It took 24 hours to arrive, but only 20 hours to get back. They didn't stop as much, but still had to make frequent stops to let Penny rest and so they could sleep. On the trip there, Rosa got out a lot to walk around with Antonio, but coming home, she didn't. She got out a few times for bathroom breaks, but that was it. She hardly ate or drank anything the whole time. She just laid down, turned away from Antonio, refusing to talk to him, occasionally crying as quiet as she could. It was such a stark contrast to when they were coming and she could hardly stop talking with him. She just wanted her mom.

It was torture with how long it was taking, but she tried to just listen to the nature sounds around her to keep her mind occupied. Antonio felt awful for her. He wanted to give her a hug, but any time he would so much as put his hand on her shoulder or back, she'd pull away. He felt bad, thinking she was mad at him. Truthfully, she was just really embarrassed. She felt awful that she dragged him on this journey and it was all for nothing.

It was the middle of the night and Antonio had been asleep, but he woke up to the sound of Rosa crying. He turned over and saw she was facing away from him. She was still refusing to talk to him or even look at him, but he couldn't stand not doing anything to help her. He sat up and scooted closer to her and, very slowly, put his hand on her shoulder. She froze, but didn't pull away. That was a start. "Rosa," he whispered. "I'm here for you. You don't have to suffer alone."

She had been trying so hard to not cry so loudly and bring attention to herself. She didn't like crying in front of anyone, unless it was her parents. But Antonio saying she shouldn't suffer alone was all it took for her to finally acknowledge his help. There was no hiding her feelings with him.

Antonio thought she'd stay right where she was, but she surprised him by turning around and hugging him. She buried her face in his shoulder and cried. He wrapped his arms around her tight. He couldn't find the right words, so he just stayed quiet and held her close. Antonio wanted to take her pain away and he hated that he couldn't. Through the sobs, she said, "How come he doesn't want me? What's wrong with me?"

He closed his eyes for a second, processing her question. He hated seeing her like this. She didn't deserve it. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with you." he said as he ran his hand over her hair. "You are an amazing person and he's too blind to see it."

She continued to cry. It was a few minutes later before she spoke again. She took a few deep breathes as her sobs finally started to stop. "I'm sorry, Antonio. You came with me on this trip and it was all for nothing. I'm just so embarrassed." She pulled away from him and wiped her eyes and cheeks. "You have no idea how much I appreciate you coming with me. I'm just…I'm so sorry."

"Hey, there's no need to apologize. I was happy to come with you. I'm just sorry it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to."

She nodded. "Me too."

He laid down and she laid down next to him, laying her head on his chest. She closed her eyes and listened to his heartbeat, taking deep breathes and relaxing. He wrapped an arm around her. They were able to get a few more hours of sleep before continuing their journey early in the morning.

It was lunchtime and Mirabel was making food for herself plus Isaiah, Ivan, and Elena. She had tried to keep her mind busy the past two days, but it was impossible. She knew her daughter was safe with Antonio, but she was still so ready to see her again. She wanted this to go well for Rosa and was praying so hard she came back happy. She gave her two weeks and it had only been two days, so she knew it could still be a while before they were back.

The kids were all playing in the living room when Dolores came running in the kitchen. She was panting. "Mirabel! I can hear them!"

She dropped the piece of food in her hand and went running with Dolores out the front door. They stood on the porch and Dolores listened closely. "They're getting closer and closer."

"What do you hear?"

Dolores listened again and said, "I hear…the horse trotting and their heartbeats. They're not talking."

They both waited so impatiently until finally they could see the horse with the carriage coming. They could see Antonio sitting up and holding the reins to the horse, but they didn't see Rosa. Once they got closer, Mirabel could see Rosa was laying down. As they got closer, she realized she was sleeping.

As soon as they stopped, Mirabel ran to them. Antonio jumped off and Mirabel wrapped him in a hug. "Oh, I'm so glad you guys are back." She pulled away. "But…wait…it's only been two days. I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Antonio slowly shook his head. "Not a good thing at all."

"Oh no." she said. "What happened?"

"Well…we found him, very quickly actually, in the first town we got to, but…" He shook his head a little, closing his eyes. "It was horrible. He has another family, a wife and kids. He shut the door in her face."

Mirabel gasped. She suddenly remembered when she went to tell Javi she was pregnant many years ago. He told her he never wanted kids. It was obvious things had changed. She was wracking her brain, trying to figure out that if things had changed, why did he not try to find Rosa? She was his daughter first. Why didn't he even want to attempt to get to know her? She had told him she wouldn't allow him to come in and out of her life and he only had until she was born to decide, but she did give him that other chance when Rosa was 3 and he immediately said no. Mirabel didn't know why he didn't want to be a dad to Rosa, but she was devastated for her daughter.

Mirabel was sad and angry, but had to be there for her daughter. She walked around Antonio and climbed in the carriage and got next to Rosa. She ran her hands through her hair, stopping to put her hand on her cheek. Rosa blinked for a moment and then opened her eyes. She looked up at her mom. She had spent so much of the last 20 hours crying and she honestly thought she was all cried out. But seeing her mom opened the floodgates again. She raised up, collapsed against her mom, and just sobbed.

Mirabel wanted to cry, too, but she had to be strong for her daughter. She held her close and rubbed her back. She knew there was nothing she could say that would make her daughter feel better, but she still said, "My darling girl. I'm so sorry, mi vida." This reminded Mirabel of the evening of her 21st birthday party when she sat not far away from where she was now and she had cried while her mom held her close.

Finally, Rosa said, while still hugging Mirabel, "I want Papa."

Mirabel turned to Dolores and whispered, "Go find Max."

"On it," she said and walked off.

Rosa wasn't crying as hard anymore, so Mirabel asked, while tucking hair behind Rosa's ear, "Do you want to go inside, baby?"

Rosa nodded and so they both climbed off of the carriage. As they were about to head inside, Mirabel looked at Antonio and glanced at the horse and carriage. She felt bad for leaving everything there, but Antonio just nodded and mouthed, "got it."

As they were about to head up the stairs, Elena came running by. "Hi Mama. Hi Rosa!" She instantly saw the tears and said, "Why are you sad?"

Rosa just turned her head away and Mirabel wrapped her arm around Rosa. "Go play with your brothers, mija. I'll be down in a little bit."

"Okay!" She ran off.

Mirabel could see various family members around them and kids running all around, but she ignored it and focused on her daughter. She walked with Rosa into her room and closed the door behind her. Rosa walked right up to her bed and laid down. Mirabel sat down next to her and rubbed her hand on her back. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Rosa had more tears fill her eyes. She sighed heavily and then said shakily, "He has a whole family there and I'm his daughter, too, yet I mean nothing to him. I told him to please just…give me a chance. I said we didn't deserve to be walked out on, but he had a chance to make it right. He wanted no part of it and kept saying it was too late. He…even…shut the door in my face, just like he did to you and Tia Isabela." She put her head in her pillow and cried some more.

This is what Mirabel was afraid of. She wasn't even mad at Rosa for going to find him. She was mad at herself for allowing her to do it, but she was mostly mad at Javi. For some reason, this man decided that the daughter they shared together was worthless. Rosa was Mirabel's entire world and it broke her heart that her daughter was feeling this way. Mirabel laid down next to her. "I'm so sorry, mi amor. You did not deserve that and it's not fair."

Rosa looked at her. "Mama. I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you. You were right. You were right about everything. I should have trusted you." She was silent for a moment before saying, "I give you permission to tell me you told me so. I deserve it."

"Honey," Mirabel ran her hand over her cheek and through her curls. "I would never say that to you. Of course, you wanted to meet him and know who he is. He's your father." Mirabel smiled. "It's actually kind of funny, because your Abuela Julieta told me to take things slow with him at the beginning of our relationship. Obviously, I did not. So, when he didn't come to my party, that's basically what I told her. I said it was my fault and I shouldn't have moved too fast. But do you want to know what she told me?"

"What?"

"She told me it wasn't my fault that I fell in love with him. He was the one to blame." She paused for a moment. "And he is the one to blame in this situation, too. You traveled so far to see him and any person with a soul would appreciate that. I'm just so sorry you had to experience it."

More tears filled Rosa's eyes as she said, "He told me I wasted my time to go see him."

Mirabel had to blink back the tears. Over 15 years later and this man was still causing so much heartache. She hated it. Mirabel brushed Rosa's curls back and kissed her on the forehead. "I wish I could take your pain away." she whispered. "I'd rather him hurt me a million times over than for him to hurt you even once."

Just then, Max opened the door. Mirabel and Rosa turned to him. Max briskly walked to the bed and as soon as he set down, Rosa set up and they wrapped their arms around each other. The tears were flowing once again, but it wasn't just from being sad. She was so thankful to have this amazing man as a father to her. She was honestly a little jealous of her siblings for having him as their biological dad. When they pulled apart, Max said, "Dolores told me a little bit of what happened. Oh, I'm so sorry, mi vida."

She nodded as a tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it away and said, "I just wish I had listened to you and Mama. I just don't understand how he can go through life, knowing I exist, knowing I'm here and…still want nothing to do with me. It's like he wanted to be a father, but not a father to me. What do his other kids have that I don't have?"

Max didn't know that part. He gasped, looked at Mirabel, who just nodded. He turned back to Rosa. "It's not you, Rosa. I promise it's nothing you've done. Or nothing your mother has done." He smiled at Mirabel and she smiled back at him. Max remembered Javi telling him he might want to be involved if Mirabel wasn't her mother. It was the comment that caused Max to punch him in the face and he would love to do a lot worse than just that now. He loved Mirabel with all of his heart and couldn't imagine not being with her. She was the best mother to all of their kids. Javi was the crazy one. "He is the one with the problems." Max chuckled nervously. "I actually, uh…ran into him in town one day when you were a year old. I told him he didn't know what he was missing out on not being a father to you and he said he might want to be a dad if your mom wasn't the mother." Rosa's eyes widened and she gasped. "I lost all self-control I was holding back and punched him in the face."

Rosa couldn't help but laugh at that. "You did not! Papa, you punched him? Seriously?"

"Oh, he sure did." said Mirabel rolling her eyes.

He shrugged. "I would say I'm sorry, but…he deserved it. Everyone else in the family thought so, too. Abuela Julieta gave me a high five. Tio Bruno told me he wishes he could have gotten to him sooner. So, I was not alone in wanting to give him a fraction of what he deserved."

Mirabel said, "I wasn't too happy with him for hitting someone, but…I understood why he did it."

Rosa laughed again and looked between her parents. "Well…either way, he's the crazy one. Mama, I'm so lucky to be your daughter. You're the best, no matter what he says."

Mirabel smiled, grabbed Rosa's face, and kissed her on the side of her face. "Thank you, amor."

Rosa looked at Max. "As horrible as he is, that's how great you are."

Mirabel put her hand on her chest and Max's eyes filled with tears. That meant so much to him. He loved Rosa so much and he was so glad she could feel that love. "You know I love you so much, right?"

She nodded. "And I love you, too. You're the best dad. I wish you were my biological dad instead of him."

Mirabel and Max both chuckled at that. "Well, I would love that, too, but you wouldn't be you if I was your biological dad."

The three of them stayed in Rosa's room for a little while longer before coming downstairs. A lot of the family was there and they all gave Rosa hugs and told her how sorry they were. Julieta pulled her close and didn't want to let go. Rosa knew this would always be something that would cause her pain, but she was thankful to have such a large, loving family to help her through it.

As the family was all talking and hugging with Rosa, Mirabel walked up to Antonio. She hugged him tight. "I can never thank you enough for being there for my sweet girl."

"I'll always be there for her, no matter what."

When they pulled apart, Mirabel smiled at him and then looked at her daughter. She was being hugged by Pepa at the moment, who was telling her she'd like to strike Javi with lightning. Mirabel smiled, thinking she had to best family in the world.

The next chapter is the last one and it's my favorite one of the whole story. We get some good bonding between Mirabel and Rosa.