Something strange happened inside me, a calm I hadn’t felt since Roberto’s death, because at that moment I remembered something I had completely forgotten. Three days before he died, Roberto had given me a manila envelope. Antonia, keep this in your dresser drawer. If something happens to me, open it after a while, but only when you feel ready. I put it away without giving it much thought.
After the funeral, with so much pain and so many procedures, I simply forgot about it. But there it was, waiting for me at home. The nurse called me into the office. The doctor examined me. He told me I was fine for my age, that I just needed to rest more and eat better.
I nodded and smiled, but my mind was elsewhere. I was thinking about that envelope, about the coldness of Angela’s voice, about how Eduardo was probably behind all this. He had never loved me; he always saw me as a nuisance. I left the doctor’s office and walked slowly toward the bus stop. I no longer had a car, according to Angela. But while I waited, I couldn’t help but smile.
There was something poetic about all this. My daughter thought she had left me with nothing, but what she didn’t know was that Roberto, my dear Roberto, was always a forward-thinking man. The bus arrived, and I sat by the window. I watched the city go by, the houses, the shops, the people running back and forth, all with their own tragedies, their own secrets.
I had mine too, and I was about to discover them. When I got home, I went straight up to my bedroom. I opened the dresser drawer, and there was the manila envelope, exactly where I had left it. My hands trembled a little as I picked it up. I could feel there were several documents inside. Roberto had written my name in his careful handwriting on the front.
I sat down on the bed we had shared for so many years and took a deep breath. Outside, it was beginning to get dark, and the house was filling with those familiar shadows that no longer frightened me. I opened the envelope slowly, as if I were unwrapping a birthday present. What I found inside would change everything.
What I found in that envelope took my breath away. There were legal documents, deeds, bank certificates, and a handwritten letter from Roberto. My eyes filled with tears as I read his familiar handwriting. My dear Antonia, if you’re reading this, it means I’m no longer with you. Forgive me for not telling you everything while I was alive, but I wanted to protect you from worry.
Continued on the next page
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