Halfway down the road, Matt reached for my hand.
“Mom,” he said.
I glanced at him.
“I know this changes things,” he said slowly. “But not the part that matters.”
My chest tightened. “Matt…”
“You’re my mom,” he said firmly. “You raised me. You were there for everything. That doesn’t just disappear.”
I blinked back tears. “I was scared.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said.
He squeezed my hand.
“She’s part of where I came from,” he added quietly. “But you’re the reason I am who I am.”
I held his hand tighter.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
We drove the rest of the way home in a silence that finally felt steady.
The truth had changed his story.
But it had not changed who his mother was.