Page 10 of Keepsake

“What makes you think I’m so bad for them?” I couldn’t resist asking. “What makes me so unfit to…”

“You aren’t their mother!”

“Neither are you.”

I knew it was a mistake the second the words flew out of my mouth. My skin buzzed, my brain scrambled, trying to understand how quickly I lost my temper.

“Let’s calm down…” Alvaro started, but I stopped him by raising my palm.

Opening my eyes slowly, I focused on Caridad. “I waited a month as you requested. I said I could adapt in any way. I never wanted to take them from here. I only asked for a chance, but you insist on treating me as a villain. Tell me what is so horrible about me that you can’t allow your grandchildren to even meet me?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you—” Alvaro shook his head.

“We might not have money,” Caridad interrupted. “But we have values. We have hard work.”

“I never made this about finances. But if that’s the route you want to go? Yes, I am comfortable. What is the big deal?”

Caridad shook her head. “Familia is everything. We are the kids’ family. They should stay with us.”

“Sofia wanted—”

“You haven’t been her friend for years.”

My laugh was so sarcastic, I snorted. “And that was my fault?”

“You left and cut contact.”

“I didn’t do it. It was Da—”

But I never got to finish his name. Something dislodged from Alvaro’s throat and the next word that came out of his mouth was so final, it laid over us like a heavy blanket.

“Enough.”

My breathing was erratic. I’ve done everything I promised myself not to do. I came over to negotiate, to make them trust me, but instead I did nothing but argue with Caridad since I arrived.

This wasn’t how I fixed my problems. It wasn’t how I liked to deal with anything in life. However, Caridad was never going to like me. She wasn’t going to be charmed by anything I said, and it was clear the kids weren’t here, so it didn’t matter. I came here to talk to them, but once again I wasn’t allowed.

Only five minutes in and I could understand this was a losing battle. Thank god I always diversified my investments.

Smoothing the pants over my legs, I took a breath. “I came here to talk. To try to make this happen amicably.” She huffed, refusing to look at me. I nodded to myself. “Of course you’ve now proven that’s impossible.”

“The kids are not going anywhere,” she made a point of saying.

“I see.” I breathed in.

It was only Alvaro who picked up on my tone. He was alert, his body turned to me, “Logan…”

I shook my head, standing up. He did, too. “Logan, sit down. We can talk.”

“No.” I faced him. “I waited a month like you requested. I came here to talk to the children. I’ve done nothing wrong, yet I’m continuously being treated like a criminal. I’m done here.”

With a last nod to Sofia’s parents, I let myself out. I heard Alvaro coming after me, but the steps ended when Caridad said, “Let her go.”

And I ran to my car.

“Lethergo,”Mamásaid.

I shouldn’t let Logan go, but the simmering anger in my blood just boiled over. I swirled around, facing my parents with a tick in my jaw.

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