Nothing.
At last, Esperanza sat down.
“Mother, what happens if Elena is the biological mother of Tomás and Miguel?”
“We do not know that she is.”
“But if she is?”
Mother Caridad pulled the other chair closer.
“What are you afraid of?”
Esperanza looked toward the garden beyond the window.
“That she will want them.”
“They are legally in your care and the convent’s care.”
“That was not my question.”
Mother Caridad understood.
“You are asking whether she will feel they belong to her.”
“Yes.”
“And whether loving her as a sister will require giving them up.”
Esperanza’s eyes filled, though she did not cry.
“I have only just learned she exists, and already I am afraid of what she may ask.”
“That fear does not make you selfish.”
“It feels selfish.”
“Love often arrives carrying more than one loyalty.”
Esperanza folded her hands.
“What would you do?”
Mother Caridad looked toward the distant orchard.
“I would not decide before hearing her truth.”
“And after?”
“After, I would remember that Tomás and Miguel are not questions to be solved. They are children with routines, attachments, and a home. Any choice must begin with their well-being.”
Esperanza nodded.
The answer steadied her.
Then she glanced at the blue curtains again.
“Mother?”
“Yes?”
“If someone used this room recently, there should be signs.”
Mother Caridad followed her gaze.
The floor was dusty.
Everywhere except near the far wall.
A narrow line beneath the curtains appeared cleaner than the rest.
Together, they drew the fabric aside.
Behind it stood a small door Mother Caridad had forgotten.
It opened into a storage alcove built into the thickness of the stone wall.
The lock had been broken long ago.
Inside were folded blankets, an empty water pitcher, and a wooden chest.
Esperanza’s breath caught.
“That is the box.”
Mother Caridad lifted it carefully onto the table.
The wood was dark with age. Its brass clasp opened without resistance.
Inside lay several documents tied with blue ribbon.
There was Esperanza’s original consent form.
A letter from Elena withdrawing from the arrangement.
A statement signed by Doctor Paloma.
And beneath them, three sealed envelopes.
Each bore a date.
The first was written one month before Esperanza became pregnant with Tomás.
The second was written one month before Miguel was conceived.
The third was dated six weeks earlier.
Mother Caridad opened the newest envelope.
