When we get to the car, Marco is waiting with the door open. I try to get up on my own, but Santiago is beside me in an instant. Marco takes Elena as Santiago guides me into the car before taking Elena and strapping her into her car seat between us in the back seat.

Eva is here too. She’s already seated in the passenger seat typing out a text to someone. She’s going to stay with us even though we’ve stopped the legal process of taking over guardianship of her. There’s no need for it now that my father is alive and well, and Abel is out of the picture.

Abel. I won’t think about him yet. Not today.

Marco closes the door, and a moment later, Santiago settles on the other side of the car seat, and we’re driving back to The Manor. For the first time since I married Santiago, I am happy to go home. In fact, I can’t wait to get home and start our new life with our family.

41

Santiago

Over the next two weeks, Ivy and I settle into a comfortable rhythm. The specialists come to the house to work with her on rehabilitation every day, and every day, we see improvements. She's walking on her own now. Eating on her own. Taking care of Elena when she can, stubbornly proving to herself and everyone else that she's capable.

I never doubted for a second that she wasn't.

I'm proud of her. I feel it every time I look at her, and I understand that's what it is because I feel the same way watching our daughter grow and change every single day. We've all come leaps and bounds from where we used to be. But there are still a few lingering points of tension that haven't been brought up.

Abel, for starters.

At first, I didn't know what to think of Eli's intervention at The Tribunal. But now that I'm a father myself, I can see it for what it is. He did it for me, and he did it for Abel. He doesn't want me to ruin what I have with Ivy. And he feels responsible for the man Abel has become. At some point, he must have realized there was no stopping him. Seeing it from a different perspective, as a father myself, I can't imagine how difficult that decision must have been for him.