The Amado Women. Désirée Zamorano

the night here, recovering. Worst-case scenario, there may be possible long-term liver damage.”

      “He’s not going to die,” Mercy said, clutching Nataly.

      “No, ma’am,” the doctor replied.

      “Thankgodthankgodthankgod,” Mercy murmured to Nataly.

      Nataly stood in the hallway corridor while her mother went into her father’s room. Nataly peered in. There was her father, looking at her mother, looking like he really did love her. She waited a moment. Mud. That room, her father, were the color of mud, not gold, and her mother still shimmered silver. Did her mother still love him? It appeared she did, and it was a mass of tangled knots and threads within her, a malevolent tumor growing within. She stepped inside the room, patted her dad’s arm and said, “I’m glad you’re going to be all right.”

      Nataly and Mercy waited for Celeste and Sylvia in the hospital cafeteria. The empty chrome counters gleamed, the display cases shone light. There were vending machines for coffee, soda, candy, chips, wrapped sandwiches. Nataly could see that her mother had been especially beautiful for today, her hair and nails recently done. She still wore the makeup she had put on this morning. Nataly picked up her mother’s hand and held it between her own.