The Gifts from Lourdes
“You see, a piece of jewelry isn’t important because of how much it is worth, my sons,” explained Luis Cruz. “It is worth more because it was a gift from my new husband. He allowed me to become the woman I truly wanted to be – Lourdes – when he pledged to spend his life with me. He knows of my past, and that I am a father to you, the treasures of my life.”
“Momma, that story is as beautiful as the lady you have become,” sighed Alberto, as he gazed at the 14 carat diamond. “And for you to give me andmy brothers – sisters that is – each a ring to show your love for us, well, if this is what being a girl is like, I want to be a girl – your daughter - for the rest of my life. Benito, Miguel, let’s stay girls and be sisters too!”
“I love being a pretty girl, and I love this ring, Momma,” answered Benito as beheld his hand.
“Thank you Momma,” whispered the youngest, Miguel, as he hugged Lourdes.
As all three young ladies – Annalisa, Bella, and Miranda - embraced each other and their beloved mother, their role model, Lourdes’s new husband, Carlos, stood across the studio watching his new wife and stepdaughters with immense pride.
As the years rolled on, Carlos happily watched each girl developed her own sense of feminine pride while maturing. Like his Lourdes, each Cruz sister would grow to be a stunning Latina beauty , who grow to be like their mother – a proud, sensual woman with a good man in their eternal thrall.