When the mother was missing, Lucia was still a child, and the house definitely lost all heat. The father rarely raised his hand against her, but his indifference hurt no less.
She responded with a cold silence, avoided her gaze and with all her behavior she implied: life could have been much easier if she had not been born.
Lucia soon learned to expect nothing. The only consolation was the books his mother had once hidden in an old trunk.
The girl secretly read them, sometimes she wrote short notes, as if speaking to herself. In those pages it could be anyone, except the mistake that others thought they saw in it.
However, Joaquin’s difficulties were not limited to aversion to his daughter. He owed a large sum to
Vicente Salazar, the most influential man in the region. That merchant knew how to smile when he signed papers capable of destroying another’s life. The debts, the bad harvests and the constant drink were gradually cornering Joaquin. And then he chose the most shameful exit.
