I reached out to the letter,s. but my fingers were shaking so hard that I couldn’t get it. Luke noticed and gently pushed the glass of water towards me, while Matteo sat in the chair to my right.

“It’s not all,” said Luke.

I raised my eyes to him.

And then he spoke a word that I had been waiting for fourteen years to hear, though I had never dared to ask for it.

• Mother.

I felt the time stops.

Matteo got closer, too.

“Happy birthday nine, Mom. Because you raised us and you made us the people we are today.
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Ezoic

I took my hands to my mouth.

I couldn’t breathe.

Not because something hurted.

It was because that happiness was so great that I didn’t know how to grasp it.

“You don’t have to call me that, I managed to whisper.

Luke smiled.

• We know.

I don’t want you to feel like you’re replacing Laura.

Matteo took my hand.

We are not replacing it. Mother Laura will always be our mother. But you are our mother too.