But it was real.

The woman who had spent fifteen years certain that no one would ever believe the boy she was erasing had been answered, at last, by a court that believed the evidence.

Santiago did not celebrate.

When Magdalena asked him, gently, whether he wasn’t glad, he thought about it honestly.

“I feel at peace,” he said.

“That’s not the same as glad.

But I think it might be better.”