The doctor softened her gaze when she saw me.
—Not only could he. Based on current data, it’s the most likely scenario.
Diego looked down.
Not towards me.
Down to the floor.
As if he didn’t want to meet the woman he had just destroyed out of ignorance disguised as pride.
But the doctor moved the transducer again.
And then her face changed again.
Not with concern.
With surprise.
—Wait —he said.
I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
—What happens now?
She enlarged the image.
Paola crossed her arms, uncomfortable, as if being there no longer seemed so fun to her.
Diego raised his head.
The doctor pointed at the screen.
—Here’s another gestational sac.
I was frozen.
-Other…?
He moved the device a little more.
A second dot appeared on the screen.
Smaller, but there.
And then, like a tiny response from the universe, another heartbeat was heard.
Strong.
Fast.
Alive.
The doctor barely smiled.
—Mrs. Laura, there are two.
I covered my mouth.
I couldn’t speak.
Two.
It wasn’t a baby.
There were two of them.
Two lives growing inside me while outside everyone called me a traitor.
Two hearts beating as Diego toasted with Paola in Polanco.
Two children whom their own father had already denied before even knowing they existed.
The doctor turned off the sound to give me space, but the echo of those heartbeats kept bouncing around in my head.
