He wasn’t from the village. He came from a rough town near the highway, working in a small auto shop. Inside him lived resentment—a belief that life had cheated him.
At first, Camila softened him. They married quickly and had two children: Mateo and Sofia.
But Derek couldn’t accept their life. Poverty gnawed at him. He began drinking more. He never hit Camila, but his words were enough to wound.
“If it weren’t for you and these kids, I’d be somewhere better,” he would say. “You’re holding me back.”
Camila endured it—until one night, he humiliated her in front of the children.
The next morning, she left.
She gathered her children and returned to her mother’s house. Elena didn’t ask questions. She simply opened the door and held them.
Derek never came back.
A month later, they heard he had crossed into the United States. No message. No money. Nothing.
Camila stopped crying after that. She focused only on her children.
But something else was happening.
At first, it was dizziness. Then weakness. Then she began collapsing.
Elena took her to the city.
The diagnosis was devastating: advanced cancer.
Camila accepted it quietly. “How long?” she asked.
Months.