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“I told her to go home and work things out with her husband.”
The clock continued ticking.
I could barely breathe.
“Why?” I whispered.
“Because I was stubborn. Because I thought marriage was a promise you kept, even when it hurt.”
His voice cracked on the final word.
I looked at the photographs again.
“What happened to them?”
He did not answer right away.
When he finally looked at me, the truth was already on his face.
“They died in a car accident six weeks later.”
I covered my mouth.
“He was driving,” Mr. Alvarez added. “He had been drinking.”
The room seemed to shrink around us.
“I’m so sorry.”
He nodded once, but his expression did not change.
“I had money saved. Not much, but enough to help her. I had this apartment. I had an empty room in the house. She asked for help, and I sent her back.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
“I knew she was afraid.”
His reply was sharp.
Then his shoulders dropped.
“That should have been enough.”
I looked down at the checks.
The first one was dated three years earlier.
I remembered the woman I had been then.
I remembered hiding in the bathroom so Trixie would not see me cry.
I remembered choosing between petrol and groceries.
I remembered feeling ashamed of every need.
Mr. Alvarez folded his hands.
“When you came here, you had the same look Sofia had that day.”
“What look?”
“Like you were trying not to ask for too much.”
My eyes filled.
He continued before I could speak.
“You had your daughter with you. Your car barely started. You looked at that little apartment like it was a palace.”
A weak laugh escaped me.
“It felt like one.”
“I decided I would give you time.”
“Time for what?”
“To stand up again.”
I stared at him.
“Then why make me write the checks?”
“Because I didn’t want you to feel like a charity case.”
The answer landed harder than I expected.
He pointed at the box.
“You paid your rent every month. You did your part. What happened after that was my decision.”
I wiped my face.
“Nearly $29,000 is not a small decision.”
“No.”
“You could have used that money.”
“I have enough.”
“You wear the same shirt every day.”
“I own seven of them.”
I laughed through my tears.