The Daughter He Considered a Burden

Before the accident, Sofía had been different in her father’s eyes.

She had been the daughter who rode horses through the estate.

The girl who loved books.

The child who asked questions.

The one who dreamed about a future beyond the walls of San Jerónimo.

But everything changed when she was twelve.

A fall from a horse left her unable to walk.

For many people, such an injury would have brought compassion.

For Don Rodrigo, it brought disappointment.

He did not see a daughter who needed support.

He saw an inconvenience.

A person who no longer matched his vision of what an heir’s daughter should be.

The wheelchair that was brought from Mexico City became, in his eyes, a symbol of weakness.

To Sofía, however, it became something else.

A reminder that while her body had changed, her mind and spirit had not.

But her father refused to see that.