“It’s great that you can move away from the past,” Jane smiled contently at her son, unable to hide away her feeling of winning the war, as she brushed her hand along Nick’s cheek.

Nick closed his eyes, as a single tear seemed to have managed to creep out of the crease of his right eyelid and slid down across his face and fall to the ground. “You’re not my mother,” he whispered.

Jane’s smile instantly disappeared after deciphering the softness of Nick’s words. “What?” she said in awe.

“A true mother is someone who accepts her child’s decision. A true mother is someone who doesn’t jeopardize her child’s happiness to beckon on hers. Get out of my house. Get out of my life. I don’t ever want to see you again!”

Nick began to turn his back on his mother, but Jane managed to grab his shoulder to keep him facing her. “I did do it for you!” she said, panicked at the stern tone in Nick’s voice. “I was protecting you!”

“How was that for me?” he said, finally looking deep into his mother’s eyes, showing her the pain she inflicted in him. “How was taking away the one person that I loved and loved me back protecting me?”

“She’s not good for you, Nickolas! You two don’t belong with each other! She’s not the one!” she reasoned.

Nick felt his anger rise up through his entire body as his deep sadness of knowing that he had lost his mother dissipated and was replaced by intense rage. “You lied to me! You stood there in front of me, consoling me while you let me cry on your shoulder. You were there to see my heart break. How many times have you stood there looking into my eyes and downright lied? You’re not my mother. You’re a heartless person. I don’t ever want to see you ever again. I can’t stand to look at you. I don’t want to think about you, I don’t want to talk about you; I don’t want to hear about you, I don’t want to know you. I hate you so much! I hate you”

Nick’s words cut deep into the core of Jane’s heart as she found her hand meeting with Nick’s cheek, sending his face to jerk to its side from the force of the slap she gave him. Her action stunned her own self as she held both her hands to her heart and tears began to fall out of her eyes, one after the other.

“Oh, Nicky!” she cried as she reached for him. “Please forgive me, Nick, forgive me,” she begged as she hugged him and kissed his cheek to console it from the pain of her hand. “You’re my son and I love you so very much,” she reasoned.

Nick pulled away from her, showing no single sympathy for his own mother.

Jane knelt down on the ground while groping on both of Nick’s legs. “Nicky, don’t leave me, I’m your mother!” she screamed.

The rest of Nick’s family; his little brother and sisters, along with his father, all stood in the doorway, watching the commotion, all trying to hope and pray for a miracle that will conceal all the pain and make it all go away, forgotten and never to be brought up again.

Nick jerked away from his mother’s grasp while screaming out, “don’t ever touch me, ever again!”

“Nick please, I’m down on my knees begging you! Look at your family. We’re you’re family! You cannot abandon us! Not for her!” she screamed hysterically. “We’re your family! Who the hell is she?”

“I love you guys, I always will,” Nick said to his brother, 3 sisters and his father. “I hope you guys will understand why I have to do what I have to do. I love Riley. When I thought she died, I felt as if I had died with her. She’s very important to me and I don’t want anything to jeopardize that. I want to be with her, I really do, because she makes me happy. I love her and she loves me”

Nick’s dad, Robert, looked at his son and as sad as he was that things had resulted to that, he smiled at his son. “You’re family will never turn their back on you and we will always love you. You will always be a part of this family. Follow your heart and let it lead you to the place you belong to. Love is the best Christmas gift you can give yourself.”

Nick smiled back at his father, “I love Riley,” he said and began to walk away, towards back to where Riley stood.

Upon reaching her, he held both her hands and gave her a small, gentle kiss on her lips followed by a hug that told her without the use of words that he would never lose her ever again.