By day he worked making furniture and repairing what was ordered by the town market. By night, under a light bulb, he made small pieces of wood to sell at the weekend market.
The pineapples grew up with milk, water, simple soups and fever poultices in which the only medicine was the rough hand of their father on their foreheads.
She learned to change diapers, prepare bottles, comb hair and braid hair.
He quit smoking. He quit drinking alcohol when his friends invited him after work.
“That money is for my daughters’ milk,” she said.
There were days when he couldn’t afford to buy milk for the three of them. He ate tortillas with salt so that they could have egg and meat.
The neighbors murmured:
—A man raised three pineapples without a mother… who knows if he will get ahead.
Doп Rafael solo soпreía coп humildad y segЅía lijaпdo el muЅeble que tepía eпtre maпos.
Valeria—the eldest—was studious and strong. From a young age she helped her father in the workshop, cleaning and arranging tools.
Camila —the one in the middle— was brilliant with numbers. She loved doing the accounts every time a client arrived.
Sofia —the youngest— was quiet, loved books, and spent her afternoons reading on the small porch of the house.
The three of them went to school in worn-out shoes and backpacks given to them by neighbors. But they never missed a class.
The day the three were accepted at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Rafael sat in front of his house and cried like a child.
—I couldn’t give them wealth… I just hope they are good women.
The three of them hugged him tightly.
—Dad, we will not allow you to lower your head for us again.
Valeria became the founder of an important group, a designer specialized in social housing.
Camila directed a technological investment fund and appeared frequently in economic magazines.
Sofia was the director of a private educational chain and was recognized as one of the most outstanding young businesswomen in Mexico.
Sυ fortυпa se coпtaba eп thousands of millions of pesos.
The day they took his father to live with them in a large mansion on the outskirts of Mexico City, Rafael continued to get up early, prepare coffee and clean the chairs as when he lived in Veracruz.
The old village house remained intact. They didn’t sell it. They didn’t remodel it. It was a sacred memory that nobody dared to touch.
And it was precisely then… when Marisol appeared.
Marisol appeared on a gray afternoon, when the sky over Mexico City seemed about to burst into rain.
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