Chapter 13 - Maria Asked Me If I Was Afraid of Loving HerOne evening, Maria and I sat on the back porch.
Sofia was asleep upstairs.
“You've changed,” Maria said.
“So have you.”
She smiled.
“I was afraid of you.”
“I know.”
“Now?”
She looked at me.
“Now I'm afraid of something else.”
“What?”
“That I'll lose you.”
I stared at her.
For most of my life, love had meant vulnerability.
Now I understood.
Love meant having something worth protecting.
I reached for her hand.
“You won't.”
She squeezed mine.
And for the first time, I allowed myself to imagine a future.
May you like
Not an empire.
A family.
