Page 63 of After the Fire
“Do not disrespect me in my home, Victoria, or I swear to go—”
“Mamá,” I heard my father say, followed by the front door closing. My brother had agreed to bring my father over so that we could sit down and discuss things together, neither of us trusting him behind the wheel of a car. Especially because Catalina had said that he had been holed up in his house, probably in a drunken stupor. This way, our dad would also have the closure he deserved.
“Acá!” I yelled. He walked into the living room, my brother trailing him. My father’s eyes widened when he saw me standing across from Susana and Pedro in the middle of the room. He stopped for a second when he saw me, then walked straight to the small bar cart Susana had set up in the corner of the room.
“What’s going on?” he asked, his hand shaking as he reached for one of the crystal glasses. “When did you get back?”
“Nothing,” Susana replied quickly and with a little shock, like she had just been caught red-handed.
“Susana has to tell you something,” I said at the same time. Confusion marred his face at the mere scene, and Susana shot me a menacing glance.
“Why don’t we all take a seat,” Pedro said, trying to appease us both.
“Roberto,no la escuches a esta chiquita que no sabe de lo que habla,”she said immediately. It sounded desperate, pleading, almost. Like what I was about to say would destroy her. Because it would.
“Papá,”I said as I sat on one of the living room couches. I could count with the fingers on one hand the times I had actually sat on the white sofas. They were mostly reserved for company, and unless I was invited, they were completely off limits. “Sit.”
He complied, my brother sitting right next to him, across from me. Susana remained standing, Pedro right behind her in the center of it all. She looked uncomfortable, out of place in her own home.
“Did you know that our grandfather wasn’t kidnapped?” I went straight to the point, because there was no reason in the moment to deal with small talk. I heard Susana gasp, followed by a few steps towards me. I kept my gaze intent on my father, trying to decode his face.
“No digas estupideces, Victoria,”she said to the group. “Be careful what you are about to say, little girl.”
“Susana, stop! Enough with the lies. They deserve to know the truth.”
Between my brother and I, we filled my father in on all the details, starting with the crime and ending with his death. Our father was speechless, trying to make sense of the information we were giving him. He opened his mouth a few times to speak, but then kept quiet and took it all in.
“So many things make sense now,” he whispered, turning to look at Susana. She was fuming, shaking her head, her stiff hair following the movement. Her jaw was clamped, arms crossed, fists clenched. “She refused to cancel Cristina’s wedding. She moved on with her life as if he had never existed. She banished him.”
I nodded in agreement, but I said nothing, waiting for Susana’s reaction. It didn’t come; she just stood her ground, Pedro still backing her up.
“You are toxic, Susana,” I said. A weight lifted off my chest immediately. The words Santiago and Catalina had uttered earlier kept running a loop in my head. Just because they were family didn’t mean we had to keep them. “This is the price you pay for the things you do. Because our actions have consequences.”
“Stop it with the consequences, Victoria,” she snapped. “This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with your grandfather.”
“Maybe not with me but definitely with my father and his sisters. You ruined their lives.” I stood from the couch and walked to the front of the house, my brother following behind me. I turned one last time to look at her. My father was staring intently at her, ready for a fight. She looked tiny, standing in the middle of her lies. “I’m not letting you ruin my life.”
I opened the front door, the muggy air bringing respite despite the humidity. I took a deep breath and turned to my brother, who smiled and nodded. He shut the door behind him, and we walked to his car. And I heard the sounds of my father’s screaming and Susana whimpering in response.
EPILOGUE
FIVE MONTHS LATER
I satat the same table I was at the day I saw him again and he reentered my life. Except that this time, I was on fire. Not literally. But I was heated with everything I wanted to tell him. It was like my heart ignited like a rocket ship and was ready for takeoff.
The months that followed my departure from Santiago’s town and presence were a jumbled mess of events. I quit my job at my family’s firm but gave plenty of notice so that my brother could take over and hire someone—probably two different people who had different responsibilities. Pedro decided to fully back off and retire, making my brother the head of the firm. My father was recovering, mostly, and the answers he got were healing in their own way. He was enjoying spending a lot of his time with his granddaughter.
“Victoria?”
I beamed. And for the first time in a long, long time, I felt happy.
“You aren’t my sister.” He blinked a few times, almost like he was trying to focus his eyesight.
“Is that how she lured you here?” I asked. I had been in constant contact with Lucía. She never outright said it, but she heavily implied that Santiago was a mess. And I could relate.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“Um, I came to find you.” I tilted my head, trying to decipher Santiago’s expression. Was he not happy to see me? Had I understood wrong? “You told me that if I ever decided to come back to you, I knew where to find you. I owe you an explanation.” I took a deep breath. “Quite a few, actually.”
