Page 56 of Redemption
Our mother’s voice rises from behind me. “He is right, my son. Marco will be fine. This is his duty and honor. A day that will never be forgotten for as long as any of us live. He will fly safe and return home directly to continue the celebration of this day long into the night. Milan is not far by plane. Marco will return soon. Have no fear.”
It’s harder than I expected it would be to shake my brother’s hand and let it go, knowing that there are things he must carry on and do without me. Somehow, our bond has already formed stronger and deeper than I realized possible. Perhaps it’s the blood we share or the face. Either way, I don’t like to see him leave, but I recognize that he must take this journey by himself.
“Fly safe, brother.”
Marco nods. “I go with God and shall return with our father. Enjoy yourselves. I shall be back sooner than you realize.”
I release his hand, and Marco bows ever so slightly. A remnant from his martial arts training? I can’t help but wonder.
There’s still so much I want to know about him, but my questions must wait for another time.
Patience, I remind myself. All in good time.
But first, it’s time for my father to be informed that I’m alive.
I can’t imagine how such a shocking announcement is going to impact him. If it were me, nothing would stop me from meeting the son I believed was dead. Nothing.
Fleeting thoughts shoot through my mind. Will he even care? Will I matter to him at all? What if he doesn’t come?
The thoughts surprise me, but I don’t latch on to them or believe them. They’re the leftover beliefs of an abandoned little boy who is abandoned no longer. Of course he’ll care. Of course I matter. Of course he will come.
Because that’s what fathers do.
I crouch down and open my arms to Aurora, who shoots toward me like she’s been waiting for the opportunity her whole life.
With my arms wrapped around the most precious gift I’ve ever been given, I watch my brother take off at a jog toward the stone stairs that lead back down to the plane.
“I love you, Marco! Be safe!” our mother says, and I marvel at the entire scene unfolding before me.
I have a family. And soon, I will have a father.
“Wait! Marco!” she calls, and Marco pauses and spins back to face her.
“Yes, Mama?”
“A photograph. You must take a photograph. That stubborn man might not believe anything he cannot see. I shall take it—in the family gallery. In front of your grandfather’s portrait. He will not be able to believe his eyes when he sees the three of you together.”
I rise with Aurora in my arms, and my mother beams with a giant smile.
“And his granddaughter as well. That will get him here quickly, the way nothing else possibly could.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Marco
Proof of life—that’s what I carry in my pocket on the screen of my mobile phone. I only let myself look at it for a brief moment after Keira helped my mother take a few pictures for Father.
My first photos with my brother and my niece. It feels surreal. Even more surreal is that I’m flying on a direct course to Milan to tell him of our miracle.
My brother is alive.
Our family is complete.
The moment I have wished for my entire life has almost manifested in reality.
As a young boy, I did not understand why my life had to be the way it was. I was grateful for everything my parents gave me, but I did not understand why I couldn’t go to school like the children with whom I played on our family’s properties.
My father tried to tell me that it was because more was expected of me than could be taught to me at the schools they attended, but as a child, I only wanted to be what I perceived as “normal.”
