For a few seconds after my mother said she could not congratulate me for “defying God’s will,” no one moved.

her. “You always let Mariana do whatever she wanted. That is why we are here.”

“Here?” Abuela repeated. “Here, with a living child inside her? Here, after years of tears? If this is where mercy has brought us, then I thank God for it.”

My mother’s mouth tightened. “Do not use God to defend sin.”

That was when Andrés moved.

Not violently. Not loudly. He continue reading …