Chapter 22
Gwen was awake. The relief he’d felt had been palpable.
After years of resenting his mother and her choices and choosing to be low contact, he was blindsided by the reality that no matter what had happened in the past, he didn’t want to lose her.
That didn’t mean that all her past mistakes would be forgiven, but it did mean he was probably ready to try to move forward if she really was making an effort to be a part of his and Mateo’s lives.
Maybe that was naive, but he wanted to at least make an effort.
“Mr. Silva?” One of the nurses he’d dealt with the other day approached him. “Your mother and brother are waiting for you. She’s been moved to a regular room. Let me take you to them.”
“Thank you.”
The nurse led him down the sterile hallways and said, “The healer is in with them now.”
Dante nodded and then stood just outside the door, watching through the tiny window as Gwen held Mateo’s hand and listened to the healer.
His brother was smiling and then laughed at something Gwen said. If Dante didn’t know better, he’d think it was almost like a Hallmark movie, where the mother wakes up and everyone forgives each other. Nothing would ever be that easy. But for now, he’d take it.
Mateo glanced up at the door as if he could feel Dante watching him. His little brother smiled and jerked his head, indicating that Dante should join them.
The minute his mother spotted him, she reached for him and broke down, crying.
Dante went to the other side of the bed, opposite his brother, and leaned down to give her a hug. She clung to him, sobbing and mumbling something about how sorry she was.
“Shh, it’s okay, Mom. I’m here,” Dante said.
“I didn’t know,” she sobbed. “I swear, I didn’t know.”
“Know what?” he asked Mateo.
His brother shook his head.
“Maybe I should come back after you three have had some time,” Healer Von said.
“Wait.” Dante held up a hand and then whispered to Gwen, “Shh, now. We can talk after the healer is done here. I promise. Okay?”
Gwen nodded and tried to wipe at her eyes, only managing to smear her tears around.
The healer handed her a box of tissue.
She mouthed a thank you as she tried to sop up her tears.
“How is she?” Dante asked the healer.
“So far, it appears she’s going to be just fine,” Healer Von said with a reassuring smile.
“We’ve monitored her vitals, and they are normal.
I’ve checked for any lingering effects of the original curse, but didn’t find anything, so I think she’s out of the woods.
We’ll keep her overnight just to be sure, but if everything looks good tomorrow, I’ll sign her release.
I’d like to see her a few weeks after that just to make sure no other issues pop up. ”
Dante frowned. “What do you mean, the original curse?”
“The one your mother was trying to deflect when her paralyzing spell was reflected back on her, knocking her out,” he said casually as he headed for the door.
“I’ve got to see another patient. Gwen, don’t hesitate to hit that call button if you notice any signs of a headache, nausea, or dizziness. Understand?”
Gwen nodded and then blew her nose into a tissue.
The door closed behind the healer, and Dante turned back to his mother. “What was Healer Von talking about?”
“Shari attacked her,” Mateo said. “Mom didn’t try to take her own life. She was defending herself, and Shari managed to reflect the spell back on her.”
Dante sat on the edge of the hospital bed and tried to wrap his head around his brother’s explanation. “Why would Shari attack you?” he asked his mother.
The tears immediately started to flow again, and Gwen’s lip trembled as she said, “She bribed me to help her get you back. That’s how I got here to Befana Bay. Shari paid for my plane ticket.”
“You can’t be serious,” Dante said, more confused than angry. Shari knew that his relationship with his mother wasn’t the best. Why in the world would she enlist his mother for such a task? “She honestly thought you could talk me into taking her back?”
Gwen slowly shook her head and then looked to Mateo for help as she gasped on a sob.
His brother let out a sigh. “Shari wanted her help to cast a love spell on you. Or a binding spell if that didn’t work.
She told mom that you two really loved each other, but that she’d made a mistake and needed a chance to make it up to you.
She said she’d help Mom rebuild her relationship with both of us in return for her help.
Apparently, the spell that Shari wanted to use was stronger if it was cast with the help of a blood relative. ”
All of Dante’s good will toward his mother fled the building. He looked at her, unable to let go of the disgust that had overwhelmed him. “You were going to curse me with a binding spell to Shari?”
“Not me!” Gwen said. “Shari was going to do that. I was just…” She glanced away, shame radiating from her tear-filled eyes.
“You were just going to help her. Got it.” His heart was ice-cold as he stared at his mother, wondering what he’d done in life to deserve such a messed-up parent. “So why did she try to curse you?”
“I told her I wouldn’t help. That she needed to leave you alone and go back to Salem where she belonged.
That’s when she went all exorcist witch on me and was chanting nonsense, or at least I thought it was nonsense.
But magic was crackling all around her, and I seriously thought her head was going to spin around.
I panicked and threw everything I had at her with that paralyzing spell.
She unleashed her own magic at the same time, and the next thing I knew I woke up here.
I don’t know what she tried to curse me with, but healer Von said it looked like our magic streams had collided and bounced off each other.
I must have gotten hit with my own magic while Shari walked away, leaving me there to die. ”
Dante sat with that explanation for a few seconds and ultimately decided it was probably true.
Gwen just wasn’t that good a liar. She was a lot of things, but he’d never known her to make up fantastic stories such as this one.
Besides, after watching Shari try to burn down Prim’s house, he was certain she was capable of almost anything.
“I’m going to need you to start at the beginning,” Dante said. “Walk me through it from the time she contacted you to come to Befana Bay until your fight in Mateo’s yard.”
Gwen wiped at her eyes again, took a deep breath, and said, “I’d been talking to Shari about moving to Salem before you two broke up.”
“You had?” Dante hadn’t known about that. Just one more thing that Shari had kept from him.
“I wanted to be near my sons. You were getting married, and I figured you might have kids, so it seemed like the place to move to. She was going to help me rebuild my relationship with you. She said she wanted her kids to have two sets of grandparents, and she even talked about a mother-in-law unit. It sounded fantastic to me.”
Dante didn’t doubt that. A mother-in-law unit that Gwen didn’t have to pay for?
Definitely. Someone on her side when it came to a relationship with her son?
Also a huge bonus. He also suspected that Shari wanted her there so that she’d have someone she could control.
What better way than to move in the mother-in-law who was dependent on her, not just for access to her son, but housing, too.
“But then you found out about her… hobby, and you left. That was the end of that. Honestly, Dante, I was heartbroken. I was so looking forward to being in your life again.”
He nearly rolled his eyes. She’d made grand plans with his thieving ex, never once talking to him about any of it, and she was the one who was heartbroken? Talk about main character syndrome.
“So, how did you end up here? What did Shari say to get you to agree to her plan to bind me to her?” Dante asked, barely able to stomach the information she’d already shared.
“She called and told me she’d pay to fly me here.
All I needed to do was help with her spell.
” The waterworks turned on again, but this time Gwen ignored them.
“I was broke, honey, and facing eviction. I really didn’t have any other choice, so even though I knew a binding spell is wrong, I said yes.
I came here to try to reconnect. Then you would barely even talk to me.
I was packing up to leave that morning after you let me stay in your apartment, when she showed up, demanding to know when I’d help her with the spell.
I told her I’d changed my mind. That it was wrong.
That you had clearly moved on, and I couldn’t do that to my son.
She lost it and flooded your apartment.”
“Shari did that? Not you?” Dante got up and paced the floor. “Why didn’t you say something?”
Gwen let out a small huff of laughter. “Would you have believed me? And even if you did, how was I going to explain why Shari was there? I didn’t know what to say.
I panicked and called Mateo. He was kind enough to take me in.
I didn’t even know that Shari knew I was at his house until she showed up and tried to force me to go with her.
That’s when we got into our showdown, and I ended up here. That’s all I know.”
Mateo shook his head at her, clearly disappointed.
“You’re not going to kick me out, are you?
” she asked, her voice high and panicked.
“I backed out. I couldn’t do that to your brother.
I just couldn’t. I was desperate to get here and agreed to something I shouldn’t have.
I just… Please, Mateo. You wouldn’t turn your own mother out in the streets, would you? ”
Dante stared at his mother, feeling nothing but pity for her. The woman had spent almost her entire adult life trying to mute her pain with magical elixirs and alcohol, and now that she was getting older, she had nothing and no one.
His brother was stern when he said, “I’m not going to kick you out.
But I am going to insist on counseling. Preferably with someone who also specializes in addiction.
If you’re going to stay with me, it’s going to be under the care of a professional.
Because I’m telling you right now, if you ever do anything like that to me or Dante again, that will be the end of our relationship. Understand?”
“Y-yes,” she said around a sob. “I promise I won’t. I swear to the goddess.”
Dante didn’t really believe her, but he did believe in his brother. He walked over to Mateo, pulled him into a hug, and said, “I love you, brother.”
“I love you, too, brother,” Mateo echoed, his voice slightly rough.
Gwen let out a small cry and said, “Can I have a hug, too?”
Dante and Mateo both rolled their eyes at the same time, making Dante laugh. Then they took up residence on either side of the bed and leaned down to engulf her in a three-way hug.