PART 1
The sun was beginning to set behind the stone walls of the majestic hacienda in Jalisco. The atmosphere was magical, with papel picado (cut-paper decorations) waving gently in the evening breeze and the unmistakable sound of mariachi music playing in the background.
To any onlooker, this was the perfect wedding, the social event of the year. Mateo, a widower who had spent the last four years trying to rebuild his life, looked on as his 250 guests enjoyed the mole and tequila banquet.
It all seemed like a dream, but there was an emptiness that weighed heavily on his chest: his little daughter, Sofía, just eight years old, was nowhere to be seen.
Mateo frowned. He vaguely remembered the morning when his fiancée, Valeria, had been running around giving orders to the waiters, visibly flustered because the flowers weren’t the exact shade she’d requested.
In the chaos, Valeria had told him that Sofía would be playing with her cousins’ daughters. But two hours had passed since the religious ceremony, and the little girl hadn’t appeared. His heart pounding with a bad feeling, Mateo got up from the head table, ignoring Valeria’s annoyed glare, and started walking down the hacienda’s vast hallways.
She checked the gardens, the central courtyard, and the rest rooms. Nothing. The noise from the party faded as she ventured deeper into the service wing, a remote and dark area. Suddenly, she heard a faint sound. Muffled crying. It was coming from the last bathroom at the end of the hall.
Mateo turned the handle. It was locked from the outside. With trembling hands, he managed to open the door using a service key he found nearby.
Stepping inside, the scene chilled him to the bone. His little Sofia sat on the cold tile floor, her beautiful floral dress crumpled. In her hands, she clutched a crumpled piece of paper, stained with her own tears.
Mateo dropped to his knees in front of her. “My love, what are you doing here?” he asked, his voice breaking.
Sofia looked at him with her big, red eyes. “Valeria told me to stay here… that I was going to ruin the photos. That I was going to cry and that today wasn’t my day.”
Mateo’s world stopped. He took the trembling sheet of paper his daughter was holding. The words were written in a childish, hesitant handwriting, but each letter pierced his soul like a dagger:
“Dad, I know you’ve been very sad since Mom went to heaven… But I want you to smile again.
I just wanted to tell you that I love you very much, even though sometimes I’m really afraid of losing my place in your heart now that you have a new family…”
For Complete Cooking STEPS Please Head On Over To Next Page Or Open button (>) and don’t forget to SHARE with your Facebook friends.
