Yes, apparently Eduardo stayed in Europe. There are rumors that they had a very bad fight. I understand. You already sent him the letter. I’m going to send it today. I should receive it tomorrow. I hung up the phone and stood there in the kitchen feeling a mixture of nervousness and anticipation. After so many weeks of silent planning, the time had finally come for the first real move. Angela was about to discover that her mother wasn’t the helpless victim she’d believed.
Angela arrived at her apartment on Tuesday night. I knew this because Aurora, who seemed to have informants all over the neighborhood, came to tell me the next day. Antonia, your daughter returned last night. I saw her get on with a suitcase , but she looked very bad, pale, with dark circles under her eyes, as if she’d cried throughout the flight. Alone, completely alone.
And something strange, Antonia, when the doorman asked her for the keys, she didn’t have them. She had to ask the concierge to let her in with the emergency copy. Interesting. Eduardo had the keys, which meant he’d probably decided not to return. Or maybe Angela had discovered something about him and fled.
In any case, my daughter was back, and very soon I would receive my little welcome-back gift. Jorge called me that same afternoon. Mr. Antonia, the letter was delivered an hour ago. The doorman confirmed that your daughter received it personally. Perfect. How much time did we give her? 30 days to vacate the apartment, as required by law.
But, Ms. Antonia, are you sure you want to do this? She’s your daughter, after all, Jorge. My daughter kicked me out of my own house with a two-minute phone call. She sold me my things without asking. She treated me like trash. Now she’s going to learn that actions have consequences. I understand. I just wanted to make sure I’d considered all the implications.
I’ve considered them, Jorge, all of them. That night I couldn’t sleep. I lay awake imagining Angela’s face when she read the letter. The initial confusion, then the disbelief, then the panic. She’d probably think it was a mistake, that someone was trying to scam her, but when she called to verify, she’d find out it was all completely legal.
The next day, as if she’d been waiting for my call, the phone rang at 8 a.m. It was Angela, and her voice sounded desperate. Mom, Mom, I need to talk to you urgently. Good morning, daughter. How was Europe? Mom, I don’t have time for that right now. I received a very strange letter yesterday. It says I have to vacate my apartment in 30 days.
It must be a mistake, right? Do you know anything about this? An eviction letter. How strange. From whom? From a company I’d never heard of. It’s called Wait, let me look up the letter. Roberto Investments Inc. Do you know this company? Roberto had used his own name for the company. How poetic. No, daughter, I’ve never heard of that name. Are you sure the letter is legitimate? That’s what I want to find out.
Mom, I need you to help me. I don’t know what to do. Eduardo left me in Europe, went off with another woman, and now I’m back to this. I don’t understand what’s going on. There was the confirmation. Eduardo had probably abandoned her when the money ran out or when he realized that the legal problems at home were more serious than he thought.
Poor Angela, she had sacrificed her family for a worthless man. I’m so sorry, daughter. Where are you now? I’m at the apartment, but I don’t know for how long. Mom, can I come see you? I need… I need to talk to someone. I don’t have anyone else. The irony was perfect.
Now that she was without the man she’d left me for, I remembered I had a mother. Of course, daughter. Come whenever you want. I’m going there right now. I hung up the phone and looked at myself in the mirror. I had to look perfect for this performance. I put on my most conservative gray dress, pulled my hair back into a simple bun, and practiced my concerned-but-resigned-mother expression.
When Angela arrived, she would see exactly what she expected to see. A poor, vulnerable widow who had been abandoned by her own daughter. Angela arrived an hour later. When I opened the door, I was shocked at how bad she looked. She had lost weight, had deep dark circles under her eyes, and her expensive clothes looked wrinkled and unkempt. Her eyes were red from crying.
“Mom,” she said, and for a moment I thought she was going to hug me, but she stopped as if suddenly remembering how things had ended between us. “Come in, daughter. Do you want a coffee?” Yes, please. We sat in the kitchen, at the same table where I had read Roberto’s papers weeks before. Angela looked small in that chair, lost, like when she was a child, coming to tell me about her school problems.
Mom, I’m so sorry for how I left. I know I didn’t behave well with you. It’s over now, daughter. No, it wasn’t. I treated you badly, I said horrible things to you. And now my voice broke. Now I have no one. What happened to Eduardo? He left with a 25-year-old hotel maid in Paris. It turns out there was never any business in Europe. It was all a lie.He just wanted to escape the debts he had here, and he used the money from the sale of your house to finance his adventure. All the debts. Yes, Mom, lots of debts. It seems he’d been taking out loans for years, using the apartment we lived in as collateral, but now I find out he wasn’t the owner. How is that possible? Here was my chance.
I don’t know, daughter. Property matters are very complicated. The problem is that now the banks are chasing me for his debts. They say that since we were married, I’m also responsible. And on top of that, this eviction letter. Mom, I don’t know what to do. I have no money, no job, nowhere to live.
She started to cry. Real tears of genuine despair. And for a moment, my mother’s heart softened. I wanted to hold her, comfort her, tell her everything was going to be okay, but then I remembered the coldness in her voice when she called me from the doctor’s, how easily she’d dismissed me, the way she’d spoken to me as if I were a burden.
Did you speak to a lawyer about the letter? I don’t have money for a lawyer, Mom. We spent all the money in Europe. Eduardo took what little was left when he left with that woman. And what are you going to do? I don’t know. I thought maybe I could stay with you for a while, just until I found a job and could get a small place to live.
There was the question I’d been waiting for. After kicking me out of my own house, after selling my things, after treating me like garbage, now she wanted me to rescue her. She wanted the poor widow she’d created to save her from the consequences of her own actions.
Of course, daughter, this will always be your house. Angela looked at me in surprise, as if she hadn’t expected it to be so easy. Really, Mom, after everything that’s happened, you’re my daughter, Angela. That will never change. She stood up and this time she hugged me. It was the desperate hug of someone drowning and clinging to the only thing she could find.
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