I ran back downstairs, grabbed Mira by the wrist and brought her back into the room.
— “Explain this to me! What’s going on? Why the blood? Why are you hiding it?!”
At first, she remained silent. Her body trembled, her eyes filled with tears, her lips quivered.
Then she collapsed in my arms, sobbing.
— “Nanay… Paulo has advanced leukemia.
The doctors say he only has a few months left.
We moved the wedding forward because I couldn’t leave him.
I wanted to stay… no matter how much time we had left.”
A mother’s heart
My world collapsed.
My son — the child I had raised, protected and loved — had hidden the truth from me to protect me.
He had chosen to suffer in silence so as not to see me destroyed.
That night, I didn’t sleep a wink. Lying down, I stared at the ceiling, imagining the pain Paulo must be enduring and Mira’s silent devotion.
The next day, I went to the market to buy new sheets. I helped Mira wash the old ones. Every day, I got up early to be there — for her, for him, for both of them.
And one morning, while we were changing the sheets together, I hugged her tightly.
— “Thank you, Mira… for loving my son.
For staying.
For choosing him, even knowing you would lose him.”
After all…
Three months later, in the calm of the morning, Paulo passed away peacefully in his sleep — Mira holding his hand and whispering « I love you » until his last breath.
There was no pain, no struggle. Just serenity. And a slight smile on her face.
From that day on, Mira never strayed far.
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