A New Foundation
Chapter twenty-five
Lightning lit up Teresa’s room with the second thunderstorm since the theater’s collapse. Teresa sat at the window overlooking the courtyard. It was an early thunderstorm, but it cast the afternoon as dark as the evening last week when she couldn’t sleep.
Some of that fire in her nerves still smoldered in certain parts, but the flare-up had passed.
It had left her feeling uncertain again.
Though she appreciated Papá’s support for her to travel, fear whispered that he could still change his mind.
It was all so new, she could hardly believe her future was within reach.
Yair had come to see her earlier when she’d taken another meal in her room, and his words of encouragement had meant the world to her.
He had also made the promise to never let a secret fester, seeing how hiding her own infirmity had caused her so much pain.
Teresa could only smile tearfully at his earnestness, though she wouldn’t expect him to always tell the truth.
He was her ever-protective older brother, after all, and he would bend the truth if he thought it would protect her.
A knock sounded.
“Pasa,” she said. Cerise opened the door and bowed at Mamá’s entrance.
“You can leave us,” Mamá said to Cerise.
The door clicked shut, and Teresa felt for all the world like her only friend was on the other side of the door.
“I’m sorry, Teresa,” Mamá said, her voice breaking. She didn’t wear her normal heavy gown or even her crown, as if she came to Teresa not as her queen but as her mother. Teresa shifted so she could sit on the other side of the window seat.
“Forgive me for not understanding,” she went on. “I’ve tried to help you in the only ways I know, instead of asking you what you wanted or needed. I was afraid. Afraid to lose you to something far beyond my control. But I can see now I’ve only hurt you.”
Teresa looked out the window at the debris of the theater. Much had been hauled away, but it would need to be rebuilt. From the foundation.
“Can we start again?” Mamá’s voice trembled.
Teresa met Mamá’s tearful gaze. Some knot that had coiled in her chest unfurled now. The voice that pounded in her head—of fear—quieted some. Mamá was trying, in her own way, and Teresa couldn’t blame her for it. She nodded, offering a trembling smile. “Sí. I’d like that.”
Mamá took a shuddering breath, as if she had just lost a weight off her shoulders. She took Teresa’s hand as gently as she would tend to her flowers.
A knock sounded at the door. But to Teresa’s surprise, Mamá didn’t hurry to wipe away her tears. She wasn’t hiding the cracks in her facade. Not anymore.
“Come in,” Teresa said.
Yair stepped in. He waved a missive as he crossed the room to them. “Dear sister,” he said, offering a smile, “how would you like to take a trip to Elevsk sometime this year?”
His bright manner and smile left her speechless after the weight of her conversation with Mamá, but Mamá chuckled. Teresa found the words to speak. “Why?”
“Papá and I are working on trade agreements with them. And I figured it’d be a good way for you to see the original ballet. Maybe even snow.” He winked. “You did save our lives, after all.”
She grinned. “I did. And one trip isn’t enough to pay me back. But I want to do more than just sightsee.”
He extended a hand as if inviting her to dance, and she took him, letting him pull her to her feet. “Papá mentioned that, along with your hope for an adventure. The world may be too much for one year, but I can be in your debt until we complete it.” He grinned.
“Maybe I can go by myself,” she teased. “I’m not sure I could sit with you for three weeks on a boat. Or on a boat in general, but it might be better without your teasing.”
Yair shrugged. “If you go, it’s probably best to go in spring anyway.”
Mamá laid a hand on her shoulder. “What else, Teresa?”
Teresa’s throat tightened. It was enough of a blessing that Papá had called on the world-class inventor to come and make her braces. What else could she ask for?
For all the excitement of adventure, she knew it wouldn’t be easy. Just traveling around the island required certain measures in place—and to cross an ocean or enter a different climate entirely would bring unprecedented trials. But she wouldn’t let those thoughts dim the hope burning in her chest.
“I don’t know,” she said. “But when I figure it out, I want the freedom to choose.”