Chapter 13: In Writing

Rodrigo did not sleep after the stairwell.

He sat in his rented flat until the sky turned gray, with the four photographs Valeria had sent to his phone.

Every part of him wanted to drive to the big house and put the pages in front of his mother.

He knew exactly what she would do next.

She would open the safe, take the folders and burn them in the kitchen sink.

So he made himself wait.

At eight, he used his own key and went in through the garden door.

Aurora was at the hairdresser until ten.

Brenda sat alone in the breakfast room in her robe, with a full cup of tea she had not touched.

She stood up so fast that the chair scraped.

"You can't be here. If the housekeeper sees you..."

"She won't. Sit down, please."

He laid a single sheet on the table in front of her.

It was typed, and he had signed it in blue ink.

"What is this?"

"Read it."

*I, Rodrigo Escalante, end all agreements made between me and Brenda Quiroz concerning her pregnancy. She owes me nothing and has broken no promise.*

Brenda read it twice.

"Valeria told you to do this."

"She did. I would have done it anyway, and I should have done it a month ago."

"I'm sorry. I'm telling you that first."

"You're sorry for the agreement. I'm sorry I never asked you if you wanted it."

She said nothing.

Her hand came to rest on her belly.

"There is something else," Rodrigo said, "and I want to say it plainly, because nobody has said anything plainly to you in months."

"Please."

"Your baby isn't mine."

Brenda stared at him.

"Of course it's yours. The embryo had your name on the tube. My father wrote it."

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