Mother Caridad moved closer.
“That sounds like you.”
Esperanza smiled faintly.
“I hope so.”
She ran her hand over the dusty tabletop.
“There was a box here.”
“What kind?”
“Wooden. Small. Mother Inés placed papers inside it.”
“Consent forms?”
“Perhaps.”
Esperanza opened her eyes.
“She said she would keep them where no one could use them without my permission.”
Mother Caridad looked around the room.
“Did she say where?”
“No.”
They searched the cabinet, the desk, and the shelves.
Nothing.
At last, Esperanza sat down.
“Mother, what happens if Elena is the biological mother of Tomás and Miguel?”
“We do not know that she is.”
“But if she is?”
Mother Caridad pulled the other chair closer.
“What are you afraid of?”
Esperanza looked toward the garden beyond the window.
“That she will want them.”
“They are legally in your care and the convent’s care.”
“That was not my question.”
Mother Caridad understood.
“You are asking whether she will feel they belong to her.”
