Chapter 11 - LUCA'S QUESTION
Six months later, Luca asked me if I was his mother.
We were making cookies.
Anthony was pretending not to listen from the doorway.
I crouched beside Luca.
“You already have a mommy.”
“She died.”
“Yes.”
“Daddy says she loved me.”
“She did.”
Luca looked at the flour on his hands.
“Can I have two?”
My throat closed.
“What?”
“Two mommies. One in heaven. One here.”
Anthony turned away.
I saw him wipe his face.
I hugged Luca.
“You can have as many people loving you as your heart can hold.”
He whispered, “That's a yes.”
I laughed.
“Yes.”
That night, Anthony found me crying in the bedroom.
“He called me Mom.”
“I heard.”
“Does that hurt you?”
Anthony understood.
“Because of Isabella?”
I nodded.
He sat beside me.
“Isabella spent her last months trying to protect you before you even knew us.”
He touched my hand.
“She didn't bring you into our lives to compete with a ghost.”
“What if Luca forgets her?”
“He won't.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we'll tell him.”
We created an Isabella box.
Photographs.
Letters.
Videos.
Stories.
Luca learned his mother's favorite song.
Her favorite cake.
How she laughed.
I didn't replace Isabella.
I helped Luca remember her.
And somehow, that made room for him to love me too.
A week later, my mother moved into a beautiful assisted living community closer to us.
Anthony paid the first year.
I yelled at him.
He claimed it was a business expense.
I asked what business.
He said, “Keeping my future wife from worrying.”
I stared at him.
He stared back.
Then realized what he'd said.
“Anthony.”
“Yes?”
“Future wife?”
He stood.
“I have a meeting.”
He walked out.
May you like
I laughed for ten minutes.
The most feared man in Baltimore was apparently terrified of accidentally proposing.
