Chapter 19 - A Letter Isn't an Eraser
Lucía opened the letter at Rosa's kitchen table. Daniel read it aloud only after she asked him to. Harper's handwriting filled one page. She admitted lying about the baby, threatening Lucía, and trying to make her feel responsible for Daniel's happiness.
When he finished, Lucía stared at the paper. "She didn't say it was my fault."
"No. She said it was hers."
"Does that mean I have to like her now?"
"No. An apology doesn't erase what happened."
Lucía folded the letter carefully, then tucked it into a drawer. "Maybe later," she said. Daniel didn't ask what she meant. It was enough that she could choose.
Five months after the wedding that never happened, Harper gave birth to a healthy boy. Daniel learned the news through Nina because there were still legal matters to settle. He hoped the child would have people around him who told the truth. He did not try to become the boy's father, and he did not let anyone tell Lucía she had stolen a brother. Those were adult choices too.
At school, Ms. Alden invited families to a small spring performance. Lucía practiced her line every evening. She was going to stand in front of the class and say, "The rain helps the seeds grow." Sometimes she froze halfway through and had to start again.
"You don't have to be loud to be heard," Daniel told her.
"But I want to be loud," she replied, laughing.
On the morning of the performance, she put on her yellow shoes and took Carmen's old blue ribbon from the memory box. Daniel helped tie it around her ponytail.
May you like
At the classroom door she stopped. The room was full of parents, teachers, and little brothers and sisters. For a heartbeat she looked like the child at the wedding again.
Then she asked Daniel, "You'll stay where I can see you, right?"
