Chapter 103 My Mom, My Comfort
Isabella POV
I couldn't sleep at all that night because all I could think about was Dante and the way he said those words. "I love you, Isabella."
He sounded so sincere when he said them as he looked me right in the eye as he spoke. He said he would drop the blood war for good, regardless of if I responded well to his confession or not. The terror that kept me up at night had finally passed, my family was now safe but that wasn’t enough to get me to stay.
We had no future that was plain and simple.
All we had was hot sex and lustful affection.
I had to forget him and move on with my life. I had to meet a man who was better suited for me, someone my father would like and want spend time with and I wanted someone I could bring for the holidays. With Dante, it would
only separate me from my family because my parents would never turn their backs on me, but it would put a thick wedge between us.
My father would be so angry, angrier than I’d ever seen him and he wouldn’t even allow his only daughter to love the son of the man who raped his wife, it was just not possible.
We had worse odds than Romeo and Juliet.
I repeated this to myself over and over again, trying to console myself that, I had made the right decision but this decision really hurts
My chest hurt even my eyes were puffy and every breath I took hurt more than the previous one. My hands felt shaky and my skin was ice cold and clammy. I felt like I have lost a part of me when I told him to leave and not come back and he put up a fight most of the time, but once he realized I wouldn’t change my mind, he finally left and then it was over.
Before I knew it, it was morning and sun filtered through the window, it was a nice day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so the light would be perfect for my artwork but I didn’t care about making a new piece. The painting I made for him, the one of myself on his bed, was still in my bedroom because he forgot to take it with him and I wondered if he would be back for it.
I sat up in bed and ran my fingers through my hair, trying to chase away.the headache that pounded behind my eyes. I should pop a few painkillers, but I lacked the motivation to get up from my bed. My phone started to ring and I hoped it was him because I wanted to see his name on the screen but I also didn’t want it to be him either. It was my mom and I didn’t want to talk to her right now, but I also needed to talk to her. There was something about my mother that I always found comforting.
She was compassionate and understanding, possessing a soft side she didn’t show to just anyone. She’d always been my mother when I was growing up, but once I became an adult, she became my friend. My best friend.
I answered. “Hey, Mama…”
“Hey, love,” she said with enthusiasm. “You’ll never believe it and after the weather cleared up, we got a whole new horde of people at the
winery, we sold all your paintings! All of them. They sold like hot cakes.”
It was a dream come true, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. My paintings didn’t seem important anymore, not in comparison to the pain inside my heart and I felt like someone stabbed me. No, I felt like someone shot me, and I was still in a state of shock. “That’s great…”
Mom paused for a moment, digesting my tone. The sound of her moving in the background burst through the phone, like she was stepping into a different room so she could speak to me in private. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing… I just have a headache.”
“Bella,” she pressed. “Talk to me, Is it that man you’re seeing?”
How did she know that? She always knew everything. I couldn’t keep my.tears back, and they immediately poured out. “Yes…” I cried into the phone, doing my best to keep everything back, but it was pointless because I sobbed to my mother, feeling like a teenager who just got her heart broken.
“Baby…what happened?”
“I broke up with him.”
“Why?”
“He told me he loved me.” I took a deep breath and forced my tears back, that way I could talk without drowning out my own words. “I told him I didn’t feel the same way.”
“But you do love him.”
I didn’t deny it anymore. “I don’t want to love him… He’s not right for me.”
“In what way?”
I could never tell her the truth, regardless of how much I loved her. “I don’t see a future with him. He’s not the kind of man you marry. He’s not… I don’t know mom...
Our relationship started as a fling, and it’s been deep and intense…but that’s all it is. I don’t want to feel this way and I don’t want to miss
him, I know I did the right thing…but it hurts.”
My mom didn’t react to my confession about my physical relationship with him. She knew I was an adult, had been an adult for a long time, and she never told me how to live my life.
I never felt judgment from her, and I was
certain she never told my father these things.
“He’s the first man you’ve ever loved?”
“Yes…” And I suspected he might be the only man I ever loved. “Are you sure he’s not right for you?”
Without a doubt. “Yes.”
“I know this is a long shot, but could I meet him?”
Even if Dante would never hurt her, I didn’t want her anywhere near him. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Alright.” My mom didn’t push. “If you really know he’s not the right man for you, then you made the right decision. It’ll be hard, but it’ll get easier in time.
Just stay busy and come down here for another visit if you want but if you’re unsure…maybe you should give it a chance.”
If I told her who he really was, she would freak out and my mother never freaked out. My father would be on a chopper in less than ten minutes, and my entire family would be moving in to rip his head off.
I could never take Dante to a family dinner like everything was casual. My father would consider it treason if I brought his worst enemy into his own home. “I’m sure.”
“Then I’m sorry, sweetheart. Heartache is the worst kind of pain, It takes a long time to heal but eventually, it will. Just be patient.”
“Thanks, Mama.”
“Of course, sweetheart.”