Chapter 10 - The Sovereign Summer
The evening sun dipped behind the jagged peaks of the Sierra Madre, casting a long, spectacular amber glow across the valley of Santiago. The waters of the dam were perfectly still, reflecting the purple and gold lines of the clouds like a massive, natural mirror laid out between the mountains.
The long wooden table on the terrace was covered in a bright white tablecloth, laden with plates of grilled meat, fresh tortillas, and bowls of green salsa made from the herbs in Mariana’s garden. Twenty representatives from the new logistics cooperative sat around the table, their loud, untroubled laughter filling the warm evening air as they toasted the success of their first operational quarter.
Santiago stood by the wooden rail at the edge of the terrace, a cold bottle of beer in his hand, looking out at the long ribbon of the highway stretching toward the horizon. The military backpack was gone, packed away in the storage house, its weight no longer needed to carry the burden of an artificial family name.
Mariana walked up behind him, her arms wrapping around his waist from behind, her head resting against his solid, steady back. "What are you looking at, Sergeant?" she whispered, her voice warm against his skin.
"I’m looking at the road, Mariana," Santiago said, turning around within her embrace to look down into her clear, beautiful eyes. "For ten years, every time I looked at a road, I was trying to figure out how to get to the end of it. I was always looking for the next post, the next mission, the next place to survive."
He reached down, picking up Valentina from the small playpen near the table. The baby let out a bright, high-pitched squeal of delight, her small, warm fingers catching his chin, her skin smelling of sun and fresh milk.
"And now?" Mariana asked, her smile brilliant in the fading gold light of the twilight.
May you like
Santiago pulled both of them close against his chest, his arms forming a thick, iron wall of protection that had finally found its true destination.
"Now, I’m already home," he said, the warm summer breeze catching their hair as the lights of the cooperative trucks flickered on along the distant avenue, moving safely through the valley beneath a completely open sky.
