A deaf farmer marries an obese girl because of a bet; what she draws from her husband’s ear leaves everyone stunned.

But peace is short-lived when it is based on the humiliation of others.

A month later, Clara found a crumpled note in the barn, tucked among the tools. She immediately recognized her brother Tomás’s handwriting.

“I told you he wouldn’t dare marry. I lost fifty of them, but I can still get them back.”

The paper burned his fingers.

That night, she confronted Elias, showing him the note she was holding. He read it and closed his eyes in silent rage.

“Did you know?” asked Clara.

It took him a while to respond.

—I found out after the wedding. Your brother came to the ranch drunk and made fun of me. He said he’d made a bet with some men in town that I couldn’t bring a woman home.

Clara felt suffocated by shame and anger.

—So I owed my father… and made a bet with my brother.

Elias looked up.

—It’s not for me.

She looked at him in silence.

—So why did you accept?

He took so long to answer that Clara thought he wouldn’t.

—Because I was tired of being alone. And because I thought a woman forced to come with me wouldn’t expect too much from me.

Those words pierced her.

Two people betrayed by the same world, Clara thought. He, for being different. She, for being a woman.

That night they didn’t speak again. They sat by the fire, shoulder to shoulder, knowing they were finally seeing each other for real.

The conflict came with spring.

Tomás showed up at the ranch with two men and a wry smile. He wanted money. He said that Clara, as Julián Valdés’s daughter, had the right to claim an old plot of family land, and that he could “solve” the matter if she returned to town to sign some papers.

Clara immediately saw the trap. He wasn’t driven by remorse, but by his own self-interest.

“I’m not coming back,” he said firmly.

Tomás burst out laughing.

—I’m not asking you.

Elias stepped forward.

—Yes, you’re asking her. And she’s already answered.

Thomas looked at him with contempt.

—Look here. The deaf man is already speaking.

Elijah did not move.

—And listen enough to know you should leave.

The tension erupted when one of the men attempted to grab Clara’s arm. Elias gave him a violent shove, sending him flying into the corral. The horses thrashed. Tomás reached for his belt, where Clara knew he kept a knife.

And at that precise moment, another voice rose from the entrance to the ranch.

—I wouldn’t do it if I were you.