—And then what? Are you going to fix nineteen years with an explanation?
-No.
The answer came out too quickly to be calculated.
Adrian seemed surprised.
Gabriel continued.
“I can’t give you back nineteen years. Nor can I demand that you call me father just because we share blood. The only thing I can do is stop accepting the version they gave me and find out what really happened.”
Isabel looked down at the wooden table by the entrance.
On top of it were a jar of seeds, two receipts, and a small metal box.
Gabriel recognized her.
It had belonged to Isabel before he left for Madrid.
She used it to store photographs, important receipts, and the few letters they exchanged when one of them was away for a few days.
“Do you still have it?” he asked.
Isabel did not respond immediately.
Then he put down the basket and opened the box.
Inside there were papers
old men were arranged with a patience that Gabriel did not expect.
They weren’t spectacular tests.
They were remnants of a life on hold: repair receipts, medical notes from the pregnancy, family letters, and receipts from Adrian’s first months.
Isabel took out three envelopes.
—After I received your supposed letter, I tried to write to you.
Gabriel took a breath.
—I never received anything.
—I know it now.
She placed the envelopes on the table.
The three were headed to the house where Gabriel had lived during his first months in Madrid.
The three of them had returned.
Gabriel checked the markings on the mail.
The first one had been returned because the recipient no longer lived there.
The second one had a similar notation.
The third one hadn’t even been opened.
“I moved from that place shortly after the flood,” Gabriel said. “My mother took care of forwarding everything to me while I worked practically day and night.”
Isabel stared at him.
-Exactly.
Gabriel felt that that word rearranged the story.
Mercedes didn’t need to fake every step.
It was enough for him to monitor the messages exchanged between two people who were already separated by kilometers, grief, and fear.
He told Isabel that Gabriel had started another life.
Gabriel was told that Isabel had disappeared in the flood.
And while both accepted a different kind of loss, Mercedes could make sure that neither of them found the other.
But there was still a problem.
“I came back,” Gabriel said. “I came after Mom called me. I was here for several days. I searched along the river. I talked to neighbors. Where were you?”
Isabel took a while to reply.
—First I was hospitalized. Then I stayed with a cousin for a few weeks because the house had become uninhabitable.
—And nobody said anything to me?
—I asked about you.
-Whom?
Isabel looked at him.
Gabriel understood before he even heard the name.
See more on the next page