Chapter 26
The office was small, warm, and softly lit, but my hands remained cold in my lap.
I was lying on the examination table, my blouse pulled up to my ribs and my pants pulled down a few centimeters.
The disposable paper under my body made a soft rustling sound every time I moved, betraying the nervousness I was trying to hide.
Beside me, Aline stood, holding my hand firmly, while the doctor spread the cool gel over my lower abdomen.
I held my breath when the probe touched my skin.
The dark screen before us filled with gray spots and shapes I couldn’t make out. My pulse quickened, overcome by the fear that the doctor might frown or announce that the cold nights, hunger, and despair had harmed the life growing inside me.
Dr. Cecília moved the device slowly, watching the screen intently. I searched her features for any sign of concern, but she maintained a serene expression.
“There it is.” The doctor pointed to a small shape in the center of the image, smiling when she realized I couldn’t see what she was seeing. “This is your baby, Maria Rita.”
Tears welled up in my eyes before I could hold them back.
I tilted my head slightly, trying to make out my child among the shadows moving across the screen. It was so small that it seemed impossible to believe that this tiny being had enough strength to change everything inside me.
“Is she alive?” I squeezed Aline’s hand, embarrassed by the question but unable to control the fear that had been with me since the discovery.
“She’s alive and developing as expected for her gestational age.” Dr. Cecília adjusted the machine, keeping her eyes on the screen. “Now let’s listen to something.”
She pressed a button.
A rapid, rhythmic sound filled the office.
At first, I didn’t understand what I was hearing. It sounded like the distant gallop of a horse, too fast to belong to a person. Then the doctor turned up the volume a little and looked at me.
“That’s your baby’s heartbeat.”
My mouth fell open, but no sound could make its way down my throat.
That little heart kept beating even when mine seemed to have been shattered. It beat as I walked barefoot through the rain, as I shivered with hunger on the park bench, and as I hid in the shelter’s bathroom, terrified of being arrested. She was already with me when I believed I had no one left.
Tears streamed down the sides of my face, reaching my hair.
“Hi, my love…” I brought my free hand to my belly, touching the skin covered in gel, even though I knew she was still too small to feel my caress. “Mommy’s here.”
Aline squeezed my fingers. When I looked at her, I saw her teary eyes and a moved smile forming on her lips.
“Your baby is here with you, too, Maria.” Aline ran her hand through my hair, brushing a strand that had stuck to my forehead out of the way. “You’ll never be alone again.”
The word stole my breath.
Dr. Cecília turned off the heartbeat sound and removed the device from my belly. She took a few sheets of paper and carefully wiped away the gel before helping me pull my shirt down.
“The results of the fetal sex determination also came in this morning.” The doctor swiveled her chair toward us and opened my medical chart. “The test confirms that you’re expecting a girl.”
I closed my eyes, feeling another wave of emotion wash over me.
A girl…
During my days at the mansion, I’d often imagined a child running through the enormous hallways.
Sometimes I’d see a boy with Eduardo’s dark hair.
Other times, a little girl with brown eyes holding her father’s hand.
Eduardo used to say that if we had a daughter, she’d be spoiled and have the whole world at her feet.
Back then, I’d smile as I imagined him carrying our little girl on his shoulders.
But when I thought about it, the memory hurt.
The same man who spoke of protecting a daughter had thrown her mother out onto the street—without documents, without money, and without any concern for what would happen after the gates closed.
Eduardo didn’t know I was pregnant. Neither of us did. Yet that ignorance didn’t erase his cruelty. He didn’t need to know about the child to recognize that I was human.
“Are you sure it’s a girl?” I ran my hands over my still-flat belly, trying to separate my daughter from the memories surrounding her father.
“The test has a very high accuracy rate.” Dr. Cecília closed the medical record and offered me a reassuring smile.
“You and your little girl are fine. However, I want you to continue eating properly, taking your vitamins, and avoiding stressful situations. Your body has endured significant hardships in recent weeks and needs to recover.”
“Is she at any risk because of what happened?” My stomach clenched at the thought of that night out in the open.
“At this point, there are no signs of any complications.” The doctor placed her hand on my arm, sensing the guilt that was weighing on me.
“You survived an extreme situation, Maria Rita. Don’t blame yourself for what you were forced to face.
Now you need to take care of yourself, because taking care of you is also taking care of her. ”
I nodded, wiping my face with the back of my hand.
After the appointment, Aline helped me put on my coat. The doctor handed me the envelope with the ultrasound images and a small sheet of paper with guidelines for the coming weeks. I held everything close to my chest as if I were carrying a treasure.
We left the clinic and were met by the cold afternoon wind. The sky over S?o Paulo was covered with heavy clouds, but there was no rain. Even so, my body stiffened as the chill touched my face.
Aline noticed.
“Do you want to wait inside while I go get the car?” She placed her hand on my back, offering me the comfort of a choice.
“No. I’m fine.” I drew in a slow breath and forced my legs to keep moving. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life afraid of a dark cloud.”
We walked over to the car parked across the street. Before getting in, I had the strange feeling that I was being watched. I looked around, scanning the parked cars and the people walking along the sidewalk, but I didn’t see anyone I recognized.
“Did something happen?” Aline opened the passenger door and followed my gaze.
“I don’t know. I thought someone was looking at us.”
She watched the street for a few seconds before guiding me into the car.
“It might just be your imagination. But I’ll mention it to Henrique when we get there.”
I spent the entire ride with the envelope resting on my lap. At every traffic light, I’d open it just a little and look again at the ultrasound photo, trying to memorize the almost invisible outline of my daughter.
I should tell Eduardo.
The certainty had been with me ever since the positive result, even though I tried to put it off. He was the father and would find out eventually. I didn’t want him to find out through the press, from an investigator, or when my belly was already impossible to hide.
But the thought of standing before him again made my hands sweat.
I could still feel the force with which he yanked his arm away when I tried to hold him back. The contempt in his eyes. His finger pointing toward the open door and the storm waiting outside.
“You’re dead to me.”
Those words still echoed inside me.
When we arrived at the house, Henrique was in the living room.
He wasn’t wearing the impeccable suit he wore on workdays.
He was wearing a dark shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and was clutching his cell phone tightly in his hand.
The heavy expression on his face made the joy I’d felt after the appointment vanish.
“What happened?” I stopped near the door, shielding the envelope against my chest. “Did the police call?”
“It wasn’t the police.” Henrique glanced quickly at Aline before approaching me. “It was Eduardo.”
My pulse thundered so hard that the sound echoed throughout the room.
“How did he get your number?”
“The Vasconcelos family can get any information they want when they’re willing to pay for it.” Henrique put his phone in his pocket and watched the fear grow on my face. “He knows where you are.”
I took a step back.
Aline grabbed my arm before my legs gave way.
“So, someone was watching us at the clinic.” I looked at her, feeling panic mingle with a growing anger. “I wasn’t imagining it.”
“Eduardo hired investigators to find you.” Henrique kept his distance, as if he knew that getting any closer might make me feel cornered. “One of them followed our car after we left the police station. He took a picture of you leaving the clinic.”
I put my hand on my stomach.
The sense of security that house had offered me vanished in a single sentence. Eduardo had found my hiding place. He knew where I slept, who I lived with, and where I went for my appointments.
“Does he know about the baby?” The question barely came out.
“He knows you’re pregnant.”
It felt as if the air had been sucked out of the room.
I stepped away from Aline and walked to the window, closing the curtains with hurried movements. I peered through the slats, looking for unfamiliar cars on the street.
“He sent men to follow a woman he believes is a murderer.” My breath came in short gasps. “What does he intend to do? Use the pregnancy to have me arrested? Say I’m trying to run away with a Vasconcelos heiress? Is he going to take my daughter?”
“Maria Rita, look at me.” Henrique waited for me to turn toward him before continuing. “Eduardo stated that he doesn’t intend to contest custody, pursue her, or show up here without permission. He also said he ordered all the investigators to be withdrawn.”
A bitter laugh escaped my lips.
“And you believed him?”
“I don’t operate on trust when it comes to a man like him.
I operate on guarantees.” Henrique crossed his arms, holding my gaze.
“If Eduardo approaches without your permission, I’ll take the necessary measures.
If he tries to use the child to control you, he’ll face a legal battle he isn’t prepared to fight. You and your daughter are protected.”
I lowered my eyes to the envelope.
My daughter wasn’t old enough yet to change my body, but she had already become the center of a dispute I didn’t want. I closed my fingers around the edges of the paper, feeling anger replace my fear.
“What did he want?”
“To see you.”
“No.”
The answer came before Henrique had finished speaking. I turned my back on them both and walked over to the sofa, sitting down because my legs could no longer bear the weight of so many emotions.
“He said he won’t ask to come back and he won’t demand forgiveness.” Henrique remained standing in front of me. “He wants to admit in person that he believes in your innocence and take responsibility for what he did.”
“Take responsibility?” I raised my eyes, feeling the tears burn them. “Does he think admitting he was wrong will give me back the night I spent on the street? The food I had to accept from a stranger?”
“No. And if he’s understood anything at all, he knows that.”
“Then why does he want to see me?”
“Because you’re suffering.”
Henrique’s answer made my anger explode inside me.
“And I’m supposed to care?” I stood up, unable to remain seated.
“When I begged to be let into that house, I was suffering. I begged him not to do it, but even so, the security guards dragged me by the arms, and he just stood there, watching me as if I were a sick animal. Now that he’s found out about the pregnancy and realized he may have condemned an innocent woman, has his suffering suddenly become urgent? ”
“I’m not asking you to feel sorry for him.” Henrique didn’t back down in the face of my anger. “I’m saying the decision is yours. I can call right now and tell him you never want to see him, and I’ll make sure he respects that.”
Silence filled the room.
Aline came closer and held my hand.
“You owe Eduardo a conversation,” she murmured, stroking my fingers. “Not even because of the baby.”
I looked at the ultrasound photo inside the open envelope.
I didn’t owe him anything. But my daughter would grow up, and someday she’d ask questions. I wanted to be able to say that I didn’t use silence as a form of revenge. That I gave her father the chance to know about her existence, but I reserved the right to decide who could stay by our side.
I also needed to look at Eduardo without being on my knees, so he could see the woman who had survived the sentence he had handed down.
“I’m going to find him.” I ran my hand over my belly, feeling fear stir inside me.
“Are you sure?” Aline squeezed my fingers.
“No.” I inhaled slowly, refusing to confuse courage with the absence of fear. “But I don’t want to spend my entire pregnancy wondering when he’ll show up. I want to set boundaries by looking him in the eye.”
Henrique nodded slowly.
“The meeting will take place here. Aline and I will be present. Eduardo won’t be alone with you at any time.”
“He won’t touch me. He won’t come near my belly, and he won’t bring any lawyers or security guards.” My hand slid over the envelope, shielding the girl’s picture. “And if he raises his voice at me even once, you throw him out.”
“He’ll be informed of all the conditions.”
“Tell him he can come tomorrow.”
Henrique took his cell phone out of his pocket, but I raised my hand before he could make the call.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
I wiped away my tears and straightened my shoulders. My heart was still racing, but I was no longer the bloodied woman who had begged Eduardo to open the door.
“Tell him I’m not just the mother of his daughter,” I declared, feeling each word strengthen a part of me that rejection had tried to destroy. “I’m the woman he tried to kill during that storm.”
Henrique held my gaze for a few seconds before nodding.
While he made the call, I looked back at the ultrasound photo. Tomorrow, Eduardo would find out that his daughter was alive, safe, and growing inside a woman who no longer needed to be saved.
For the first time since I’d met him, he would be the one entering a home without knowing if he’d be allowed to stay.