My husband gave me twelve slaps to defend his mother; I didn’t cry, I just counted each punch in silence, until a call from the hospital changed forever the home, the marriage and the lie he had decided to believe
My husband gave me twelve slaps to defend his mother; I didn’t cry, I just counted each punch in silence, until a call from the hospital changed forever the home, the marriage and the lie he had decided to believe
My husband raised his hand twelve times.
Every hit sounded like something inside me would break forever.
I did not cry. I didn’t beg . I did not cover my face.
I just stared at him and counted in silence.
– I’m telling you that this morning your mother threw away my mother’s medicines – I said, in a low voice, but steady.
Mateo Rivas was standing in the middle of the room of our apartment in Colony Del Valle, wearing a wrinkled shirt and eyes filled with a rage that wasn’t his. By her side, Mrs. Elvira, my mother-in-law, wiped invisible tears with an embroidered handkerchief.
—They were medicine for the heart —continued—. They cost nine hundred pesos. My mom has 2 stents. They are not sweet. They are not whimsical. They’re what keeps her alive.
Ms. Elvira let out an exaggerated moan.
—Did you hear that, Matthew? Did you hear your wife talking to me yet? I came to help, cook, wash, take care of baby girl… and she treats me like a criminal.
The word “help” made me laugh so hard.
— Help? —repeat—. In fifteen days she changed my mom’s medications three times. Last week he hid his blood pressure pills because he said “folk herbs are better.” Antier threw away her sugar-free cookies because, according to you, “big women shouldn’t eat weird things.” And today the excused emptied the emergency heart pills.
Matthew’s face has changed. But not into a doubt. Into the Rage.
—Sofia — he said through her teeth —, apologize to my mother.
I looked at him like I was looking at a stranger.
—No.
Ms. Elvira took her hand to her chest.
– Mateo, if you don’t defend me today, tomorrow I’ll return to Hidalgo. I didn’t raise my son for a woman to humiliate me in her own home.
And there was the exact point where Matthew stopped being a husband and returned to being only a son.
I knew her story. His father died when he was six years old. Ms. Elvira sold vegetables at the market, walked in the rain, collected coins to pay for college. Matthew grew up with a promise stuck to his throat: never to allow his mother to suffer again.
But it was one thing to honor a mother. Another very different was to allow him to destroy another.
—My mother exists too, Matthew — I said—. He also suffered. He also worked. He also deserves respect.
He clenched his fists.
—My mom is your mom since you married me.
—Then mine should be yours too.
Silence fell heavy.
For the first time, Matthew couldn’t find an answer.
Ms. Elvira approached him and shook his arm.
—Look how she dares me. See how it challenges you in your own home.
My home. The apartment was in my name. I had paid the hookup with ten years of working in a private clinic. But at that moment I understood that, for them, my effort was worth nothing compared to the last name Rivas.
Matthew took a step towards me.
—One last time, Sofia. Ask her for forgiveness.
—I will not apologize for defending my mother’s life.
His hand went up.
The first slap turned my face.
The room went mute. Even Ms. Elvira stopped crying.
I felt the burn on my cheek, the buzz in my ear, the metallic taste in my mouth. But I didn’t back down.
Matthew was breathing hard.
— Are you going to apologize?
Braided hair behind my ear.
—No.
The second one hit harder.
And then the third.
The fourth.
My body shook, but I’m still standing. No because it wouldn’t hurt. It hurts. It hurted as if each blow confirmed that the man I’d loved for four years had never seen me complete.
I had just seen the wife.
To the daughter in law.
To the woman who had to shut up so as not to make her mother uncomfortable.
—Ask her for forgiveness! — shouted Matthew.
The fifth.
The sixth.
Ms. Elvira wasn’t smiling anymore. Her fingers were shaking in the handkerchief.
—Mateo… ya…
But he didn’t listen to her.
7th one cracked my lip
The 8th made me put one hand on the table so I wouldn’t fall.
I breathed in slowly. I looked up. Matthew had a red palm. More frightened than furious. Like he woke up in the middle of something he had provoked himself.
—Four to go — I said.
He blinked.
—What?
—You raised your hand twelve times. You gave me eight. Four more to go.
Matthews face lost all color.
—Sofía…
—Finish it — I told him—. So that there is no doubt about who you chose to be today.
It didn’t move.
So I stepped into it.
Matthew, the man that just hit me, backed off.
At that moment my cell phone started ringing on the table. A name appeared on the screen that chilled my blood:
General Hospital of Mexico.
I answered with a shaking hand.
On the other hand, an urgent voice asked:
—Are you the daughter of Mrs. Carmen Salgado? We need him to come over now. Her mother was just admitted to the emergency room for a heart attack.
Looked up Matthew.
And then I said something that left him completely still:
—Ask your mother what was the last thing she said to her before she fainted….
To be continue in comment.
