Chapter 16 - THE LETTER TERESA SENT TO PRISON
Months passed before Teresa opened Manuel’s unsent letter to Veronica again.
She added a short note of her own.
Veronica,
Your father wrote this before he died.
I am not sending it to punish you.
I am sending it because no one in this family should hide another letter and decide the recipient cannot handle the truth.
Teresa placed both pages inside an envelope.
Veronica replied three weeks later.
Her handwriting was sharp and uneven.
You think you are better than me because you remained quiet for fifteen years.
You were not loyal.
You were afraid.
Teresa read the sentence twice.
Then she realized Veronica was right about one part.
Fear had shaped much of her silence.
Teresa replied only once.
I was afraid.
I also did honest work while afraid.
Fear explains silence.
It does not explain theft, cruelty, or changing a sick man’s medicine.
No further letters came for almost a year.
Then Veronica sent a final message.
I read every page this time.
Teresa did not know whether the words referred to Manuel’s letter, the court evidence, or the lesson neither of them had learned soon enough.
May you like
She kept the message.
She did not call it forgiveness.
