“Build wide?”
“Exactly.”
Esperanza watched as he began again, this time placing two slices side by side.
Lucía lowered her voice.
“You are doing the same.”
Esperanza looked at her.
“Building wide?”
“Trying to.”
Miguel reached for the spoon, impatient with the pause in his meal.
Lucía laughed and gave it to him.
“You see? He believes he should manage his own breakfast.”
“He believes he should manage everything,” Esperanza said.
For a few minutes, the room felt normal.
That normality helped.
It reminded Esperanza that the journey ahead was not a departure from her life. It was part of caring for the life she already had.
“When I return,” she said, “I may know who they are connected to by blood.”
Lucía glanced at the children.
“They will still be connected to you by every morning, every fever, every song, every night you walked the floor with them.”
