self, the resolve in every line of Tiger Lily’s being is clear. Peter hurt her. He stole from her. She is every bit as determined as Wendy to steal herself back from him.

Wendy lets go of Tiger Lily’s hands, and Tiger Lily moves to exchange low words with the man who came to tell them he’d seen Jane on the path. Is she leaving instruction for what to do if she doesn’t return? Tiger Lily touches the man’s arm briefly, a familiar gesture. Wendy tries to think—did she meet him last time she was in Neverland? Did Tiger Lily have brothers?

Fresh guilt swarms Wendy. She can’t remember. When she was first here, any brothers Tiger Lily had would only have been more boys to Wendy, and she’d already been surrounded by more than enough.

Looking at the man beside Tiger Lily, Wendy finds herself suddenly thinking of John. Perhaps she should have gone to him before leaving, and told him what she’d planned. Perhaps she should have given him instructions for what to do if she didn’t come back.

In the eleven years since Wendy left St. Bernadette’s they’ve found their way slowly back to trusting each other. If she’d asked him, would he have trusted her one last time, as mad as her words might sound, if she’d told him she was going to Neverland to look for Jane? There was a moment, not too long ago, when Wendy thinks they finally saw each other clearly—not trying to bury the past, but recognizing the scars it left on each of them.

John had come to her shyly, and told her of his intention to ask Elizabeth to be his wife. The words had surprised Wendy, but she hadn’t been able to resist teasing him, delighted that she could do so again.

“Shouldn’t you be speaking to her then? What have I to do with it?”