Chapter 13 - THE THINGS APOLOGIES CANNOT FIX Months passed.
Luca grew stronger.
He learned to crawl.
Then stand.
Then walk.
Every new milestone made Mateo emotional.
But Clara remained guarded.
One night, after Luca fell asleep, she finally said what she had been carrying.
“I haven't forgiven you.”
Mateo looked at her.
“I know.”
“I love you.”
His eyes softened.
“I love you too.”
“But loving you doesn't erase what happened.”
“I know.”
“You dismissed me.”
Mateo looked down.
“You told yourself I was exhausted because it was easier than believing your family was dangerous.”
He nodded.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That if I believed you, I would have to destroy everything I came from.”
Clara's eyes filled with tears.
“And instead, you almost lost us.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then Mateo said:
“I don't want you to trust me because I'm your husband.”
Clara looked at him.
“I want you to trust me because I earn it.”
That sentence mattered.
Not because it fixed anything.
Because it didn't pretend to.
Clara leaned forward and rested her forehead against his.
“We start there.”
Mateo closed his eyes.
May you like
For the first time, their marriage stopped being about surviving the past.
It became about building something after it.
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