His shoulders relaxed.
Derek stopped looking so nervous.
I could almost see them convincing myself that I was calming down.
That he was still the same son who swallowed his anger, sent money and trusted in any explanation they gave him.
“In fact,” I continued, “I have some news that I was going to tell everyone tomorrow.”
My mother’s eyes immediately turned to my phone.
“What news?”
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I looked at Clara.
I kept holding my shirt with both hands and could barely stand.
Then I looked back at my family.
Communication Teams
“The Calgary plant reached an agreement in a labor case.”
Derek frowned.
“What kind of agreement?”
I waited for the right time.
Then I said:
“A little over a million dollars.”
Silence.
Vivian’s expression changed completely.
The woman who a few minutes earlier told me that my sick wife deserved what had happened to her, suddenly took a step towards me.
“A million?”
Derek almost laughed.
“Are you serious?”
Pregnancy and Maternity
I nodded.
And that was when I knew exactly what I was going to do.
Until that afternoon, I hadn’t come home thinking about getting revenge.
I thought my wife was safe.
He believed that the money he sent had been used as we had agreed.
But now he knew what greed had already done to Clara.
So I told them a detail about the agreement.
And I deliberately omitted the most important part.
I told them that the money would not be released for ten days.
Vivian immediately became another woman.
Within minutes I was offering Clara food.
People and society
Derek asked if he needed help getting to the car.
My mother even took off her hummingbird necklace and tended to Clara.
“I was just saving it.”
Clara stared at her.
I could feel it shaking next to me.
I took the necklace.
“No. Now I will keep it.”
They confirmed what I was already afraid of.
Clara had missed important treatment appointments and was extremely weakened.
The doctor looked at me straight.
“They should never have let her face this alone.”
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That phrase stayed with me.
That night I sat next to Clara while I was sleeping.
His shaved head rested on the pillow.
For four years I had been killing myself working in Canada, believing that every sacrifice was buying him a better life.
Meanwhile, she weakened inside a shed behind my own home.
