Sumario

17. THE REPENTANCE

After breakfast, they tried to calm their restlessness by taking a long walk on the beach. The morning dew had left the few plants that lined the lonely beach life-giving moisture. The sea was in an unusual calm, and the sound of the sand slipping in the wake of the few waves was scarcely heard. They walked in silence, listening to the sound of the mobile phone.

Laura felt good walking through that wonderful environment with the man she fell in love with, not the one she divorced.

“Can I ask you what has become of your life in these last ten years? I have to confess that your personality change surprised me. I find you more interesting, and I have to say also more attractive! Instead, I feel much older, fat, and ugly ...”

“I do not agree, Laura, for me, you are still the same that I knew since we were children. The one I married, and the one that played with Nina on the beach.”

“Thanks, Sergio, you are very kind, but you are lying. I am no longer the same because I have done things that have marked and annulled my dignity and have no reparation ... But tell me about yourself. Have you remarried?”

“No, Laura, I have not remarried, because I have never felt divorced, only separated. I've always thought that if I got over my depressed mood, I could get you back. I am a one woman's' man. I have done these ten years looking for a job that frees me from my anxiety and lack of stimuli, which has caused our divorce. After much effort, I got a new job and since then, not a day went by without thinking of a possible reconciliation. I think I've always been in love with you. Even after the divorce.”

Laura felt her heart overflow with happiness because she did not expect her ex-husband to continue to feel affection for her. She hoped that he was married, and even that he had children and had formed another family, so she had already become psyched to accept it without illusions and settle for regaining their friendship. But the answer gave wings to her stunned heart.

“Laura, why are you going to quit your job?” Sergio asked the transfigured Laura.

Laura was not prepared to ask him that question, and she did not know what to answer unless she revealed the cause, but she was afraid of destroying everything they had gained in their reunion in those 24 hours. He would not find her behavior justified, which she herself did not justify. She remained in intense silence.

Maybe she should face the facts, she thought, and confess the truth to him, because eventually, she will know.

Her ex-husband expected an answer but did not want to pressure her.

“If you don't want to, you need not answer my question. I suppose you will have your reasons ...”

“Yes, I have,” Laura reacted, determined to end this distressing situation. “They cause my problems with Nina!”

“I don't get it.”

“Maybe you'll understand if I show you a page on the Internet.” Laura was willing to end her anguish and show him the pornographic photographs that her boss had sold to an Internet portal. She knew it would be the end of that hopeful reunion, but there was no use trying to hide it.

“Sergio, Nina ran away because she discovered something about my behavior that scandalized her!”

“And what did she discover?”

“Now, you will see for yourself!”

Laura turned on her cell phone and connected to the Internet. She wrote the portal's address where they had posted their photos and, despite her fears, hit the enter key. But the dreaded page did not appear, but a notice that the portal had been closed by court order.

“Well, Laura, what did you want to show me?”

“I do not understand, I cannot access this page. They have canceled it! But there were some pictures ...”

“Pornographic!” Sergio interrupted. “I think I know where those pictures are. They are here in this memory stick.”

Laura was confused and ashamed. How could her ex-husband have a copy of those pornographic photos?

“I don't understand! How do you get my photos?”

“Now, I am a State prosecutor, and I deal with crimes on the Internet. That portal had committed a crime of pedophilia. There is no longer any photograph of you anywhere!”

“So, have you known all along why Nina had fled?”

“Yes, I knew it! I just wanted to know if you accepted your guilt and were willing to rectify it. You have been very brave in wanting to show me those photos.”

Laura was about to burst into tears when her ex-husband took her hand, and they approached the seashore.

“Your past doesn't exist anymore!” And he threw the memory pencil into the sea, “only the fish will have knowledge of their existence! Now you can look up and look at my face to face with nothing to be ashamed of.”

Laura hugged her ex-husband and couldn't help crying, but now she was happy!

“Laura, Nina needs us reconciled, but we need her because she has made our reconciliation possible. I have an idea, I will buy two vanilla and chocolate ice creams if you promise that you will marry me again!”

The sound of the mobile phone interrupted the emotional reunion.

“It must be from Nina, thank God she answered!”

She opened the message, but Nina had not written the answer, but by Sofia.

«Dear parents of Nina. My name is Sofia, I am a widow with four children, but I have a good financial position. It was I who welcomed your daughter Nina and her friend, Nano. They are spending a few days in a country house, near to this town. I attached some photographs I took in this house. It would be important for you to come to my house and talk about your daughter because I cannot do it over the phone. This is my address ... I await your response. Kind regards, Sofia.”



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