“Where did you get that?” He asked, his voice broken. “Tell me now!” Who gave you that necklace?
Camila swallowed. She was white with fear, surrounded by rich, curious, and merciless faces. For a second, it felt like she was going to pass out.
But then she said, almost in a whisper:
“I… I couldn’t get that necklace, ma’am. I was born with it.
It was as if the air had been ripped out of the hall.
No one moved.
He didn’t even breathe.
Dona Isabela blinked once, slowly, as if her brain refused to understand those words.
“What… Did you say?
Camila shook hands together, trying to hold back her tears.
“The woman who raised me said she found me when I was little… at a church party, in the interior of Minas Gerais. I don’t remember anything, because I was just a child. She said that, when she found me, I was crying a lot and wearing this necklace. She kept repeating that she never had the courage to sell, because it seemed to be the only clue as to who I really was.
Dona Isabela staggered backwards.
One of the guests pulled up the chair, but she didn’t sit down.
He kept looking at Camila as if he were facing a miracle too scary to touch.
“What was this woman’s name?” He asked, in a low, urgent voice.
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