PAGE 7
Months passed.
The house changed.
Not dramatically.
Not perfectly.
But slowly.
Laura stopped pulling her hair.
Julia learned breathing exercises.
Sofia stopped wetting the bed.
Isabela began speaking again.
The twins still caused trouble.
That part never changed.
One morning, Ricardo found his office completely covered in paper.
“Beatriz!”
“Bianca!”
The twins ran away laughing.
Mariana walked past him.
“You should know better than to leave your door unlocked.”
Ricardo stared at her.
“Whose side are you on?”
“Nobody’s.”
She smiled.
Then she walked away.
For the first time in more than a year, Ricardo laughed.
A real laugh.
Luía heard it from the kitchen.
She stopped what she was doing.
She smiled.
The house was alive again.
But something had changed between Ricardo and Luía too.
They had become friends.
Not lovers.
Not yet.
Neither had crossed that line.
Ricardo respected the memory of Claris.
And Luía respected the family.
Still, there were moments.
A glance across the dinner table.
A quiet conversation after midnight.
A shared laugh when the twins created chaos.
Something existed between them.
Neither named it.
Then one afternoon, Luía received a phone call.
Her mother had collapsed.
Luía rushed to the hospital.
Ricardo immediately offered to drive her.
She refused.
“I’ll take the bus.”
“It’s two hours.”
“I’ll manage.”
He looked at her.
“Luía.”
She stopped.
“Let me help.”
This time, she didn’t argue.
At the hospital, they learned that Marta needed surgery.
Luía sat beside her mother, terrified.
Ricardo stayed outside.
He didn’t interfere.
He didn’t use his money to take control.
He simply waited.
Hours later, Luía came out crying.
“She’s going to be okay.”
Ricardo smiled.
“Good.”
She looked at him.
“You stayed.”
“I told you.”
“What?”
“Sometimes you just stay.”
Luía began crying again.
Ricardo hugged her.
It was the first time.
And neither noticed Mariana standing at the end of the hallway.
The girl watched them.
Then she smiled.
Later that night, Mariana asked Ricardo a question.
“Do you love her?”
He almost choked on his coffee.
“What?”
“Luía.”
“She’s our employee.”
“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.
He had documents.
And his news concerned Claris’s estate.
