One year just after Christmas when Ximena is thirteen, she overhears her parents talking - a conversation she is not supposed to hear. She catches the word, "father," but wonders why they are whispering? Federico is the only father Ximena has ever known since he and her mom married six years ago. Of course, she knows she has a biological father, but her mom never talks about him - and Ximena never asks. All she knows is that he is "away" and doesn't...