“Mom, your life is peaceful as it is… why complicate it?”
It wasn’t easy for Manuel either. His son was worried about money, inheritance… and what people would say.
But Manuel and I knew something that no one else seemed to understand.
At this age, we weren’t looking for money, or property, or a spectacular wedding.
We just wanted someone who, at the end of the day, would ask us:
“Are you feeling okay today?”
After many tears, arguments, and doubts, we finally made the decision.
We got married.
No big party.
No music or fancy guests.
Just a simple meal with a few close friends.
I wore a dark red dress. Manuel wore an old suit, but it was perfectly ironed.
Some people congratulated us.
Others shook their heads in disapproval.
I listened to them all… but I wasn’t twenty anymore to live according to what other people thought.
The wedding night arrived.
Even saying those words made me smile sheepishly.
The room was clean, with fresh sheets. I sat on the edge of the bed, feeling my heart pound, as if I were a young woman again.
I was nervous.
A little embarrassed.
A little excited.
Manuel entered the room and gently closed the door behind him…
And at that moment…
my whole heart began to beat even faster.
If you want to know what happened next on that unexpected wedding night… continue reading the story in the first comment.
Manuel entered the room and gently closed the door behind him.
For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.
The yellow lamp on the nightstand cast a warm light in the room. Outside, the night breeze gently stirred the white curtains. In the distance, the sound of a car passing on the quiet street could be heard.
I was still sitting on the edge of the bed, my hands clasped in my lap, feeling my heart pounding.
It was strange.
At sixty years old… and yet I felt like a twenty-year-old girl, nervous, clumsy, unsure what to do with my hands.
Manuel approached slowly.
His steps were calm, but his face also held a mixture of shyness and excitement.
“Are you nervous?” he asked with a small smile.
I let out a soft laugh.
“A little… and you?”
He scratched the back of his neck, as he used to do when he was young.
“Very.”
We both laughed.
That laughter broke the tension of the moment.
Manuel sat down next to me on the bed. I could feel the warmth of his body close to mine. For a moment, neither of us said anything. We were just there, sharing the silence.
Then, with an almost trembling tenderness, he raised his hand and gently touched my cheek.
“You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment,” he whispered.
I felt my eyes well up with tears.
Thirty, forty years… and yet, that man still looked at me as if I were the most important woman in the world.
Manuel leaned down and gave me a soft kiss on the forehead.
Then, very carefully, he began to unbutton my dress.
It was a gesture full of respect, almost solemn.
But just as he opened the dress and the fabric fell lightly over my shoulders…
Manuel froze.
His hands stopped in mid-air.
His breathing changed.
“Maria…” he murmured.
There was something different in his voice.
It wasn’t surprise.
It was pain.
I lowered my gaze.
I knew what I was seeing.
A long scar ran across my chest, near my left shoulder.
