A 70-year-old man marries a 20-year-old woman as his second wife to have a son, but on their wedding night, an unexpected tragedy occurs…
Don Tomás, elegantly dressed, drank some medicinal liquor that, he said, would make him feel young again.
He took Marisol’s hand and led her to the bedroom, his eyes full of anticipation. She, nervous, forced a smile, afraid of disappointing him.
The atmosphere became intimate.
Don Tomás whispered endearments to her when suddenly, his face contracted, his breathing labored.
He let go of Marisol’s hand, placed the other on his chest, and fell heavily onto the bed.
“Don Tomás! What’s wrong with him?” Marisol cried, her eyes wide with terror.
She tried to hold him, but his body was already rigid, drenched in sweat.
A hoarse moan escaped his throat, shaking the young woman.
The image of the liquor he had drunk minutes before flashed through her mind: what he had trusted to “rejuvenate” him had turned into a silent poison.
Desperate, Marisol called for help. Don Tomás’s daughters and other relatives burst into the room, finding the old man motionless and the young bride crying, lost in the confusion.
That night was a chaos of screams, running, and crying.
They took Don Tomás to the hospital, but the doctors could only confirm the worst: he had suffered a sudden heart attack due to exertion and age.
The news spread throughout the town.
People, already murmuring about the unequal marriage, now spoke louder.
Some felt sorry for Marisol, others mocked:
“He didn’t even manage to give her a son… fate is just.”
Marisol remained silent, her gaze lost.
She remembered his words: “I will do my duty.” But that duty never began; it all ended in a tragedy no one had foreseen.
After the funeral, the money received from the wedding was enough to pay her family’s debts and her brother’s treatment.
But in return, Marisol faced a cruel fate: a widow at twenty, forever marked as “Don Tomás’s second wife.”
Their wedding night, which was supposed to be the beginning of an engagement filled with pressures and expectations, ended up becoming the last night of a man’s life… and the beginning of the heavy cross a young woman would have to bear for the rest of her days.
