Camila.
The other woman. The pregnant. The one “yes, the son was going to give him”. The chosen one. Rodrigo’s supposed peace.
I didn’t feel satisfaction.
I felt empty.
—When?
—Three months ago —he responded—. Cancer. It was very fast.
I nodded slowly.
I didn’t know what was expected of me. Condolences? Amazement? Closing an old wound? None of that came. Death does not repair what a person did in life. Just freeze it.
—They had a boy, right? —I asked for.
Ofelia put a trembling hand to her mouth.
Rodrigo lowered his head.
—Yeah. Matthew.
There was.
The heir.
The male child for whom I was discarded.
My chest hardened in a strange way. Not for the child. It wasn’t his fault that he was born into that rot. But the symbolism was too brutal.
—And what does that have to do with me? —I asked for.
Ofelia burst into tears.
Not with discretion. Not with controlled dignity. With that ugly and decomposed cry of someone who is late in understanding essential things.
—He has leukemia —said.
The room ran out of air.
I looked at Rodrigo. He nodded, devastated.
—Acute myeloid leukemia —he said with a broken voice—. He’s been hospitalized for weeks. He needs a transplant. They already searched the records, the donors, Camila’s entire family… there is no compatibility.
I didn’t understand right away. Or rather, my mind understood before my body wanted to accept it.
My hands froze.
I looked at Ximena accidentally.
Rodrigo continued speaking, faster and faster, as if the words were burning his mouth.
—They tested us all. I am not compatible. Neither does my mom. They looked further. Cousins. Uncles. Nothing. And then the hematologist said that the best candidates are often among half-siblings.
Now I understood it completely.
I felt nauseous.
Ofelia slid almost to her knees from the couch. I saw her come down and for a second I didn’t know if she was dreaming. That woman who had spit on me that my daughter and I could live or die without caring was in my living room, kneeling on my cheap rug, crying.
—Help us —sobbed—. Please. The girl can save her brother.
The girl.
Even then he didn’t start calling her by name.
Ximena was very still.
