No, I think that was true, Budge. There is at least one photo of them together at the time, and she's looking at him almost radiantly. He was wonderful to her -- until he got the money. (It is likely, and the Schindlers now believe, that he was staying close and intensely watchful to see if she could learn to talk -- and potentially finger him for trying to strangle her.)
The thing is, she is no longer very responsive because she has been isolated and abused in the ten years since. She's been harmed by his mistreatment. Terri today is Michael's victim even if she wasn't in 1990 (but she was).
I think this is the photo you're referring to.
Terri does look radiant. But this from a woman who has no brain (cortex) - according to the man whose eyes she is looking into?