PART 1
“Lock the door, Mateo. If she wants to play the victim so badly, let her have that baby alone.”
That was the sentence that split my life in two.
I was 38 weeks pregnant, with my belly as hard as stone and my legs so swollen I could barely walk from the living room to the kitchen. We lived in a house in the Narvarte neighborhood of Mexico City, a house I had bought before getting married, with years of work as an accountant and many sleepless nights.
That morning, my mother-in-law, Doña Graciela, walked through my living room as if she owned everything. She was wearing a white dress, huge sunglasses, and carrying a new cream-colored suitcase. My sister-in-law Ivonne was filming herself in front of the mirror, saying that “Cancún was waiting for her,” while my husband Mateo nervously checked the plane tickets.
They had planned the trip for months. A beachfront hotel, expensive dinners, spa treatments, shopping. And the most outrageous part was that almost all of it had been paid for with my card, because according to Mateo, “it was a family gift before the baby was born.”
I never agreed. But every time I complained, Doña Graciela would say:
“Don’t be selfish, Lucía. When a woman gets married, she shares.”
Then the first strong contraction came.
It wasn’t a gentle warning. It was a brutal pain that bent me over in front of the dining room. I grabbed the chair, felt like I couldn’t breathe, and barely managed to say:
“Mateo… it’s started. Don’t go. I need to go to the hospital.”
He froze. For one second, I thought he was going to react like a husband, like a father, like a man. But he looked at his mother.
Doña Graciela let out a dry laugh.
“Oh, please. She’s been saying the same thing for days. She always needs attention when someone else is about to enjoy themselves.”
Another contraction made me fall to my knees.
“I’m not pretending,” I cried. “Call an ambulance.”
At that moment, I felt my water run down my legs and onto the floor. Ivonne lowered her phone, frightened. Mateo took a step toward me, but his mother grabbed him by the arm.
“The Uber is here,” she said. “If you miss that flight because of her drama, don’t ever call me Mother again.”
Mateo clenched his jaw. He looked at me from the doorway.
“Lucía, try to calm down. We’ll be back in a week.”
“A week?” I screamed. “Your daughter is being born!”
Doña Graciela opened the door and said without trembling:
“Lock it well. Both locks. Don’t let her go out and make a scene with the neighbors.”
And Mateo obeyed.
I heard the first lock. Then the second.
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