Chapter 10 - Lucia Did Not Come Back for Alejandro
Lucia arrived five days later.
Alejandro expected the reunion to happen at the front door.
It didn’t.
She asked to meet Sophie first.
That became the major reversal.
Lucia had not flown across the country because the letters suddenly restored her relationship with her father.
She came because a child had been hurt over something belonging to her.
Alejandro respected that.
Sophie waited in the downstairs conservatory with Marianne.
Lucia entered alone.
She looked like Elena around the eyes.
Alejandro had prepared himself for that.
It still hit him.
Sophie stared.
Lucia crouched several feet away.
“You found my bird.”
Sophie nodded.
“Is it really yours?”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Alejandro says you wore it when you were scared.”
Lucia looked toward her father standing farther back.
“He remembers that?”
Alejandro answered:
“Everything.”
Lucia looked away.
Sophie walked toward her holding the silver hummingbird.
She offered it.
Lucia did not take it immediately.
“You keep it today.”
Sophie frowned.
“Why?”
“Because you were braver with it than I ever was.”
Alejandro almost interrupted.
He had spent weeks trying not to turn Sophie into a heroic symbol.
Lucia seemed to realize the same thing.
“No. That came out wrong.”
She smiled gently.
“You shouldn’t have had to be brave at all.”
Sophie relaxed.
That was better.
Later, after Sophie left with Marianne, father and daughter finally sat alone.
No hug.
Not yet.
Lucia looked around the mansion.
“Nothing changed.”
“Some things.”
“You still have that terrible sculpture.”
“You gave me that.”
“I was twelve.”
“I know.”
A small laugh.
Then quiet again.
Alejandro told Lucia what Isabel admitted.
Every letter.
Every lie.
Every intercepted message.
Lucia listened.
At the end she said:
“I hate her.”
Alejandro nodded.
“Today.”
She looked at him.
“I might hate you tomorrow.”
He nodded again.
“That’s allowed.”
Lucia stared.
The old Alejandro would have defended himself.
Explained.
Corrected.
This one did not.
That unsettled her more than argument.
“You’re different.”
“No.”
He thought.
“I’m trying to respond differently.”
That was more accurate.
Then Lucia gave him the part he did not expect.
“I almost stopped writing after the first year.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Mom’s picture.”
Alejandro looked confused.
Lucia had carried a photograph identical to the one hidden in Isabel’s cabinet.
On the back:
Promise me she gets to disagree with you.
Lucia interpreted it differently.
Not a message to Alejandro.
A message about Alejandro.
Her mother had believed the relationship could survive disagreement.
So Lucia kept leaving a path back.
Letters.
One visit.
More letters.
Isabel blocked the path.
May you like
But Alejandro had helped create a relationship fragile enough that one gatekeeper could separate them.
That was the truth they would have to repair together.
