HE TOOK HIS FIANCÉE TO HIS POOR HOMETOWN TO TEST HER—BUT THE PAPER SHE HANDED HIM LEFT HIM TOO ASHAMED TO MEET HER EYES

only days away. Lucia slept in the room where Diego had grown up. Diego slept on a cot near the storage room. For hours he stared at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the old house—the wind against the tin roof, a dog barking somewhere far away, Carmen coughing softly, Lucia shifting once in the next room.

He remembered being nine years old and continue reading …