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“I doubt it. After all this time, she hardly speaks English, and she has been studying it for years. How is she going to learn Japanese in two weeks?”
I put my hand on my hip and then look at Leticia, waiting for her to say something, she stops biting her nails. Her eyes trace the ground, and she slouches, showing me that I upset her. The words came out of my mouth before I could think them through.
“Please, Diego, give her a chance,” Belén pleads, not answering my question.
“Why did you switch? It makes no sense. Belén, just get the dress on and be done with it. I’ll forget all this happened.”
“No,” she whispers and then backs away from me.
“I gave you all the freedom in the world. And I would give you all the money you could ever dream of. Why are you doing this to me? You owe me an explanation.”
She sighs, and then she tilts her head. “Leticia, do you mind leaving us alone a minute?”
Leticia doesn’t reply nor look at me as she leaves. Belén and I hold our positions like statues as we wait for Leticia to leave and close the door.
“I had no choice. The doctor called me this morning and said I can’t have children,” she says in one breath. I realize exactly what mi abuela had said years ago. Belén would be the woman that I would want, but now I am questioning if she is really what I need.
No tears.
No emotion.
She found out she cannot have any children, yet she’s said it as calmly as possible, and I never noticed what is as plain as day in front of me. It’s something I would never want in my life.
I would want my child to laugh, to cry with their mother. Not someone who wouldn’t react to anything that ever happened to them.
“Fine. I’ll give her two weeks. She studies Japanese, and we’ll see.”
“And she can give you a baby. That’s what you really want.”
I shake my head, thinking she has this all wrong. It’s not what I want, but what we would have one day, further down the line. It’s not the only thing that makes a marriage, but it seems that Belén doesn’t know me at all if she thinks the only reason I want to get married is to have a child.
“Belén, leave me be. This has been a stressful day. I need to be alone.”
“Okay,” she whispers and then walks out of the door. No regret, no remorse about just handing me over like that. My mind flashes as I think about what our lives would have been like. Emotionless house. Dead in the bed.
I hear the door opening again, and I’m even more annoyed about the idea of not having a second’s peace and quiet to think about what to do next.
“I thought I told you—” I spin around to see the person who has entered the room and stop. It’s Abuela.
“I thought you were Leticia,” I sigh as my eyes meet hers.
She chuckles. “You mean Belén. The one who just left the room.”
I raise an eyebrow.How did she know?
She shuts the door. “I’ve known those two girls their whole lives. I knew when I saw Leticia walking down the aisle and Belén walked out as if nothing was wrong.”
She sighs and takes a deep breath. “I assume you knew nothing of the switch until now.”
“No.”
I sit down on the table, then quickly pop up thinking it might fall because it is in such bad shape. I’ve flown into many countries with little sleep and done presentations and meetings and not felt tired, but this wedding, this whole charade, has taken every ounce of energy out of me.
“So, what will you do?”
I sigh. “I don’t know, Abuela. It’s a mess.”
“Well, why did she do it?”
