“Stay and Soothe My Son,” the Widower Pleaded… She Never Imagined What Would Come Next

Chapter 6

There was something in her voice — a contained sadness — that made Ezequiel understand that those words hid more history than she had told until then. But he didn’t want to press her. He knew from his own experience that certain pains are only shared when one is ready, and not before.

“You don’t have to give importance to what they say,” he told her with firmness. “While you’re in my house, no one has the right to judge you.”

Rosa looked at him gratefully. And for the first time since her arrival, she felt that perhaps she had found, in that remote ranch, something resembling a safe place — though deep down she knew that her past would not take long to catch up with her, sooner or later.

The months continued passing peacefully, with Miguelito growing a little more each week, making his first attempts at crawling across the kitchen floor to the delight of both.

The ranch routine had transformed into something shared, natural, almost as if Rosa had lived there all her life.

One Sunday afternoon, without any particular reason, Ezequiel proposed walking to the stream that lay on the other side of the property — something he hadn’t done since before Refugio’s death. They brought Miguelito wrapped in a light blanket and sat together on the bank watching the water run while the boy played with his own little hands.

“I haven’t sat here in a long time,” confessed Ezequiel, looking at the landscape. “Refugio and I used to come often before she got sick.”

Rosa listened to him in silence, without interrupting, letting him speak at his own pace.

“Thank you for letting me accompany you today,” she said finally. “I know these places have their history.”

Ezequiel looked at her and for the first time in a long while he felt that speaking of Refugio didn’t hurt him as much as before, as if Rosa’s quiet presence allowed him to remember without the memory destroying him inside.

But one afternoon, as Ezequiel was returning from town with the week’s provisions, someone stopped him on the road with news that chilled his blood.

“There’s a woman asking about your ranch,” the shopkeeper told him with a serious expression. “She says she’s looking for someone named Rosa and she didn’t seem to be coming with good intentions.”

Ezequiel felt his stomach contract.

“Did she give her name?” he asked, trying to stay calm.

“She didn’t want to say,” replied the shopkeeper. “But she was asking with great insistence and mentioned something about a family matter.”

Ezequiel quickened his pace back home with one question repeating in his head: Who was that woman, and how close was she to finding Rosa?

When he arrived at the ranch, he found Rosa in the yard playing with Miguelito on a blanket spread in the grass. The scene was so peaceful, so removed from the storm he felt inside, that he hesitated a moment before approaching.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, noticing his expression.

Ezequiel hesitated. He didn’t want to alarm her unnecessarily, but he couldn’t hide something so important from her.

“They asked about you in town,” he said finally. “A woman. She didn’t give her name.”

Rosa’s face changed immediately. The tranquility she had built in those weeks seemed to crumble in an instant. And for the first time since her arrival, Ezequiel saw in her eyes the same fear with which she had arrived at his door that afternoon.

“It has to be Eustolia,” Rosa murmured almost to herself, pressing Miguelito against her chest as if seeking to protect him from something that still had no shape. “She found me.”

Ezequiel sat beside her in the grass, waiting — without pressing her — for her to continue. Rosa took a moment to speak, her gaze lost on the horizon.

“Eustolia is my father’s wife,” she said finally, with a trembling voice. “When he died, she kept everything. I was a burden to her, something she wanted to get rid of as soon as possible. One day she simply told me I no longer had a place in that house and threw me out with nothing more than what I was wearing.”

“Why would she look for you now, after all this time?” asked Ezequiel carefully.