Take Care of My Heart

Chapter 22 -

Gwen sighed, relaxing again. "I do want a future with Miles... whatever it may be." she stated this calmly while staring ahead. "I love him more than life itself, and I would die for him as much as he would die for me." Her eyes were shining pink when they shifted back to the mother. "But this, it seems, is as close as I'm ever gonna get with him... it's better than nothing, I suppose."

Rio lowered her head, taking this all in.

"I really wanted us to write our own story."

"What if I told you..." raising it again, she dimple-grinned at the teen, "... that you still can."

Gwen mixed her confused frown with curiosity, which got her to ask, "How?"

Facing her in front of the wall, Rio placed a hand on her shoulder and the other on her own chest. "Here is my blessing..." her eyes were now beaming with hope, which began to nervously excite Gwen, "... I want to give you two that chance to find that happy ending."

Gwen was almost lost for words. "But how?" she asked, staring into this woman's eyes until she lowered her gaze and saw the placement of her hand, which was now in a closed fist... pausing for the longest time, she pieced it all together and felt a blizzard in the pit of her stomach. "No..." she almost lurched, "... no, no, no, no, no! You can't!"

"Mija..."

"You can't!" Gwen didn't think it was possible for anything to take her by surprise anymore... she was once again wrong. "I can't make you do this!"

"Nobody is making me do this!" Rio declared, squeezing the girl's wetting cheeks between her palms. "I'm choosing to do this!"

Gwen was intruded by another daunting realization. "The canon... it's you!"

"Fuck the canon!" she cussed aloud. "This is life!" Ignoring their awkward onlookers, she heaved a sigh. "Miles Morales is the greatest gift of my life... and so... I offer my greatest gift... to both of you... the gift of my everlasting love."

"Oh, Rio!" Forgetting how to address this woman properly, Gwen wept into her shoulder, muffling her cries as best as she could. Just how much more punishment could her own heart take? Rio held and caressed her smoothly, their hearts breaking for one another.

When Rio Morales returned to her son's room soon after, she took Gwen's place on his bed next to him. Miles was going to be healthy again, but she wasn't going to be alive to see it; instead, she would have to make do with this final sickly image of him.

"My son..." she whispered, skating her fingers across his resting face, "... my beautiful baby boy." He looked so peaceful... almost angelic in her eyes. "I've carried you into this world... fed you... changed your diapers... brought you up as a fine young man... how am I so lucky?" She had so many more things to say, yet all she could get off her chest was, "You have made me the proudest madre in the universe, and I am eternally grateful, and I love you forever."

*****

Somehow... somewhere... at some point in time... Miles and his mother stood hand-in-hand in front of a door, each holding a balloon, while waiting for it to be answered. Her balloon was perfectly round, floating from a straight thread, while his was all pudgy, discolored, and barely a foot off the ground... it was clearly near the end of its life.

"What are we doing here?" asked Miles to his mother.

"Hold on to it just a little longer." she referred to his broken balloon, which only puzzled him more; she had this strangely airy expression on her face.