Epilogue
Three months later
"What if they don't like me?" Maria asks nervously, twisting the edge of her shirt while Trinidad's private plane lands at an airfield in Salamanca.
"They already know you, Maria," Trinidad responds for the third time since they left this morning, watching her partner's anxiety with tenderness.
"From the hospital, and that wasn't exactly the best place," she responds and Benjamin, sitting in the block of seats next to them, sketches a smile while continuing to read the newspaper.
Her trusted man has recovered, though now there are certain activities he can't perform and must undergo medical checks continuously.
Trinidad no longer needs such exhaustive security as she had until a few months ago, and since she won't get rid of Benjamin because he's like another father to her and he can't perform his previous duties, they've agreed that he'll only be her driver and Oliver will be in charge of her security at the business level.
"No, it wasn't," Trinidad takes her hand and Maria glances at her sideways when the plane door opens.
She sees her very composed after what happened and appearing calm, but she, who's starting to know her well because these months they've shared a lot of time together, knows that deep down she's nervous.
It's the first time she's returning to her hometown since she left, fleeing with her soul shattered, and she returns as a completely different woman.
They're only going to spend a few days visiting her parents and resting from work, but Maria fears that the painful memories that surround Trinidad's entire environment might affect her too much and the progress she's made with the therapy sessions she's started might be reduced to nothing.
"Are you okay?" she asks squeezing her hand tight, noticing how Trinidad breathes deeply.
"Yes, don't worry, but stop squeezing my hand or you'll break my fingers, and I need them to sign the new collaboration agreement with Ursula."
Maria suddenly lets go, as if the hand burns her.
"Sorry," she says and they both get off the plane, walking with Benjamin to the rental car they've brought.
"Are you sure I should stay at your parents' house?" Benjamin asks once they're on their way, "I wouldn't want to intrude."
Trinidad looks up from the email she's reading on her phone and looks at him through the rearview mirror.
"You're not staying alone in any hotel, Benjamin. It's my house and my family, and family stays together," she argues seriously, with that look that brooks no argument.
Benjamin has no children and feels he doesn't need them, because he loves Trinidad as if she were his own.
"Yes, Ms. Trinidad," he responds emotionally.
"My goodness, will you ever stop calling me ma'am?" Trinidad exasperates at Maria's spontaneous laughter, who has already gotten used to Benjamin's terminology and finds it amusing.
"Never, ma'am," Benjamin confirms with a mischievous smile that also infects Trinidad.
Maria's fears about Trinidad's parents are absurd.
They receive her with open arms and treat them —her and Benjamin— as if they'd been in the family for years.
Trinidad's mother, a tiny woman with bright eyes identical to her daughter's, hugs her tight while her father, a man with a kind appearance, helps them with the luggage.
They arrive mid-morning and spend time catching up while having vermouth in the garden and killing time until lunch.
The topic of Ismael isn't mentioned, Trinidad and her mother agreed to this on the phone in one of the calls they now make daily.
She needs to move on and everything she needs to talk about, she talks about with her therapist.
Lunch passes normally. Trinidad's parents are a very humble and lovely family.
Maria is fascinated listening to Trinidad's mother telling stories about when she was little, like that time she insisted on taking apart the television to see how it worked or when she won her first science prize at school.
Her father and Benjamin are absorbed in a parallel and enthusiastic conversation about soccer.
They spend a couple of hours after lunch like this where Maria is surprised that she hasn't felt like going to lie down after eating, but all voices stop when Trinidad asks her mother a question.
"Where is she buried?"
The silence is sepulchral for a few moments, the time it takes her mother to compose herself, while she nervously rubs her wrinkled hands on the table. Maria's heart is clenched in a fist, because until now, she hadn't realized that Trinidad had to flee without even seeing her daughter's grave.
"In your father's village cemetery. We had a niche there and thought it was the best place, quieter and smaller, like her," her mother responds with a trembling voice, while her husband gently squeezes her shoulder.
Trinidad's eyes fill with tears when she nods. Maria, moved, moves her hand under the table and grabs Trinidad's, who looks at her and smiles.
"Will you take us, Benjamin?" the engineer asks with her chin trembling.
"Of course," the man stands up and the entire family heads to the municipal cemetery.
When they arrive under a sky that threatens to unleash a storm like the one Trinidad feels inside, her mother indicates which niche is hers and the businesswoman asks everyone to let her approach alone.
Maria, petrified by anguish, grabs Benjamin's arm while watching her.
Trinidad spends more than half an hour still in front of the niche, which is at mid-height on the wall, she sees her move her lips while talking to her and, finally, uses her jacket sleeve to clean the glass and then takes off a bracelet and leaves it inside the flower holder that her mother changes once a month.
"I want to buy a house here," Trinidad says at night, whispering when she's in bed with Maria.
"You want to live here?" Maria turns toward her and passes a hand over her belly to settle next to her body.
"No, my life is there now, but I want to come more often to visit my parents and my daughter's grave," she pauses and adds in a more relaxed tone, "And I also want to have the privacy to not have to contain myself with you at night or walk around half-naked in the morning."
"And Benjamin?" Maria raises her eyebrows sketching a smile, remembering when the man stumbled upon them this morning in the hallway.
Trinidad also laughs.
"I'll buy a house with land and make a guest house for him, like the one I have now," she resolves amused.
"There's nothing like being a millionaire. So, you want me to come with you?" despite having things very clear already, Maria loves hearing Trinidad telling her what she feels for her.
"Do I have to repeat it?"
"Please."
Trinidad laughs and the sound of her laughter vibrates inside her chest.
"I want you to come, here and wherever, but no living together yet," she says, and gives her a pat on her sex that makes Maria laugh.
"No, of course not, only intense lesbians do that."
They both burst out laughing and that night is the first time Trinidad feels complete peace and sleeps without waking up startled at any moment. The ghosts of the past finally start to fade, while the future draws clearer than ever, with Maria by her side.