Lupita looked at him then, and he knew she heard more than he meant to say.
Emergency workers arrived with calm voices and warm blankets, filling the small room with careful questions.
Sofía answered at first in fragments, then in fuller sentences, while Canela stayed pressed against her leg.
The baby was carried out for examination, and Sofía followed, but she stopped when they reached the parking lot.
“They’ll separate us,” she said.
The paramedic did not promise what he could not control.
“We need to make sure your daughter is safe,” he answered. “And you too.”
That honesty hurt, but it also gave the night something solid to stand on.
Sofía nodded once, as if signing away the lie that love alone could fix everything.
The puppies were taken in a second warm box, and…
The puppies were taken in a second warm box, and Sofía watched them disappear toward the ambulance with tears running silently down her face.
Canela tried to follow.
A paramedic gently stopped her, but the dog refused to sit. She stood trembling on her injured paws, staring toward the box as though every part of her body was telling her that she had already lost too much.
