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Tlacael rode in with leaders from neighboring families and settlements. Not with weapons raised, but with dignity. He stepped down, crossed the courtyard, and bowed—not to the father, but to the woman who had built a life with him.
“I have come for my wife,” he said. “The wife who chose me, as I chose her.”
Jimena embraced her gently. “I forgive you. And I go with the life that loves me back.”
Her father stood very still, surrounded by testimonials he had not commissioned. He looked at the woman before him, no longer a ledger entry, no longer a project to manage. Finally, he nodded, the smallest surrender a large man can make.
“You have my blessing,” he said.
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