Chapter 9

• She felt like she was in a fantastic tale, one where reality and fiction were mixed until something completely unbelievable was left, that's how she felt at that moment, so strange, uncomfortable, she wanted to laugh at herself for the decision she had taken. More than once, she had thought of renouncing that decision, but she supposed that there was no chance to go back, besides, it was only necessary to remember her mother so that the motivation to commit that act would never abandon her.
• He had invited her to his house, Amelia had refused and had told him that they could easily do it anywhere else, Maximiliano's answer had annoyed her: "You have to go to a discreet place, no one can discover that it is a fake marriage". Amelia thought it was too obvious that it was all a sham, she was a simple and unattractive woman of low means, who would suddenly marry a wealthy man who belonged to high society. She scratched her head, her mother was the only reason she accepted this, she reminded herself, forcing herself to remain seated there while she listened as Maximiliano spoke to a lady Amelia believed to be her mother. The fringes of that place were beautiful, everything had an air of expensive that intimidated Amelia.
• The two of them had gotten together more times than Amelia would have liked, to talk about how to do everything the right way. They had paid for a marriage license-he had paid for it. It had been a hundred and twenty dollars that it had cost-she hadn't had the money, and he hadn't seemed to mind at all. The second thing he had gotten, was a death certificate for his former wife, yet another pile of paperwork that Amelia didn't understand-nor did she want to understand, she doubted she would ever marry anyone else in her life. Also, he had told her they needed witnesses, she didn't think her friends were trustworthy enough people not to tell everyone that she was marrying for money, only Fatima, and she still hadn't called her to invite her.