The entire incident became too much for Nanay, who sat down and wiped tears from her eyes. “I could not believe that Agustin’s clothes had surfaced. I did not say that she stole them. She should not be upset.”
Mrs. Abellana put her arm around Nanay’s shoulder. “Kumare …” was all she could utter.
Linda did not join our novenas again. We did not see her walk on 17th Street. She went by 18th Street to get to the market or to the Beehive Hair Salon where she worked part-time, even though it was the long way around. Nanay did not get to see or carry Belen in her arms anymore. When Belen was baptized, she was not invited as a godmother.
“Linda knows how much I love that child,” she told Tatay, clearly hurt that she was not asked to be Belen’s godmother. “I delivered her, yet Linda did not inv
