Chapter 53 – remi
Fifty-Three
remi
The room feels as though all the oxygen has been sucked out as the truth unfolds before me.
I heard the story once, years ago, about a detective who was killed and the young son he left behind. Back then, I was more interested in cars, racing, and finding new ways to be reckless than remembering the details of something that happened long before I was born.
Never could I have imagined that little boy was Thiago.
I look up at him. His eyes are glassy and rimmed with red, and he seems almost frozen beside me. Cupping his face, I brush away the tear still clinging to his cheek.
“Let’s sit down,” I say, gently taking his hand.
He doesn’t move. His attention remains fixed on Aunt Athena as she slowly approaches us with a confused Zara at her side.
“Thiago,” Aunt Athena says softly. “I still can’t believe it’s you.” Her gaze drops to our joined hands, returning to my face as realization dawns. “And you’re here with Remi.” She looks between us. “Are you two...together?”
“That’s Remi’s boyfriend, Mommy,” Zara announces before either of us can answer. “Officer Thiago.”
Of course she does.
Aunt Athena’s eyebrows lift. “Boyfriend?”
Her surprise gives way to a smile as she looks at Thiago again.
“Wow. What a small world.” Her eyes soften. “You’ve certainly grown. You look so much like your father.”
Thiago drops his gaze for a moment, his fingers tightening around mine.
“How did you know his daddy?” Zara asks.
Aunt Athena turns to Thiago, silently asking permission to answer. Taking a breath, he gives her a small nod.
“A long time ago, sweetheart, when I was only a little older than Remi is now, Thiago’s daddy was my neighbor.” Her eyes return to Thiago. “He was also a good friend.”
Thiago’s expression crumples briefly before he manages to pull it back together. Zara steps in front of him, clasping her hands together.
“Does this make us family?” she asks hopefully.
The question hangs in the air, and a small, shaky smile tugs at the corners of Thiago’s mouth.
“Princesinha, I let you do my hair. I think that makes us pretty close already.”
“Oh,” Aunt Athena says with a laugh. “I was wondering what happened there.”
Thiago lets out a soft laugh, but it fades when he looks at her again. He stares for a long moment, then closes the distance between them and pulls her into a tight embrace.
Aunt Athena wraps her arms around him just as fiercely. Nearly twenty years have passed since she last held him, back when he was still just a little boy.
“Are you okay?” I ask, working my fingers through his hair as I remove the last rubber band while he sits on the floor between my legs.
Aunt Athena and Zara left a little while ago after spending the better part of an hour with us.
She wanted to know everything about Thiago’s life, his career, and what had happened to him in all the years since she last saw him.
Zara, on the other hand, started calling him Uncle Thiago before they even made it out the door, which is a little silly, considering I’m not technically her aunt.
But I love the friendship they’ve built, and I have no intention of correcting her.
“I am.” He lets out a slow breath. “And I’m sorry if I seemed…”
“Don’t apologize. That had to be rough. Grief has a way of finding us when we least expect it, and I can only imagine what seeing her again stirred up.”
He goes quiet for a moment, taking one of my hands and pressing a kiss to each of my knuckles. “It felt like a piece of my father walked through that door,” he says softly. “Like a part of my past found me.”
I brush my thumb across his cheek. “How crazy is it that you and I are connected like this?”
Before he can answer, my phone vibrates on the coffee table, Aunt Athena’s name flashing across the screen. I answer quickly.
“Remi, is Thiago still with you?”
“He is.”
“Put me on speaker. There’s something I need to tell both of you.” She pauses. “I couldn’t stop thinking about seeing him, and on the drive home, I started replaying that day in my head. I realized there’s something I completely forgot.”
Thiago turns toward me, his brow furrowing.
“Okay,” I say, setting the phone on the coffee table between us. “We’re listening.”
“The day your father died, I was supposed to meet Amalia at a café. She was running late, and by the time she got there, I had already been taken and Raymond had been shot.”
The mention of my mother has me sitting a little straighter.
“When Amalia arrived, she found him.”
I turn to Thiago, but his attention remains fixed on the phone as he waits for her to continue.
“Thiago, I need you to know something.” Aunt Athena’s voice trembles through the speaker. “Your father didn’t die alone. Amalia stayed with him. She held his hand and comforted him through his final moments.”
Tears fill my eyes as the truth registers on his face. His eyes glisten, and after a few seconds, they meet mine.
“Thiago?” Aunt Athena says gently.
He drags a hand over his face, then turns toward the phone. “It was her?” he asks, his voice breaking. “Amalia was the woman who stayed with him?”
“Yes,” Aunt Athena says softly. “She stayed with him until the end.”
Thiago closes his eyes and bows his head. “Thank you,” he says.
We say goodbye, and I end the call.
Thiago stays where he is for a moment, taking it in. Then he rises from the floor and settles beside me on the couch, pulling me onto his lap and holding me against him.
“Your mother,” he says, shaking his head as a soft, disbelieving laugh leaves him. “All this time, it was your mother.”
I smile through my tears and brush my lips over the damp trail on his cheek.
“My mother,” I whisper. “This is crazy, Thiago.”
His thumb moves slowly across the back of my hand. “I never imagined it would be the mother of the woman I…”
He stops.
His eyes lift to mine, and the words he doesn’t say hang between us as we hold each other’s gaze. “Fuck, Remi.” Pulling me closer, he buries his face against my neck. I cradle the back of his head and hold him while his breathing turns uneven against my skin.
“I know,” I murmur. “I know.”
All those years ago, my mother held his father when Thiago couldn’t be there, and now I’m holding his son.