Dolores watched as her Abuela entered the room. She walked over to the cuffed hand. "Are you here to take me to my execution?" Dolores wrote on the paper that she had torn out of her notebook. Abuela looked at her with shocked eyes. What had become of her Nieta? How had she become so comfortable with her death? She had never witnessed an execution, but in the stories she had heard, the people headed to the hanging tree always went kicking and screaming.
"The opposite, actually," Abuela said. "You're now a free woman. You are free of all charges."
"How?" Dolores wrote down.
"Your brother and cousins went and got the video of that day," Abuela explained. That's when Dolores noticed her Abuela wasn't wearing her grieving shall. There was no doubt in Dolores's mind that she had passed it on to Julieta. Abuela unlocked the handcuff, allowing Dolores's arm to fall onto the bed. "Now, a certain Guzman is waiting to take you on a date. He wants to take you for a victory lunch since you've been proven innocent. I'm sure you'll be happy to get out of the house."
"What about the other body you found?" Dolores wrote.
"Oh, that was self-defense, right?" Abuela asked. Dolores nodded mutely. "If it's self-defense, then it's excused. Now, let's get you ready for that lunch. I think I hear wedding bells in the future. Can you hear them? Of course, you can. Your gift should be restored by now."
"How is it fair I'm still alive but Isa isn't?" Dolores wrote.
"It's not a matter of fairly," Abuela said. "It would be equally as terrible to lose either of you. You shouldn't blame yourself for her passing. You tried to save her. You didn't pull the trigger."
"How did you move on from Abuelo's passing?" Dolores wrote.
"When I first met him, he always had a saying," Abuela said. "Aprovecha el día. Any time I couldn't get out of bed, I remembered that. I had three kids to raise and a city to run. It's okay to not be okay, but you would disrespect them by not doing anything. So, Dolores, Aprovecha el día."
Camilo sat in Antonio's room. Chispi recently had cubs, and Antonio wanted Camilo to check them out. "They're very cute," Camilo said.
"I was thinking we could train one of them to help you get around," Antonio said. He cradled the capybara baby to his chest.
"Thanks, Toñito," Camilo said. "Hey, is everything okay? You seem to be down. Dolores is going to be okay."
"I'm just scared," Antonio sighed. "You, Dolores, and Isabela were gone for a long time. I didn't hear from you. Then, when you come back, you're badly hurt, Dolores is accused of being a criminal, and Isabela is dead. Where did you go? What happened? Will it happen again?"
Camilo sat Antonio in his lap. "Well, I'm going nowhere," Camilo said. "Neither is Dolores. Mamá and papá will tell you everything. Some really bad things happen. Nothing like that will ever happen again. I can promise you that."
Antonio wrapped his arms around Camilo's neck. Camilo held his baby brother close.
Aprovecha el día; Seize the day
