Episode 1

Laura's Point of View

This was another one of those days when the hope of being a mother slipped through my fingers, again and again, like sand. The sky seemed to conspire, weaving a web of disappointments around me. The pregnancy test in the palm of my hand was the umpteenth slap in the face, a piece of white plastic that reminded me of the stark reality: the dream was denied to me over and over again.

My mother's soft voice broke the silence, an echo of warmth in the cold kitchen. "Are you okay, honey?"

I couldn't lie. I didn't even try. My gaze met hers, and in that exchange of glances, the silence said it all. I knew she needed no more words. She came over and wrapped me in a hug, the only safe haven. No one but her knew the agony of that pain that pierced my soul month after month.

"Don't despair, honey. Remember that you always have me to support you. If it's your destiny, a child will come. But if it's not, that wouldn't be the end of the world."

She only wanted to comfort me, but the echo of her words resonated against a wall of fear. I couldn't conceive of life without a child of the man I loved. And as if my own pain wasn't enough, Felipe's family was suffocating me with their pressure, waiting for the "future heir of the Nunez." The stress was breaking me down, eating away at me from the inside. My hair was falling out in clumps, the dark circles under my eyes were a dark map of my sleepless nights, and sleep, a ghost that eluded me. I knew I was destroying myself, but I couldn't stop.

Felipe arrived at lunchtime, punctual, as always. His eyes fell on the test in my hand and his face lit up with such a pure light that I felt even more miserable.

"Are you pregnant?" His voice trembled with emotion, and each syllable broke my heart into splinters.

I lowered my gaze, breathless, terrified by the reaction that was coming. "I'm sorry... It's still negative."

I watched the light in his eyes go out, little by little, until his face became a mask of disappointment. "Another day will be... I'm going to wash my hands."

This time, there was no hug, no words of comfort. Just an icy indifference. Panic seized me and the tears, which I had held back for so long, flowed uncontrollably.

My mother's words floated in the air, like a prayer to the wind: "Don't cry, my love, everything happens for a reason... you still have the option of adopting a little homeless child." Then Felipe turned around, and what I saw in his eyes was something I never imagined.

"That's not going to happen. I'm not going to adopt a child from who knows what kind of people. And you, Laura, stop crying, that doesn't solve anything."

His words were a harder blow than any negative test. Felipe left the kitchen without even looking at me, leaving a deafening silence that my mother hastened to break.

"Don't listen to him, honey. He's nervous, the pressure affects him too."

But my heart knew that wasn't true. The fear I felt was not about the pregnancy, it was about Felipe's indifference. That cold look, that way of turning around and turning his back on me, as if my pain was a nuisance. He was no longer the man who dried my tears, the one who hugged me until the sorrow dissolved. He was a stranger who silently blamed me for a situation I couldn't control.

My mother served me lunch and sat me at the table. The food looked appetizing, but I felt like a knot was preventing me from swallowing. My mother was talking to me, but her words were like distant murmurs. My mind only repeated Felipe's reaction over and over again.

"What if I really can't have children?" The question, which had terrified me before, was now accompanied by a new fear: "If I can't give him a child, will he stop loving me?"

Felipe's grandmother called me that afternoon. Her voice, generally sweet, sounded like a whip.

"Daughter, what's going on? I heard what Felipe said, why is he so upset?"

"Grandma, excuse me, but it's nothing..."

"Don't lie, Laura. The Nunez family needs an heir. If you can't give him a child, have you thought about a surrogate?, it's an option."

My mother, who was listening from the hallway, snatched the phone from my hand.

"With all due respect, ma'am, that's not your business, nor anyone else's but theirs. If you're going to pressure my daughter, I'd rather hang up the phone on you."

She hung up without waiting for an answer. My mother looked at me, her eyes full of tears, and hugged me.

"I'm not going to let anyone disrespect you. You are a strong and valuable woman, with or without a child. Don't let yourself be trampled, neither by Felipe's family, nor by him."

Her words were a balm, but I knew that the truth was there, in the air, like a shadow that followed us everywhere. I wanted to be a mother, but at a cost that was destroying me. And if the price was the indifference of my husband and the humiliation of his family, I wasn't sure I could pay it.

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