Lucía’s life with her husband Daniel Herrera was a beautiful one. They lived in an elegant home in Querétaro, along with his father, Don Rafael Herrera, an elderly man who suffered a stroke and couldn’t take care of himself any longer.
He was a kind man Lucía respected and admired, and seeing him being as vulnerable as he was broke her heart. She always offered her help, but her husband told her not enter his father’s room since the nurse they hired was there to look after him.
When Lucía questioned Daniel’s request, he simply answered that his father didn’t want her to see him being vulnerable, so she agreed.
However, while Daniel was out of town, Lucía received a message from Enrique, the nurse. He said he had been involved in a motorcycle accident and needed to stay at the hospital for a couple of days. It wasn’t anything serious, but still, he was treated for some minor injuries.
Lucía went to her father-in-law’s room. Don Rafael was uncomfortable, but he couldn’t speak. “She approached him “My God, I can’t leave him like this,” Lucía said to herself. She knew Daniel would be angry, but still, she decided to listen to her heart. So, she prepared warm water, clean towels, and fresh clothes. “Don’t worry, sir. I’m here. No one should go through this alone.”
When Lucía removed Don Rafael’s shirt to clean his back, she froze.
Among the scars on the shoulder of her father-in-law there was a symbol of a tragedy she tried hard to forget, a tattoo of an eagle holding a rose.
Twenty years earlier, the orphanage where Lucía lived caught on fire and she would nearly die had it not been for a good Samaritan who entered the building building, wrapped her in a wet blanket, and took her out to safety. Before she lost consciousness, she could see the man’s tattoo, an eagle holding a rose, exactly the same as the one her father-in-law had on his shoulder.
When she woke up in the hospital, she asked about the man, but they told her he only took her there and left without revealing his name.
Lucía touched Don Rafael’s scars. “Was it you… who saved me?” she asked through tears. The old man only closed his eyes slowly as though he tried to say “Yes.”
Lucía hurried to call her husband. “Your dad…” she said, barely able to speak.
“What’s wrong with my dad?” Daniel asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Your father is the man who saved my life when I was a child!”
“You went into his room…” he whispered.
“I saw the scars! I saw the tattoo! Why did you hide this from me?”
Daniel then explained that it was his father’s decision. In fact, Don Rafael saw Lucía from afar from the moment he saved her life, making sure she never got into any sort of trouble. And then, when she and Daniel started dating, he didn’t want her to love his son for feeling gratitude for what his father had done. It was as simple as that.
Lucía returned to Don Rafael’s room and said, “Thank you for giving me a second life.”
