PART 1

“ You’d rather marry a sixty-year-old woman than find a decent girl! ”

That’s what my mother yelled at me in the middle of the yard, in front of my uncles, the neighbors, and even the gas delivery man.

My name is Efraín , I’m twenty years old, I’m six feet tall, and I was born in a small ranch in Guanajuato where everyone knows everything before you’ve even finished experiencing it. At my age, most of my friends were thinking about motorcycles, beer, and girls from their class. I, on the other hand, had become the town’s favorite gossip because I was going to marry Doña Celia .

That’s what everyone called her, not because she was a grandmother, but because she commanded respect. She always dressed elegantly, spoke softly, and looked at people as if she truly understood them. She had money, yes, but she was never one to humiliate others by driving an expensive truck. I met her welding a fence at a house she had bought on the outskirts of town. I burned my hand because I was clumsy, and while everyone else was laughing at me, she was the only one who came over with water, some ointment, and a calmness that disarmed me.

From that day on he started treating me differently.

She lent me business books I could barely understand. She taught me how to pronounce English words without making me feel ignorant. She talked to me about small investments, about saving, about thinking ahead. No one my age had ever made me look so far. With her, for the first time, I felt that my life could be bigger than the workshop, the debts, and the parched earth of my house.

And yes, I fell in love.

Not her dresses. Not her house. Not her money.

I fell in love with the way he listened to me as if I were worth something.

When I confessed at home, I almost got kicked out.

“That woman has you under a spell,” my aunt said.

“What you want is a mom, not a wife,” my cousin spat.

“He’s going to use you and then throw you away,” my father said, hurt.

But I held on. I fought for her. I defended her in front of everyone. And even though the whole town labeled me as ambitious, crazy, or a freeloader, I didn’t back down.

The wedding was at a former hacienda , lit with candles, decorated with white, and featuring musicians playing as if it were a party for powerful people. There were too many men dressed in black, too many radios in their ears, too much security for a simple wedding. I noticed it, yes. But I was so blinded by what I felt that I decided not to ask.

That night, when we were finally alone in a huge bedroom, Celia closed the door with trembling hands. Then she placed a thick envelope and some keys on a table.

“It’s your wedding gift,” he told me. “One million pesos and a truck.”

I smiled nervously and pushed the envelope back.

—I don’t need any of that. With you, I’ve already won.

Then she looked at me in a strange way. Sad. As if she were about to break.

— Son… I mean, Efraín … before this goes any further, I have to tell you something.

I felt a chill.

Celia slowly removed her shawl. And when my gaze fell on her left shoulder, I froze.

It had a dark, round moon with an irregular edge.

The same.

In the same place.

The same mark that my mother had always had on her collarbone.

I raised my hand, trembling.

—That mark… why do you have it?

Celia closed her eyes and took a step back.

The air grew heavy. The room stopped feeling like a suite and began to feel like a trap.

“Because I can no longer remain silent,” she whispered.

And when she opened her mouth to tell the truth, I understood that she couldn’t believe what was about to happen…