His Favorite Piece Of Art

Chapter 24 | Fireworks

"Come on, give mama a hug." Mary motions with her hand and he happily walks toward the two most important women in his life. His big arms envelop them both in a group hug and they all laugh out of happiness.

When they pull away, Mary asks Alexander to bring her water, addressing him as her son the whole time. It just became natural for them to call each other and treat each other as a mother and a son. She did raise him and she is the only motherly figure he ever had in his life.

Before leaving, Alexander asks them both if they need anything more and when he gets a negative answer, he leaves them alone for a couple of minutes. He hopes that Bella isn't so nervous anymore because from what he can tell, Mary already loves her and probably is already planning on asking when is she getting her grandchildren. He doesn't mind the thought though, not at all.

When he comes back, he finds them in a deep conversation with smiles on both of their faces. Mary holds Bella's hands the whole time as they talk and occasionally strokes her hair as a caring mother would do and like Bella is her daughter she never had.

Mary couldn't have children, that's probably why she loved her job so much, she was surrounded by them every day even though they weren't hers, but she treated them as if they were. That's why she adopted Alexander, she finally had a child. But even if she did have her own she would probably do the same either way and she would love it if she could do that with all of the kids from the orphanage.

Mary just has a big heart, especially for children.

Her husband left her because they couldn't have children, but Alexander filled that void and she didn't need anybody else as long as she had him. But now she has Bella too, but for her, it's more important for Alexander to have someone, a woman that will care about him as Mary does. And since he brought her here to meet her, she knows Bella is special.

As they were all talking with each other, a doctor comes in and interrupts them. Alexander immediately gets alarmed and nervous, he doesn't want to hear any bad news, and he can't take it. Bella noticed his sudden changed so she slides her hand over Mary's bed to take his and starts rubbing comforting circles on his hand to calm him down.

Mary watches them closely and she smiles at their sweet silent interaction. It's visible that Alexander calmed down the second Bella touched him and he takes her smaller softer hand in his both while he anxiously waits for the doctor to speak.

"What do you want now doc?" Mary sighs and surprises Bella with her way of speaking to the man in front of them. The doctor is used to it and is glad when he hears her attitude because that means she's feeling well.

"I'm here to tell you something, Mary." He flips some papers in his hand as he tries to hide his smile.

"Unless you came here to tell me that I'm free to go and do whatever I want for the rest of my life, then you can kindly leave." She makes the doctor, same as her age, chuckle.

"That's exactly why I came here." He speaks but makes their eyes widen. Alexander immediately looks at Mary who takes a second to comprehend what the doctor just said before she looks at Alexander with a hopeful spark in her eyes. She takes his hand in hers and squeezes it as she waits for the doctor to continue.

"Your health improved quite a lot, almost 100%. Your lungs don't have a problem functioning anymore, there is no infection, you don't have problems with breathing as I was told, and your immune system is strong as it has ever been. You're perfectly fine and free to go home."

The doctor smiles as he watches Mary stare at him in awe. He can see her eyes tearing up from the good news he brought to her. But he also notices the young man sitting beside her has teary eyes as well.