A Letter From Ma. Elena Delgado (nee Nazario)
to her niece Angelica,
dated 15 January 1897
Dear Angelica,
Darling, forgive me for not writing to you. I was—there are no other words for it—caught up in my own drama. Or your Tio Miguel’s drama. I will not get into details because
you can probably guess that it had to do with another woman. I will truncate my story, darling, because I’m writing not to vent my emotions, but to check on you. It’s such a cliche,
darling: your uncle had a fling with a younger woman. It is always a younger woman. Always. They seem to abound, these younger women, trolling, looking for older vulnerable men. Why they
don’t prey on other young men, I’ll never know. In any case, there your uncle was, sneaking about over the holidays, bringing home the scent of s
