Chương 12
Catalina stared at her, then laughed.
It was the first time Mariana heard the sound fully. Low, brief, and younger than the rest of her.
The investigation widened.
Bank records showed Héctor had transferred money through companies bearing Mariana’s forged authorization. Part went toward company debts. Part purchased foreign currency. Part reached Judge Rivas’s brother-in-law.
The judge continued denying knowledge until investigators found messages discussing “the family resolution” and “the pregnant party’s compliance.”
Rivas then changed attorneys.
Weeks later, he requested a meeting with prosecutors.
The news reached Mariana during a prenatal appointment. Her blood pressure had risen, and the doctor ordered more rest.
“Rest from what?” Mariana asked. “Which part?”
“From all of it.”
“That is not a medical instruction.”
“It is the best one I have.”
Catalina drove her home. At a red light, Mariana noticed the older woman tapping the steering wheel with two fingers.
“You are a terrible passenger,” Mariana said.
“I am driving.”
“You are also a terrible driver.”
“I have never had an accident.”
“Because other people see the car and flee.”
Catalina glanced at her. “That is still effective driving.”
Mariana smiled despite herself.
The contraction began as they entered the apartment.
This one did not fade.
Mariana gripped the counter. A glass slipped from her hand and struck the floor without breaking.
Catalina froze.
“Call the doctor,” Mariana said.
Catalina reached for her phone and dropped it.
For all her command in courtrooms and boardrooms, she stared at the device on the floor as though it had betrayed her.
“Catalina.”
“Yes.”
“The phone.”
“Yes.”
She picked it up.
The doctor instructed them to go to the hospital. Mariana was thirty-six weeks pregnant. Too early, but not dangerously so. Her water had not broken. The contractions were regular.
In the elevator, Catalina asked, “Should I call Héctor?”
“No.”
“Sofía?”
“Yes.”
“Camila?”
“Yes.”
“An ambulance?”
“We are already in the elevator.”
“I know.”
“You are panicking.”
“I am not.”
The elevator doors opened. Catalina walked into the mirrored wall before correcting herself.
At the hospital, staff brought Mariana to a private labor room arranged under her own name, not the Aranda name. Security had been notified because reporters remained outside.
The contractions continued through the evening.
Camila arrived carrying a bag filled with the wrong clothes, two chargers that fit no one’s phone, and a container of soup.
“I packed quickly,” she said.
“You brought Nico’s soccer uniform.”
“He will survive.”
Sofía handled messages from Héctor’s attorney. Héctor requested confirmation that Mariana was safe and asked to attend the birth.
Mariana said no.
The answer did not make her feel strong. It made her feel sick.
She remembered Héctor painting the kitchen before their wedding, leaving blue fingerprints on every light switch. She remembered him sleeping on the bathroom floor when Rosa had food poisoning because the hospital chairs hurt his back. She remembered the first time he felt the baby move and laughed with genuine astonishment.
A man could do those things and still forge her name.
Contradiction did not rescue him. It only made grief messier.
Near midnight, the labor slowed.
The doctor suggested medication, observation, and patience. Mariana slept for twelve minutes at a time. Catalina sat in the corner, still wearing the same charcoal dress from morning.
At two, Mariana woke and found her folding the hospital blanket into a neat rectangle.
“You can go home.”
“I know.”
“You have been here fourteen hours.”
“Twelve.”
“Do not correct the woman in labor.”
Catalina placed the blanket down.
Mariana watched her. “Did you hold me?”
“When you were born?”
“Yes.”
“For thirty-six hours.”
“Did I cry?”
“Constantly.”
“That sounds like me.”
“You hated being wrapped tightly. You would work one hand free and scratch your face.”
Mariana looked at the IV line taped to her wrist.
Catalina’s voice grew quieter. “The nurse took you for a test. I complained because you had just fallen asleep. She said it would take twenty minutes.”
The room held only the sound of the monitor.
“I spent twenty-nine years inside those twenty minutes,” Catalina said.
Mariana turned her head toward the window.
She did not say it was not Catalina’s fault. That would have been too easy and not entirely true. Catalina’s family had built the conditions that allowed the disappearance to remain hidden. Catalina had also been a thirty-five-year-old woman in a hospital bed whose baby was taken.
Both truths remained.
“Come closer,” Mariana said.
Catalina moved to the bedside.
Mariana held out her hand.
Catalina took it carefully, as though permission could be withdrawn by pressure alone.
Labor began again before dawn. This time it did not stop.
Mariana’s son was born just after eight in the morning, small and furious, with dark hair flattened against his head. His first cry was rough, indignant, alive.
Mariana wept quietly when they placed him on her chest.
Catalina stood near the wall with both hands covering her mouth.
She did not approach until Mariana looked at her and nodded.
“This is Emiliano,” Mariana said.
Catalina touched one finger to the baby’s foot.
“Hello, Emiliano.”
He kicked her.
Mariana laughed through exhaustion. “He performs now.”
Héctor sent flowers to the hospital.
Mariana had them removed before reading the card.
He then sent a message through Sofía.
Please tell her I am glad they are safe.
Mariana did not answer.
Emiliano remained in the hospital for four days because of his weight and mild jaundice. The criminal investigation continued without respecting feeding schedules, sleep, or fear. Forms arrived. Reporters waited. A television station offered Mariana money for an interview.
She declined.
Catalina rented the apartment next door for a nurse and security staff. Mariana objected to the expense until the first night home, when Emiliano cried for three hours and she became convinced he had stopped breathing every time he grew quiet.
May you like
The nurse showed her how to watch his chest without waking him.
Catalina came in the mornings with coffee and left when Mariana became tired. She learned to ask before lifting Emiliano. She also learned that expensive white blouses were poor choices around infants.
