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Chapter 15
The next day, Mom comes to visit with Dad. I’m feeling a bit stronger and glad they are here together because I have quite a lot to say.
But first, I let Mom nag and nag about keeping the secret from her.
“Are you done?” I ask after her tirade.
“I’m not even close to done,señorita—”
“Cecilia!” Dad snaps. “That’s enough. This is hardly the time.”
Mom’s lips disappear into a thin line. Just once, I’d love to see her talk back to Dad. Today would not be that day.
“I’m angry too, you know,” I say finally.
Mom glares at me. “You’reangry? After you pulled this?”
“Mom, calm down. I’m trying to have a conversation with you. I’m angry about a lot, and for once, I wish you would just listen to me before you check out.”
She looks away from me and shakes her head like I’m talking nonsense.
“Hear her out, Cecilia,” Dad says, and I’m surprised he’s on my side. Unfortunately for him, I’m angry at him too.
Mom takes a seat and crosses her arms. She taps her foot as she waits for me to speak.
I take a deep breath and decide to start with the easier one. “I’m upset you’re never there for Pilar or me. You’re like a ghost, Mom. We’ve never had your support, so I don’t understand how you’d expect me to go to you for something like this when you always avoid hard situations.”
“That is not an excuse—”
“Mom, Mom. Please. Just let me finish.”
Mom glares at me but keeps her mouth shut. “Thank you,” I say. “Neither of you has ever come to see me fight—”
“We didn’t want to encourage—” Dad starts to say, but I cut him off.
“Dad, I know it’s hard, but let’s pretend for a moment this is the worst-case scenario, and I don’t make it. Aren’t you glad, as short as my life has been, that I got to do the one thing I loved most in the world?”
The silence hovers over all three of us like a dark cloud. Dad’s eyes turn glassy, and he swallows hard.
“Wouldn’t you wish, then, that you’d gotten to see my greatness? I know you don’t think it was much compared to your business or Pilar’s marriage, but Dad, I was good. So good. They don’t call mixed martial arts ‘arts’ for no reason. I was an artist with my body. It’s fighting, yes, but it’s also a dance, and it’s so beautiful. I was beautiful. And you never got to see it.”
“You’re not going to die, Valentina,” he declares like he can somehow control it.
That’s not what I wanted them to get from what I said, but I’m not surprised. They will never support my dreams unless they are dreams I share with them. I know now that if—when—I beat this thing, they will not change. It’s time for me to move on from the hope that we will ever be close.
“I’m sorry you’re angry,” Mom says. “But I’ve done the best that I could.”
“I know, Mom,” I give her a sad smile because I believe her, and knowing that was her best is a bit disheartening.
Now for the harder one. The one they won’t want to so much as hear me out on.
“That’s not the only reason I’m angry.”
Both my parents look at me intently, waiting for me to go on.
“This cancer is your fault—”
“Great. You’re going to blame us for this—” Mom says, exasperated.
