Page 13 of Redemption
Sobs escape her lips, and she covers them with her hand before falling forward out of her seat onto her knees. I can’t understand the words spilling out of her now, but they sound like a prayer.
“Mama.” My brother rushes to her side and drops to his knees. “Mama, it’s okay.”
She clings to him as she reaches out a hand to me. “My son. My baby boy.”
Like a metal filing drawn to a magnet, an invisible force draws me to her. I’m on my knees before I realize what I’m doing.
“Mama.” The word my brother spoke slips from my lips, totally foreign and yet completely perfect. “Are you really …”
She reaches a hand to my face, and I don’t realize I’m crying until she wipes my tears away.
“You are beautiful, my son. Beautiful. My son.” Her hand trembles against my skin as I cover it with my own.
“I never gave up on you,” she continues as tears pour, unchecked, from her dark eyes. “I knew I would see you again someday. My beautiful baby boy. I could not leave this earth until I saw you again. My son,” she whispers as she bows her head to mine.
No words are spoken for long moments as the three of us kneel in a silent cloud of emotion, stronger than anything I’ve ever felt in my entire life.
The love of a mother.
Finally.
The love of my mother.
Something inside me breaks free, and a rough sob shatters the silence.
“You’re my mother.”
“Yes. Yes, my son.” Tears slip past the tender smile curving her perfect lips. “I am. And I have waited so long for this day. So long have I waited for this moment.” Her fingertips thread through my hair as she pulls me closer to her. “Luca. My Luca. You are home. You are home. I never stopped praying. And now, I have everything. Everything. God has granted us a miracle. I have both of my sons now. It’s a miracle.”
I rise slightly to pull her trembling body into mine as I hug my mother for the very first time. I weep into her hair as her arms wrap around me and draw me closer and tighter.
Warmth and love bloom inside my being in a way that I didn’t even know was possible. My heart feels like it’s grown wings and may fly straight out of my chest.
“Mama.” It’s a word I always wished I could speak as a little boy, but life denied me—until this very moment.
This moment that is worth everything.
“Luca. My baby boy. You are restored to me. It is a miracle.”
“I promised I would find him for you,” Marco whispers. “I would never have stopped. And now, he is with us. It is a miracle indeed.”
She lifts her head from my arms, and warm, dark brown eyes filled with love meet my gaze. A mother’s love.
“You must come home with us. I cannot lose you ever again, my son. We have many, many years to make up for in a much shorter time.”
Her words are a balm to wounds in my soul that I didn’t know existed. On my knees before her, I feel complete in a way I never knew I could. I don’t need a DNA test to know that this woman is my mother and that her love brought us together against all odds. I can see the truth all over her face.
Waves of gratitude and peace wash over me.
Somehow, I know that this woman loves me, no matter what I’ve done or who I’ve been or how long we’ve been separated. Tears stream down my face anew as I realize that this is unconditional love.
Keira gave it to me first, then Aurora, and now … my mother.
How can a man such as I deserve so much goodness?
“I have a mother,” I murmur. I’m rocked by the enormity of the realizations unfolding. I have a mother who loves me. Who didn’t abandon me. Who never stopped praying to find me. How can a man such as I be worthy of so much?
“You do, my son. You have a mother who loves you very much. And a brother who has moved heaven and earth to find you for us. For your family.”
