Do you regret leaving me?
The young woman suddenly grabbed my mother’s hand.
—Grandma —he whispered, staring at me—, is this my real mother?
Time seemed to stop.
—How did he call you? —I asked for.
My mother fainted.
His knees gave way and he collapsed into a chair.
My father tried to silence her, but she yelled at him.
“No! We’ve hidden it enough already!”
Then he confessed the truth.
The second baby had not died.
My parents followed me after finding out where I lived. My mother wanted to take me home, but my father refused. When they discovered she had given birth to twins, she bribed a clinic employee to report the death of one of the babies.
They took my daughter while I was unconscious.
My father thought he could raise her without anyone discovering that she was the daughter of his teenage daughter, who had fallen from grace. The city was told the baby was the daughter of a deceased distant relative.
They called her Sofia.
My mother spent twenty years pretending to be Sofia’s grandmother at home and her mother in public.
I gasped.
—You stole my son from me —I whispered.
My father looked down.
“We gave him a good life”, he said.
«A good life?», I shouted. «You have allowed me to carry an empty coffin in my heart for twenty years!»
Sofia started to cry.
He told me that he had always felt something was wrong. My mother eventually confessed that she was not her biological mother, but refused to reveal her identity.
I called Valentina.
When he arrived, as soon as the sisters saw each other, they were paralyzed.
It was like attending the long-awaited meeting of two unfinished souls.
They had the same smile. The same nervous habit of spinning a ring on your finger. Even their voices were similar.
Valentina approached and caressed Sofía’s face.
—I always felt like I was missing someone —whispered.
Sofia held her in her arms.
That day I did not forgive my parents.
Some wounds are too deep for simple excuses, and some crimes cannot be erased with tears.
The truth came to light. My mother’s clinical records, hidden documents, and confessions proved it all. My father had to face legal action, while my mother agreed to testify against all those responsible.
Sofia decided to leave home with us.
As I crossed the rusty fence, my mother called me.
—I’m sorry —sobbed—. I was afraid of losing my husband.
I turned around and looked at her.
“And because of that fear, you lost your two daughters.”
Then I took Valentina’s hand with one hand and Sofía’s with the other.
I came back to show my parents what they had lost.
Instead, I found the girl I had been robbed of and finally brought her home.
