SYNOPSIS
(EXTENDED VERSION)
Back to: Part 9
Epilogue
Central protagonist: Andrew
Three years later, Andrew comes to Pablo's parents' house to celebrate the third birthday of Pablo's daughter, Isabel. He lives separately from them, but in fact he became a family member, and the girl is being told that he is her uncle. On paper, though, he is registered as her father: because in the surrogacy protocol, he substituted Pablo's secretly collected semen for his own. When the baby was born, he told Pablo's parents the story that he was infertile and Pablo agreed to become his sperm donor. He never revealed to them who he and Pablo in truth were to each other, and they never asked about it. It seems to no longer matter as now they're raising the girl together. The legal paternity of her, however, allowed Andrew to get a permanent residence permit shortly after her birth.
Andrew's medical career is steadily progressing. He's now a resident in a major city hospital, and working sixty hours a week he is happy with how different his workplace reality is from what he settled for over the years in Russia. He's actively growing his skills thanks to extensive training, and getting a steady middle-class income. Despite being visibly older than most of his colleagues, he doesn't experience ageism or xenophobia.
All of his dreams about a better future in Spain, except having Pablo by his side, have come true. But the love for Pablo never dies in his heart, and he finds wholehearted joy in caring about his parents and his daughter, as well as in reliving the memories of their winter spent together after Pablo's being diagnosed.
On Isabel's third birthday, her main gift is Andrew taking her to the sea for the first time in her life. Wat ching her delight, he remembers how Pablo and him both deeply loved the sea. On their drive home, the girl blurts out that every Sunday night Pablo visits her in her dreams. She mentions that her Dad never tells her why he died, and Andrew tries to explain that Pablo's heart grew too big and eventually broke. She wonders if someone could give him a new heart, and doesn't seem convinced when Andrew says it was not possible. However, she regrets telling Andrew about her Dad's visits — Pablo, she says, asked her to keep them in secret.
Two months later, on Pablo's birthday, the narrative shows the family reunite for his memorial. After visiting his grave, they have a dinner at home. As Andrew and the parents recollect the moments of Pablo's life in a conversation and through his photo albums, Isabel suddenly begs Andrew to take her to the beach. The grandparents think it's inappropriate, as now in November the sea is already too cold. She keeps pleading with Andrew, and then whispers into his ear that she needs to go to the sea so she could make a birthday present for her Dad. Andrew then agrees to take her there.
They come to the empty beach, and after Andrew sprawls a towel over the cold sand, Isabel asks him to close his eyes and keep them shut while she's making the gift. Ten minutes later, Andrew opens his eyes to a large heart-shaped scultpure near the waterline. She hopes it is big enough so that Pablo can see it from heaven, where she thinks he lives. She shares that since she disclosed his visits to Andrew, Pablo has never come to her dreams again, so she believes he's mad at her. By giving him this new heart on his birthday, she hopes he will forgive her, and, as it is Sunday today, visit her at night. Moved and heartbroken by her act of love, he cuddles her in his arms and assures her that Pablo will certainly come.
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