𝘈𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘮í𝘰

Bonus chapter 49.

Her.

Time for the truth, time to put past behind and built our future as one huge, friendly, close-knit family. 

Carmen and Fransisco are here in Madrid, they arrived at 11AM. All of us are in the living room in our house. Mama is wrapped in papa's tight, protective, adoring embrace as he cannot tear his eyes off her, both of them are as love-drunk as on pictures from years ago. I am in Leo's arms as our bambinos are playing in the yard; they don't need to hear the bare, raw truth, they will know softer version as their grandma will talk to them alone.

"I indeed got shot 3 times."- said mama, keeping her cool, as we stayed silent, knowing that. 

"Doctors operated on me for hours. Line between life and death was too thin for me. Finally after what seemed forever I woke up and the doctor talked to me alone first, saying that I can die."- she stated as hermanos and I shifted, absorbing the heard. 

Leo gave my frame tender squeeze, kissing my temple, keeping me sane and calm. Papa held mama tighter, listening to her just as attentively, being so tense and distressed. 

"My liver, lungs and heart got injured. My heart went though severe surgery and it could stop beating any time because of major damage of blood circulation. At that time finding donor was extremely hard, especially a heart one. I couldn't put your father and you though this: the unstable, false hope that could crush any time."- she confessed shakily, holding papa's hand securely. 

"I faked my demise. The doctor told your father fake reason of my death, naming contagious disease that was eating my body from inside and the bullets hit my heart, becoming instant reason for it my ending. Since disease was contagious, my body was kept away, so you buried an empty coffin."- stated mama with teary eyes and I sobbed, wiping away my tears. 

"What I did was horrible, it really was and I will never forgive myself for it, but it was the only choice left to make the damage for you as little as possible. I didn't want you to see me possibly die after hoping for the better."- she unveiled the reason and much to my surprise, I understand her, even though it is messed up and tangled puzzle. 

"For years I was staying in hospital under strict observation while looking for donor. My heart was weakening, I was getting more sick with each day, but in 10 years I found donor, who matched my reports."- said mama, taking a deep breath. 

"The surgery was done successfully, but my recovery was next obstacle. I was extremely weak: I lost lots of weight, I couldn't eat, struggled to walk and breathe, I had to learn how to hold things all over again and talking was such a difficult task."- opened up mama, caressing papa's hands as he hugged her tighter, taking deep breaths. 

"It seemed impossible to recover, it really did. I thought I will never make it as years kept passing by and the progress was so minimal."- she said collectedly, offering us a reassuring smile. 

"Nevertheless, I couldn't give up. I wanted to come back to you healthy and capable of doing anything. I kept trying, I went though countless recovery programs and sessions, multiple observations and therapies, breathing recovery procedures. Next part was gaining weight back. It took just as efforts and even more time as weight kept dropping."- shared mama as I took a deep breath, nuzzling into Leo. 

I know how hard it is to find donor and I am no stranger to recovery processes, having had my own journeys after kidnappings that damaged my system. Leo and I are parts of a lot of charity organisations, including UNICEF. We helped to find donors for quite a few people successfully, but we also know how long it took: everyone is different, there are no two alike people.