“I didn’t ask what her job was.”
Ricardo stared at his daughter.
“You’ve become very nosy.”
“You didn’t answer.”
He sighed.
“I care about her.”
Mariana nodded.
“Mom wouldn’t want you to be alone forever.”
Ricardo’s eyes filled with tears.
“How do you know?”
“Because Mom loved you.”
Mariana walked away.
Ricardo sat there for a long time.
That night, he stood in front of Claris’s photograph.
“I’m trying,” he whispered.
“I don’t know if I’m doing it right.”
He touched the frame.
“But I’m trying.”
Then he heard something behind him.
It was Luía.
She had come to tell him that Isabela was asleep.
She had heard everything.
Neither spoke.
Then Luía quietly said:
“She would be proud of you.”
Ricardo looked at her.
For the first time, he allowed himself to believe it.
But the next morning, everything changed again.
A lawyer arrived at the mansion.
