Page 208 of Matteo

My breath catches. I know who she is. Isabel, Matteo’s mother. The woman he talks about as if she means the world to him. The woman who raised Rio, Matteo and Enzo. The woman standing at the center of so much heartbreak and history.

She doesn’t see me, her attention going to the bed, to the backs of the men standing around it. She pauses, her hand going to her chest, as if she’s letting the sight before her imprint onto her heart.

Then, slowly, she walks towards them. Rio turns around, sees her.

“Mama?” He rushes to her, then Enzo follows. Jett, Dex and Zach stand to one side, staring at her, their mouths open in quiet shock, as if they don't know what to make of her.

“Mama?” Matteo’s voice is weak, and he tries to sit up, then groans and flops back against the pillows. Rio and Enzo’s arms wrap around their mother. She's so tiny, I can barely see her, as her boys hug her for the longest time.

“Boys, boys,” she says finally, one hand on Rio’s arm, the other cupping Enzo’s face. Then she says something, in Italian, I think, which I don’t understand, followed by, “Let me see my other son.” Her Italian accent is warm and melodic.

Enzo looks at her like she’s made his day. “You never told us you were coming, Mama.”

“I can't believe you're here.” Rio’s voice is thick with emotion.

“I wanted to surprise you all.”

She glances over at the boys, at Jett, and Dex and Zach, and nods at them, before going to Matteo.

“Figlio mio,” she says to him, caressing his face, her voice trembling.

“Mama, I'm fine. Everything went okay.”

Rio and Enzo go to them, and tell her that he's going to be fine, that the surgery went well and that there were no complications. They talk among themselves, occasionally slipping into Italian, their conversation interspersed with laughs.

I have tears in my eyes just watching them.

Then I hear Matteo say, “Mama, Elizabeth is here. She's been here all day.”

That's when Isabel looks over, sees me, and walks up to me.

“Elizabeth,” she says, her voice warm and soft. Then she gives me a big hug, and I hold onto her, because her hug is warm and tight, as though she’s genuinely happy to meet me. As though I’m already important to her simply because I’m important to Matteo.

Then she steps back and looks at me. “Thank you,” she says softly.

I blink. “For what?”

“For being with him. For taking care of him, for loving him.”

The words slam inside my chest and spin around in it. She smiles and takes my hands.

“A mother always worries. No matter how old her children become. We worry whether they are happy, whether they are lonely, whether there is someone by their side when life becomes difficult.” Her eyes turn shiny, glistening under the fluorescent lights. “Today when I walked into this room, I saw that my son wasn’t alone.” She squeezes my hands. “That means more to me than you could ever know.”“

I hug her tightly and try to compose myself, because I’m filled with so much happy emotion. I’m scared my happy tears will come gushing out.

Then, she turns around, and looks at the other boys, the American Knights as Matteo calls them, and walks over to them.

I see the look of apprehension and curiosity on their faces. She clasps her hands together, pauses as if she’s trying to compose herself. I walk towards Matteo and take his hand.

Then Isabel speaks. “I don’t know if I have the right to say this,” she begins, quietly. The room falls silent. “But I have wanted to meet you for so many years.”

Jett, Dex and Zach are still, not even blinking.

“Your mother deserved honesty, and loyalty. She deserved better than what happened.” Her voice breaks. “I did not know about her. If I had known, I would've walked away.”

Rio and Enzo look as if they're about to go to her, but they hold one another back.

“I have carried that regret for a very long time.” She looks at each of them in turn. “You were innocent children. Just as my boys were innocent children, and none of you deserved what was done to your family. I'm so sorry for what happened. I ...” She swallows, shaking her head, when her sons move closer. “There are days when I think of your mother, even though I didn't know her.” She taps her chest gently. “I still carry her here, because she should have lived to see you boys grow up, and ... and I'm sorry that she isn't.”