Chapter 12 - A Mother’s Debt Cleared
The next morning, an official courier arrived at my mother’s small apartment in
Oak Park.
He carried a leather portfolio stamped with the seal of the Chicago Medical
Trust.
Inside were receipts for every medical bill my mother had accumulated over a
decade of severe arthritis treatments.
Paid in full.
A zero balance.
Attached was the deed to a sunlit cottage in Santa Barbara, California, where
the warm, dry ocean air was known to heal aching joints.
Along with a permanent monthly annuity funded by the Moretti Foundation.
My mother called me, weeping into the phone.
“Emma... who did this? How is this possible?”
I stood by the window of the mansion’s library, watching Luca walk through the
gardens with Isabella and their two guard dogs.
“A friend, Mom,” I smiled through my own tears.
“A very good friend.”
When I hung up, Luca was standing in the doorway of the library, holding an
envelope.
“She received the papers?”
“You didn't have to do that, Luca,” I said, walking toward him.
“It’s too much.”
“It’s not enough,” he said firmly.
“Your mother gave the world a daughter who has more courage than any king in
this city. She deserves to live in peace.”
He stepped closer, closing the distance between us until I could feel the heat
May you like
radiating from his chest.
“And so do you, Emma.”
