But nothing terrified me more than to tell my parents.
My mother stared at my stomach as if I had brought shame to the house. My father didn’t ask me if I was safe or if the father of the child had abandoned me. He just pointed the finger at the front door.
“You disgraced this family,” he said coldly. “From now on, you are no longer our daughter. »
My mother started crying, but she didn’t stop him.
That same evening, they kicked me out.
I left with a small bag of clothes and less than twenty dollars. The next morning, everyone in town knew about it. We were whispering when I was walking past the market. The women in front of the church lowered their voices and stared at my belly that was rounding.
For several weeks, I slept where I could. Finally, an old lady named Rosa allowed me to rent a tiny room behind her house, near Guadalajara. She asked me almost nothing and sometimes left food outside my door without saying a word.
I worked until exhaustion.
When work started, Rosa took me to a small private clinic. There was no member of my family waiting outside. No one held my hand except Rosa.
Childbirth was difficult.
I remember hearing a baby cry.
Then I heard a nurse screaming that there was another child.
Twins.
I didn’t know because I had hardly received any medical follow-up during my pregnancy.
We put the first baby in my arms. She had black hair and the smallest fingers I’ve ever seen. I called her Valentina.
