And suddenly, I remembered.
“Thomas?”
He smiled.
“Yes, Mama Rosa. I’m the boy you rescued from that sinking boat.”
Forty years earlier, during a terrible storm, a fishing boat had capsized.
Seventeen people were aboard.
My husband and I had gone out in our little boat to rescue them.
Thomas was only twenty years old at the time.
He had been seriously injured.
I spent the entire night pressing against his wound to stop the bleeding until we reached shore.
At the hospital, he held my hand and said:
“One day, if you ever need help, I promise I’ll be there.”
I had smiled.
And eventually forgotten those words.
But he never had.
Thomas helped me into his boat.
He gave me drinking water, wrapped a warm blanket around my shoulders, and immediately contacted the Coast Guard.
When I told him what my son had done, his expression darkened.
