Mirabel hears her hermanas and prima's love stories.
A/N: I have made an instagram, so come say hi! I recently got a drawing tablet, and I will be posting fanart. Same username as here. There is a drawing of Mirabel based on this fic
When Julieta re-entered the room, Mirabel was handing Luisa back the small ruana.
"Here, mija, eat."
"Gracias, Mamá." Mirabel accepted the plate her madre handed her, resting it on her belly. Before eating, she glanced towards Dolores. "So I take it you finally admitted to being in love with Mariano? What exactly happened?" She then took a bite of the fresh huevos pericos her mamá had made and she sighed when her normal pregnancy related back aches disappeared for the moment.
Dolores blushed a little. "You knew I loved him?"
"It was obvious. The way you looked at him, and then when he read poetry in the town square you would stop whatever you were doing to listen to him." Mirabel said, shrugging as she took another bite of her breakfast. She missed the guilty looks the others gave Dolores - it hadn't been obvious to any of them.
"I suppose it starts with you leaving." Isabela said, tucking her legs up and leaning into Luisa's side. "After you left and we spent weeks looking for you, in a sleep deprived moment with Tía, I admitted that I didn't want to marry Mariano. Tía helped me tell Abuela and the two of them took care of notifying the Guzmán's."
Hearing about her family spending so much time looking for her, made Mirabel feel a little guilty and uncomfortable. "I'm sor-"
Isabela shook her head and cut Mirabel off. "Don't be sorry, Mirabel. As much as you leaving hurt everyone, I honestly think everything happened for a reason."
Mirabel frowned and looked down. A hand under her chin lifted her face up and she met Isabela's eyes.
"If you didn't leave, I would probably be married to Mariano, and I wouldn't have mi bebé. You wouldn't have your esposo or your own bebés. Dolores wouldn't be with Mariano… and I think overall you have been happy where you have been, sí?"
Mirabel couldn't help the soft smile that graced her face at the thought of her small family.
"See, it has not all been for naught. Sure, we all wish things could have been different, that you didn't feel like you needed to leave for us to finally see you. But, perhaps, this was the best thing that could have happened. And now you are back where you belong, with your own family by your side."
"Gracias, Isa." Mirabel said, her voice full of emotion.
Isabela just smiled at her, and patted her knee. "Now finish up eating, and Dolores will take over her part of the story." She then sat herself on the arm of Mirabel's chair, her hand coming up to play with Mirabel's curls that hung loose today.
Dolores had gained a dreamy smile on her face as she recalled the events that happened after the ending of Isabela's courtship with Mariano. "Mariano, despite not being with Isa anymore, still came around to help the family often. He organized many of the search parties, or helped around Casita where needed. He had his mamá and abuela cook meals for us, so that Tía could rest. He started talking to me more, and I mentioned I liked to hear his poetry. He was surprised, but he admitted he was happy someone enjoyed listening to his words. I admit it was nice to finally be seen as well."
She let out a happy sigh, and continued. "It was about 3 months later that he officially asked me to go on a picnic date with him. We mutually decided to date for a while as we wanted to make sure that we were both on the same page, and it helped ease the talk of the town too. You know they love to gossip." She rolled her eyes, before giving Mirabel a wink. "As they say, the rest is history. We married, and apparently like you, it didn't take long for us to get pregnant with Adoria. Pedro followed just shy of 3 years later."
Mirabel grinned at her prima, so happy for her. Though she blushed a little at the teasing of getting pregnant so soon after marriage. "I'm so happy that you and Mariano found each other." She said, before finishing up the rest of her food. "Tus hijos son hermosos. Adoria looks like your mini-me."
"Gracias, Mira." Dolores replied, a proud smile gracing her face as she thought of her children.
Isabela took the empty plate from Mirabel, and set it on a side table to deal with later. "I suppose we may as well continue. Luisa," Isa turned to their hermana, "you would be next with Diego."
Mirabel eagerly turned to her hermana fuerte, excited to hear about the man who was able to capture her heart.
Luisa blushed at the attention, fingers still brushing along the newly embroidered ruana. The donkey's on it had made her smile when she saw them. "W-well, Diego was the reason the donkeys were always loose."
"Wait, really?" Mirabel's eyes widened. "He thought it was a good way to flirt with you? By giving you more work?"
A fond grin tugged at Luisa's mouth. "Well, he was a lot like Papá who would get Mamá's attention by hurting himself - more than usual -" they all snickered at that, "he didn't know how to get my attention other than letting the donkeys out while he worked for Señor López. He stopped once I had asked Señor López to fix his fence not long after you left."
"Then odd gifts started appearing on the doorstep overnight. For many months, at least once a week too." Julieta said, with an amused tone to her voice. "All with little notes to Luisa. Many were new books, another a new ribbon for her hair. He was so smitten." Julieta nudged her hija with her shoulder from where she had sat on Luisa's other side.
Luisa blushed lightly, but couldn't keep the enamored expression off her face. "Eventually one of the notes asked to meet at the fountain one night before cena. Poor Diego was so nervous that when I finally arrived he stood up so fast, he fell into la fuente." The tall woman let out a giggle. "He was tan lindo, sitting in the water with a bouquet of flowers that had gotten wet. He was so embarrassed, but it was the sweetest gesture anyone had ever done for me."
"I heard the whole thing, and Lu was instantly enamored." Dolores said, a smile on her face. "They talked late into the night, before Luisa realized the time and tried to sneak back into Casita."
"You are many things, mi leona, but you are not subtle in sneaking like Camilo." Alma spoke up with an amused expression on her face, causing Luisa to sheepishly smile.
"Sí, sí, we all know that I am as graceful as an elephant at times." Luisa winked at Mirabel, before continuing. "So anyways, we kept meeting up everyday. Eventually he admitted that the donkey enclosure had never been broken, and that he felt so bad for adding to my workload. I think by that point in our relationship, I had already guessed that that was the case." She smiled dreamily. "So we started dating about 3 months after Lolo and Mariano started, but we ended up getting married first en julio the year after you left. We both agreed that we wanted to wait a few years to have children though."
Julieta noticed Mirabel's frown. "¿Está todo bien, mi linda?"
Mirabel blushed, not sure if she wanted to broach the topic with her mamá, tía, and abuela in the room. But she decided to swallow her nerves and looked down to avoid everyone's eyes. "How did you wait?"
Luisa frowned, "what do you mean?" The other women in the room all frowned, except Alma.
"I think I understand." Everyone turned to look at the elder, including Mirabel. "Outside, the rest of the world does not look kindly on using preventatives for pregnancy. Mirabel would have been too young to know that Julieta makes a special tea for the women here, before she left."
"Heheh." Mirabel blushed deeper, rubbing a hand across her neck. "Yeah didn't know that… I thought the only way was, you know, to not…" She cleared her throat and looked down again with another nervous chuckle.
Pepa let out a laugh, causing Felipe to laugh with his own baby one. "I don't think Félix and I would have survived without being able to-"
"¡Mamá! It's enough I have to hear it, I don't want to hear you talk about it too." Dolores said, covering her ears.
"I can't help that your Papá and I have a very loving and physical relationship. I can only hope that you chicas all get to have that as you age with your own esposos." Pepa said with an unapologetic, wicked grin. "Right, Julieta?"
Julieta blushed like her hija menor. "Pepi, por favor."
"Don't be a prude, Juli. We've all walked in on you and Gus in la cocina in the middle of the night when you thought everyone was sleeping." Pepa teased.
"¡¿En la cocina?!" Alma gasped in shock, a horrified expression on her face as she looked at her hija mayor. It was obvious that this was news to her. The primas all were a mix of looking disgusted, exasperated, and amused, while watching their madres and abuela.
Julieta covered her face with her hands and sunk further into Luisa's side, trying to hide from her madres horrified look.
"Okay, apparently Mamá did not know." Pepa snickered. But a moment later a pillow smacked her right in the face and a crack of thunder filled the air in her surprise.
Isabela decided to get things back to what they had been discussing. "This explains why you already have three niños, and another on the way." She said, rubbing her hermanitas back comfortingly.
"I suppose it makes more sense now why familias are so much larger outside Encanto." Mirabel muttered, causing the others to let out small chuckles. She then cleared her throat, "can we change the subject now?" More snickers were heard.
Isabela smirked, and nodded. "I suppose it is my turn then."
Mirabel looked up at her hermana mayor.
"Let's see, it was about 5 years ago now that Christían found his way into Encanto. He and his sister climbed la montañas to escape from bandits and ended up finding the town. Before coming here, he had been trying to open his own nursery to grow exotic plants."
"Should have seen his face when Isabela made a bunch of plants pop up in her excitement." Pepa teased her sobrina. "I thought for sure he was going to either pass out from shock or explode in his eagerness to see more."
It was Isabela's turn to blush. "He challenges me to keep expanding on what I think I can grow." She tucked a strand of turquoise dyed hair behind her ear. "Needless to say, there was an instant connection there. He helped me set up a little stand in town. Christían runs the stand; we offer different flowers and plants. He also helps me organize requests. I have limited how many I take on at the moment."
Isabela stood and went to collect her hijo from their tía's lap. "Felipe, this is your Tía Mira. You're going to love her."
Mirabel watched him look at her curiously before he suddenly lurched forward in his madres arms. She quickly put her arms out to catch him as Isabela struggled to keep him in her arms at his sudden, unexpected movement. "Ba!" He exclaimed, reaching out to her as well. So that is how Mirabel ended up holding her youngest sobrino in her arms. He stood on what was left of her lap and his hands were on her upper chest. She held him steady so he wouldn't fall.
"Hola, hombrecito." She said with an amused grin.
His dark brown eyes flashed happily as he grinned toothily at her with his 3 teeth. "Ah!"
"Oh is that so?" She responded, which caused him to babble more. She just nodded and spoke with him like she was having a true conversation with him. Eventually he laid his head on her chest and curled around her belly. A sudden kick from the baby startled him and he frowned and poked the spot. "Oh, that's your primo pequeño. They are saying hola."
Felipe didn't really understand, and just tucked himself back up into his tía. Mirabel could feel his breathing slow as he drifted off to sleep. Her heart filled with warmth at holding her sobrino for the first time and him instantly taking to her. She had never thought that she would get to have a moment like this when she left. She sniffed, feeling tears come to her eyes; there goes her emotions again. A moment later she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to meet her hermanas eyes.
Isabela's eyes were just as wet as Mirabel's. They shared a smile, and Isabela squeezed her hand on Mirabel's shoulder. She then went and sat back down in her spot beside Luisa, who still had Julieta tucked into her other side. Mirabel sunk further into her chair a little more, and cuddled Felipe closer, content to listen to the quiet chatter of her family. Though soon enough, she followed her sobrino into slumber.
A couple hours passed, and the ladies decided they would join the rest of their familia outside for lunch. Julieta packed up lunch for them all.
Outside, they found the men and all the niños running around with a fútbol.
"Time for comida!" Pepa called out, causing the 16 heads to turn towards them.
"Mamí!" Aarón cried as he ran excitedly to his mother on his little legs.
"Hola, mi amor." Mirabel greeted him, running her hand through his curly hair as he hugged her legs. "Have you had fun with Papí and your primos?"
"¡Sí! I learnded to play fú-bol." He answered with a big smile.
"You learned to play fútbol? Muy bueno mijo." Aarón just nodded and then ran off to join his primos at the basket his abuelo was opening.
Mirabel looked up at Julio approaching, grass stains on his pants. She gave him a fond look, with her left hand on her hip and her right cupping her belly. "Did you have fun too, mi corazón?"
He gave her a sheepish look. "I may have gotten carried away a bit." He glanced down at his pants. "I suppose I'll have to travel home with grass stains, I forgot to pack extra clothes for myself."
"I can try and get them out later today, maybe you could borrow a pair from someone else. Better to try and get it out sooner than later. But we should probably head out en la mañana."
A thud was heard from behind Mirabel, and they turned to find Julieta standing there with wide eyes. The newly packed third lunch basket was lying on its side by her feet.
"You-your leaving?" She asked, voice breaking.
A/N: They're leaving? Will they come back? Are they leaving for good? Poor Julieta, having to hear about it like this
Translations:
Tus hijos son hermosos - Your children are beautiful
hermana fuerte - strong sister
cena - dinner
la fuente - the fountain
tan lindo - so cute
en julio - in July
¿Está todo bien, mi linda? - Is everything all right, my dear?
¡¿En la cocina?! - In the Kitchen?!
la montañas - the mountains
comida - lunch
Muy bueno - very good
En la mañana - in the morning
