I won't hurt you. - Pedri Gonzalez

Chapter sixty six

Today was the day we'd tell Mateo the truth. I could hardly sleep all night knowing everything could change after today. Not knowing how he might react scared me.

I kneeled beside his bed and softly combed through his hair as I watched him sleep. My sweet boy. It wouldn't just be us two anymore. And I know that sounds selfish but it's how I felt.

"Mama, what are you doing?" He turns over and smiles up at me.
"Nothing amor. Sorry I didn't want to wake you"
"It's okay, buenos días" he smiled and stood up to hug me. I held him tight and kissed his cheek.

We laid in his bed for a bit as he talked about his dream from last night. Eventually we stood up and he helped me fold the blankets from his bed.

"I have a surprise for you later Mateo" I say
"What is it?"he asks
"I can't tell you yet, be patient" I smirk.
He nods and we finish up.

I had slowly been feeling much better. I had a few scars and my wrist was kept in a cast still. Eric was taking a bit longer than I to recover so we planned to stay for longer.

____

I got Mateo dressed and ready for when Pedro arrived. I still didn't mention anything.

We planned to take him out to the zoo and walk around before heading to dinner.

____

Mateo and I were out back playing in the yard when we heard Olivia call out that someone rang the doorbell. Mateo rushed over and hid behind her as she opened the door.

"Pedri!" Mateo cheered and walked over to hug him. Pedro lifts him up and takes him into his arms as he shuts the door.
"Mateo, I'm so happy to see you" he smiles.
"What are you doing here?" Mateo asks.

Pedro walks over to the backyard after greeting Eric and Olivia.
"Teo, we have a surprise for you. We're going to the zoo, the three of us together" I explain. Mateo looks at the both of us and shrugs.
"Really?" He smiles
"Yes really, aren't you excited?" Pedro laughs .
Mateo smiles and nods.
"Good. Let's get going" I say.

We say goodbye to Eric and Olivia and head out.

I sit in the passenger and we sit Mateo in his car seat in the backseat. We drive off into the city to get to the Barcelona zoo.

I start to feel more nervous about his reaction. He's so young still what if we just confuse him more. I try and shake off my thoughts when suddenly I feel Pedro's hand on my lap. I turn to him and he smiles.
"It's going to be okay, don't stress. He's going to be fine" he whispers. I take a deep breath and nod.
"Thank you" I reply.

We finally arrive at the zoo and I help Mateo out of his seat. I hold his hand as I get his bag ready.

He skips along and gets excited as we see the entrance. Pedro walks to his other side and holds his other hand. We walk to the entrance and buy our tickets.

"So Mateo what animal are you excited to see?" Pedro asks.
"Hmm the giraffe" he says
"Really? How come?"
"Because did you know that giraffes have the biggest heart?" Mateo says proudly.
"They do?" Pedro raises his eyebrow as he looks at me. I shrug.
"My teacher taught me" Mateo replied.

We laugh and continue walking as we begin to make our way toward the animals.

____

We walk along the entire zoo. Taking photos with each other but mostly of Mateo. He shares a cool fact about each animal, leaving Pedro and I in shock. I love seeing Pedro's reactions. Part of me feels extremely guilty for feeling selfish. I know he's going to be a good father. And ultimately they both deserve to be in each others lives.

We make it to the end of the zoo and buy a quick snack before leaving.

We head straight to a nearby restaurant for dinner. By now Mateo keeps mentioning he's hungry.

We are seated at a table and place Mateo in between us. We order and get ready to have our talk.

"Did you have fun today Teo?" I ask as I comb his hair back. He nods quickly.
"I'm glad. Look we have to have a serious conversation with you. Pedro and I, that's why we both came. Do you think you can listen for a few minutes?" I ask.
"Yes mama. I'm listening" he smiles.
I kiss his forehead and look over at Pedro who smiles.

"So Pedro and mama actually used to be really good friends you know? We were best friends. We went to games together, we had so much fun together. And eventually we were dating. Do you know what that means?"
"Hmm like Tio Eric and Olivia?"
"Yes exactly. Good"
"And we cared for each other and we loved each other so much. Pedro was my only friend after leaving Manchester"
"And what happened?"
"Well, we loved each other so so much that we had you" Pedro responded. By now my eyes were watering and all the memories flooded back. Pedro put his hand on top of mine.
Mateo looked confused.
"Teo, Pedro is your dad"
Mateo froze and just kept turning to both of us.
"But why didn't he live with us in Manchester?"
"Because we aren't together anymore" I explain.
"Why not? You don't love each other anymore?" Mateo asks.
Unsure of how to respond I just turned to Pedro.
"Mateo, I'll always love your mami. But sometimes we move on. Like when you have a favorite toy and then you don't want to play with it any more and you find another toy" Pedro explained nervously.

His example was stupid but I didn't have any other way of explaining. Mateo nodded and seemed to understand.

"But now that we're all together again, can we be a family?" Mateo asked with his eyes lighting up.

Pedro and I turned to each other and froze.
Mateo looked so excited I couldn't break his heart.