looked so proud. I had never seen that exact expression directed toward me. Then Lucía was born. Three years later came Oscar. Dad retired from insurance the same year Oscar arrived, and those two children became the center of his calendar. He drove to Vanessa’s house three times a week. He built Lucía a backyard swing. Oscar became obsessed with a children’s book about trains, and Dad read it so often he could eventually recite most of it without looking at the pages. There was something beautiful about watching him
The man who stepped in when my father refused to walk me down the aisle
