The sender was Lucía.
The old man immediately recognized his handwriting.
For several minutes he kept the envelope in his hands.
Finally, he opened it.
The letter was not long.
Lucía explained that she had started a new life away from Madrid.
She worked in a small administrative company.
Her financial situation remained difficult and she continued to face the legal and personal consequences of her decisions.
But she said she no longer wanted to hide behind excuses.
“For a long time, I thought that money would bring me a security that I had never known,” she wrote.
“When I entered your home, you treated me with respect. I have mistaken your generosity for weakness. »
Don Ernesto continued his reading.
“I can’t justify what I did. I have deprived you of tranquillity, dignity and confidence. I tried to convince others that you were no longer capable of making decisions, when in reality I was the one who had lost the ability to distinguish between what was right and what was right for me. »
The old man felt his eyes moisten.
The letter ended thus:
“I don’t ask you to forget. I also do not hope that you will welcome me back. I just wanted to tell you that that morning, when Javier walked into the kitchen, I saw for the first time the horror of my own actions reflected on another person’s face. This memory still accompanies me. »
Don Ernesto slowly folded up the paper.
Javier entered the living room.
“Who is writing to you?”
The old man handed him the letter.
His son read it in silence.
Then he asked:
“Are you going to answer him?”
Don Ernesto looked towards the garden.
“I think so.”
“What are you going to tell him?”
The old man thinks.
“That I hope that she will assume her responsibilities and that she will learn to live without harming others.”
Javier acquiesça.
“Have you forgiven him?”
Don Ernesto took his time before answering.
“I decided not to live with a grudge.”
“Does that mean you forgive him?”
“It means that I will no longer let what she made rule my life.”
Javier understood the difference.
His father could leave bitterness behind him without denying the harm he had suffered.
He could wish that Lucía would change without trusting her again.
And he could keep moving forward without pretending that nothing had happened.
Don Ernesto put the letter in a drawer.
He did not burn it.
But neither did he place it among his happy memories.
It was part of his history.
But it was no longer the centre.
CHAPTER 23. THE MOST IMPORTANT SECRET
One evening, Javier found his father in the library.
Don Ernesto was leafing through an old album of photographs.
On one of them appeared Mercedes during their first years of marriage.
She wore a simple dress and held Javier in her arms when he was only a few months old.
In another photograph, Ernesto was working in his company’s first warehouse.
The walls were not painted.
The furniture was old.
The floor was made of cement.
Javier sat down next to him.
“I had never noticed how small this company was.”
Don Ernesto smiled.
“For me, it was huge.”
“Why?”
“Because it was ours.”
They turned several pages.
Javier discovered a photograph of his father driving a van loaded with materials.
“Did you also work on Sundays?”
“Sometimes.”
“And mom didn’t get angry?”
The old man laughed softly.
“A lot. She said that one day the money would fill the house, but we wouldn’t be around to enjoy it anymore. »
Javier remained silent.
Then he asked a question that had been bothering him for months.
“Dad, when it all started, why didn’t you tell me directly what Lucía was doing to you?”
Don Ernesto refers to the album.
“Because I was afraid.”
Javier looked at him, surprised.
“Afraid of her?”
“From her too. But above all, fear of losing yourself. »
Her son felt his throat tighten.
“You would never have lost me.”
Ernesto smiled sadly.
“Now I know. At the time, I wasn’t so sure. »
“I should have listened to you.”
“Yes.”
The answer was simple.
It was not intended to punish him.
She only recognized the truth.
Javier acquiesça.
“You’re right.”
Don Ernesto laid a hand on his shoulder.
“But the important thing is what we learn from our mistakes.”
They remained silent for a few moments.
Then the old man pointed to the photograph of Mercedes.
“Your mother told me something before she died.”
Javier looked up.
“What?”
“She asked me never to use our wealth to control your decisions.”
Javier felt an unexpected emotion.
Don Ernesto continued:
