I heard later that Brenda had too much to drink and caused a scene that left the guests uncomfortable and Sofía in tears. The beautiful, perfect photo with her real mother had not gone quite the way she imagined.
The morning after the wedding, Sofía arrived at my door expecting the apartment keys.
Instead, I handed her a lease agreement.
I had rented the apartment out. Every room I had decorated with love, every corner I had chosen with her future in mind — now belonged to someone else on a signed contract. The gift had been intended for my daughter. For the girl who once ran to me when she was sick, who called me Mom before she learned it was complicated, who I had never once stopped showing up for.
That girl had made her choice three days before her wedding. And I had made mine.
“The gift was meant for my daughter — the girl who once called me Mom. Not for someone who reduced me to a stepmother.”
— Mariana
Brenda, seeing no financial reward waiting for her, abandoned Sofía once again — just as she had done when Sofía was three years old. Some people never truly change. They simply reappear when there is something to gain.
Sofía was left devastated, forced to start her married life modestly at her in-laws’ home, carrying the weight of choices she had not fully thought through.
And I booked a flight to Europe.
