Page 79 of Chris

She put Maria on the horse first, tucking the kitten into a rucksack for her daughter to carry close to her chest, before heaving herself onto the animal, too. They came out of the stables in a slow trot.

“Don’t look back at the house,” she told her daughter.

Maria frowned, tipping her head back to peeked up at her mom. “Why?”

“Because if they know we see them, then we can’t lie later when we come back.”

“Not supposed to lie, Mamá.”

Valeria struggled the most with these moments. She wanted her child to be a good human being—a person with values, and morals. And with one white lie came more white lies, right?

Still …

“Sometimes, we have to lie, Maria.”

Her daughter blinked. “To Jorge?”

She didn’t miss how it wasn’t Papá when someone couldn’t hear Maria. That just proved to Valeria that her daughter understood what she said even if she wanted her mother to explain it better.

“To him, and people that help him,” she agreed.

Maria nodded. “Okay, Mamá.”

Valeria checked behind them, though she told Maria not to. No one watched them leave, and even Carla had disappeared. No one saw them take the horse out.

It didn’t matter.

Valeria pressed her heels into the sides of the horse and clicked her tongue. That slow trot became a gallop, and she continued looking over her shoulder until the ranch disappeared. Still, no one saw them go.

The ride to the cliffs went by quickly. She should have planned the ride better—attempted to grab food to take with them so that Maria could have a supper.

Her daughter didn’t seem to mind.

Maria busied herself with wildflowers and her kitten. She didn’t notice her mother sitting along the edges of the cliffs. Valeria watched the horizon, and the choppy waters down below. They stayed like that, Valeria staring, and Maria playing, and before long, she heard hooves hitting the ground in a gallop.

Approaching.

She just knew.

It wasn’t someone coming after her.

Not to take her back.

It wasn’t Jorge, or his men.

Valeria peeked over her shoulder. She could tell who it was by the way he sat atop the animal, both comfortable and confident.

She also sensed him.

Chris.

Apparently, her heart hadn’t finished breaking.