Page 81 of Keepsake

I checked my smartwatch. It was past six. I wondered if he was staying at his mother’s, and they were going to have dinner together. They might even spend the night. Maybe he was bringing them to school directly.

I brushed off that thought. I knew he wouldn’t do that without letting me know first.

My whole body shook with a shiver that wasn’t due to cold or sickness. I just felt so… fragile.

I had a panic attack, and then I came twice at the hands of Sofia’s older brother. And if that wasn’t enough to shake me… I spilled my guts about David.

No proof, just like fifteen years ago. Sofia never confirmed my suspicions, she just said David wasn’t the person he appeared to be. That could have meant a million things. I knew nothing, really.

Nothing about family life, like Caridad suspected.

Nothing about people. I had no friends, like David once told me.

I just had Sofia.

Now, I had Sofia’s kids.

The phone in my hands, I wondered if I should call Willa and let her cheer me up, but I didn’t have the courage to dial her number. I just looked at my phone, waiting for a text from Alvaro that never came.

Finally, after seven, the door opened downstairs. I froze in my spot, noticing I was still wearing the Harvard sweatshirt from yesterday and cursing myself for not looking more put together.

The kids were loud, and my heart relaxed when their noise filled my house once again. Dash ran up the stairs two at a time, waving at me over his shoulder when he went straight to his room, barely looking at my opened door.

I sat up, a smile on my lips. Then Vienna barged in. She didn’t even say hello, never said a word. She just jumped on my bed and held me in a powerful hug.

“Vienna?” I asked, confused.

“Tío said you were sick,” she said, her head buried in my chest.

I relaxed in her hands, hugging her back. “I’m ok, Vi.”

She never let me go, like her little arms could bring me closer to her than I already was. We stayed like that for a full minute, but it was my hand on her back that felt the little tremors in her breathing.

Slowly, I brought us down to the bed. She let me lay with her. I kissed her hair and whispered, “Vi, tell me what’s wrong.”

It took her a long minute to let me put space between us so I could look straight into her red-rimmed eyes.

“I don’t want you to be sick.”

“I had nothing serious.” What the hell did Alvaro tell them? “I’m ok.”

“I don’t want you to be sick, ever,” she told me with the determination of a Castillo.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’ll be sick sometimes. Everyone gets sick sometimes.”

“Mom was sick a lot and now she’s not here.”

“What do you mean, your mom got sick a lot?”

Vienna let me move, my hand over her cheeks, brushing the hairs back from her damp face.

“She told me once she was sick on the inside. She had a bunch of scars, but they were all invisible.” She frowned. “Are your scars invisible, too?”

Yes. Our worst scars weren’t visible to anyone.

I didn’t say that to the crying eight-year-old in my arms, though. I just shook my head and brought my pink finger between us.

“What if I promise you I’ll never leave you?”

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