Fiction: Nothing is ever forever

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Nothing is ever forever

It is a girl," the midwife informed her father and the man left the house, mounted his horse and no one ever heard from him again. Maria grew up listening to that story, not only from her mother's mouth who saw her as the reason for the abandonment of the beloved man, but also her family and all the people of the village made her see that the father's wish was to have a son who could be the firstborn and the owner of his things.
Perhaps because of that mark, Maria grew as wild flowers grow: she did not need much to survive. She learned to walk fast, to eat on her own, when she was just a baby. In time she became a brunette with pretty features, slender, giggly, humble and honest, who made do with what little love her mother could give her:

─If I had had a male child, not only would my husband have stayed with me, I would also have two men to work the land and the fields. Instead God condemned me to have a female daughter," Mary's mother repeated every chance she got in front of her and anyone who would listen to her. That village maintained a patriarchal culture, where a woman was nothing if she did not have a man by her side. For this reason, they not only agreed with the mother, but also saw Mary as a sign of bad luck.

So when Maria was old enough to start her own family, her mother encouraged her, almost forced her to marry. Although Maria was not in love with anyone, her mother chose for her the man with whom she was to spend the rest of her days.

So it was that without dating and without knowing each other very well, Maria married Alberto, a boy from the same village who had several plots of land of his own. From the first wedding night, Alberto made it clear to Maria that his wish was to have a son soon. That assertion, similar to an order, shook Maria, who could not stop thinking about her own birth.
Mary did not get pregnant quickly, so she had to listen to the complaints of her husband, her mother and the whole town:

─When do you plan to get pregnant? Are you taking anything to prevent it? - asked her husband angrily, "If you don't get pregnant quickly, I'll give you back your mother," he would threaten.

As always and as she was used to, Maria kept silent, refusing to disagree with the others, unable to express a different opinion and with a kind of fear inside her that kept her awake at night. Not even with the news of her pregnancy did Maria stop feeling fear: it was no longer about getting pregnant, now it was about the child being born a boy.

It has to be a boy," said her husband.

It will be a boy," people predicted.

I hope it doesn't happen to you like it did to me. I hope it's a boy," Mary's mother implored with some pity.

Maria's heart was beating fast and she felt inside her that the baby's heart was also beating very strongly:
─Just like me, my baby is afraid too,─ thought Maria hugging her belly as if in that gesture she could protect what she carried inside.

.
The day of delivery arrived and as if it had been a repeated movie, Maria heard the midwife tell her.

─It's a girl.

What had caused Maria so much fear had happened: her husband, her mother and the whole town turned their backs on her. But unlike her mother, Maria took her little girl in her arms and left that village as soon as she could.

Being far away, Maria, with her little girl, felt a happiness she had never experienced before. She felt so happy that she began to cry while kissing her baby who was sleeping peacefully. She took a deep breath, looked at the horizon as if it were the glow of a star, she was enraptured, at peace with herself, with true delight she said looking at her little girl:

─For you and for me, from this instant, everything will be different.

Thank you for reading and commenting. Until a new opportunity, friends.