Chapter 10
Rosa’s funeral was small.
No cameras.
No chandeliers.
No powerful guests pretending sorrow.
Just Noah.
Amelia.
Me.
Dr. Pierce.
Detective Alvarez.
And three nurses who had once worked with Rosa and cried like sisters.
We buried her on a hillside overlooking the sea.
Noah wore a clean white shirt and the sneakers he now admitted were comfortable.
He held Amelia’s hand through the whole service.
When it was time to speak, he shook his head.
“I can’t.”
Amelia whispered, “I can read what you wrote.”
He looked embarrassed.
“It’s bad.”
“I don’t care.”
So she read.
“My mother was Rosa Reyes. She was not important to people who count money, but she was important to me. She told the truth when it was dangerous. She came back for a girl who could not run. I used to think that made her foolish. Now I think it made her my mother.”
Noah broke then.
So did I.
After the funeral, Amelia asked to stand.
I wanted to say no.
The ground was uneven.
The wind was strong.
But she looked at me with that new flame in her eyes.
So I locked the wheelchair brakes.
Noah held one hand.
I held the other.
Amelia stood beside Rosa’s grave.
Her legs trembled.
But she stayed upright.
“For Rosa,” she whispered.
Noah closed his eyes.
The sea wind lifted Amelia’s hair.
For one brief moment, grief did not look like an ending.
It looked like witness.
That evening, Miranda’s arrest became public.
Conspiracy.
Fraud.
Medical abuse.
Custodial manipulation.
Obstruction.
Possible involvement in Rosa’s death.
My mother was charged too.
Lesser counts for now.
Administering medication improperly.
Concealing evidence.
Financial conspiracy.
She called me from jail.
I almost did not answer.
Then I did.
Her voice sounded old.
“Adrian.”
“What do you want?”
“I did not know Rosa would die.”
“But you knew Amelia was being kept weak.”
She sobbed.
“I thought it was temporary.”
“For what?”
“For you to come back to us.”
There it was again.
Love as a trap.
I looked at Amelia sleeping on the sofa beside Noah, both exhausted from grief.
“I was never yours to own,” I said.
Then I hung up.
May you like
For the first time, I did not feel cruel.
I felt clear.
