I do not own Encanto. This story is not for profit.


Chapter 24

November 2rd

Evening

All afternoon, Julieta, Pepa, and Bruno spent their time at their mother's side. Félix and Agustín not-too-subtly kept the grandchildren separate and busy at the work site so that special mother-child bonding time could take place between Abuela and her triplets. The bearing walls of the home were being worked on so that they were tall and strong enough to support a second story. The town swarmed over the construction site, bearing bricks, installing the bamboo wall supports, laying on the external plaster. Luisa was in charge of the cooking crew, and she shone in her element, a confident leader comfortably following her true passion. Camilo turned out to be good at plaster work, and he talked with Mirabel and Isabela about the murals he wanted to paint on the walls for the finished house.

Dinner was at the plaza, and it was a celebration of completing enough work to start on the second story and everyone's bedrooms. Abuela and her children arrived in time to help set up the tables, and Mariano joined the town band on his guitar as the Madrigals sat down to eat. Dolores craned her neck so many times that Mirabel switched with her so that she could be on the correct side of the table to gaze at him.

Bruno said Grace, and immediately followed that up with, "And thank you, kids, for handling everything at the building site today so that your mamás and I could spend a wonderful day with our Mamá that is much needed and much appreciated."

Julieta was tearful and glowing, and Pepa was more relaxed than Mirabel had ever seen. The muscles around Pepa's eyes finally relaxed all the way.

As everyone dished up, Abuela said, "Allow me to tell you all a story." Her gaze swept across the grandchildren. "It is a story you never will have heard before."

"What's the story?" Antonio asked.

Abuela smiled at him. "This is a story about a woman with three children."

Antonio seemed too young to understand the significance. "Where did they live?"

"Here, in the Encanto," Abuela said. "This woman had a terrible tragedy happen to her and her children. Her husband, the father of her children, was taken from her. Because of this, she could not remove the thought from her mind that the bad men would come back. The Encanto was not enough. She wanted a way to fight. To protect her home and her family and her new town. So she prayed to Dios el padre and to her beloved Pedro."

Antonio looked astonished. "That's Abuelo's name!"

Abuela met his gaze and nodded. "Si. And Dios el padre came to the woman in a dream, and said, 'I have given you a miracle. Use this miracle to protect your familia. Pedro is with me now, and he still loves you.' And then, in the dream, Pedro emerged from a blinding white light and embraced me. He said, 'Give them Gifts. Alma, give to them what I gave to you.' 'How?' I asked. And he said, 'When they touch the candle, they will be given whatever you ask.'"

"The candle ceremony," Antonio whispered.

"The candle ceremony," Abuela agreed. "When I awoke, it was my children's 5th birthdays. And in the hallway were three glowing doors. And I knew what to do."

She bowed her head and touched the locket with her wedding picture of herself and Pedro in it. "Or I thought I did. I have made terrible mistakes. I am so sorry, all of you. I made the choices that bound you to your Gifts, made you who you are, and I should not have forced you to be who you are not. You are not your Gifts. Most especially because I could not see clearly enough to give you the right Gifts in the first place. To give another person anything you can ask for requires great wisdom. I was young, and afraid, and I asked for foolish things. And I hurt you all terribly."

She raised her head. "It was only when Tonito came of age for the ceremony that I realized what would fit him best was what he already loved: animals. And I had learned to let go of the process and allow God to come in and decide what specific Gift relating to animals would be best. But it was too late. And I was too stubborn to see that my previous choices were such mistakes that we would lose our home."

Abuela looked to Bruno. "I am so sorry. If I had it to do again, I would never burden you with seeing the future." She looked to Julieta. "And I would never burden you with the responsibility for healing everyone in town." Finally, she looked to Pepa. "And I would not have made your emotions tied to your ability to control the weather."

To Isabela, she said, "I asked you to shut all the ugliness I feared out of the world."

To Luisa, she said, "I asked you to carry everything for this family and for the town to try to relieve my own sense of growing pressure."

To Dolores, she said, "I asked you to be a listener because I did not want to listen."

"Why did you give me the ability to shape shift?" Camilo asked.

Abuela bowed her head. "You were my first male grandchild, and I feared you would be the only man of your generation. I asked for a Gift that would allow you to be everything that we could ever need. I thought I was giving you a great blessing, but it turned out to be a curse."

Mirabel's heart had beat faster and harder as Abuela had gone along. She was terrified of what Abuela was going to say when it was her turn. There was no way she could run from the table. Her body was frozen. There was no way not to hear. She had only just opened her heart to Abuela again. She didn't want to hear what horrible things Abuela had been thinking on her 5th birthday that resulted in not getting a Gift. I loved you! I thought you loved me! I thought you were excited for me.

Abuela looked at Mirabel with tears in her eyes. She drew a handkerchief and dabbed her eyes with it. "I still cannot understand what went wrong with your ceremony, Mirabel. But I know...somehow it is my fault. I asked for a wondrous Gift to match your wondrous heart: the ability to see inside of people and be able to touch their hearts, to heal what Julieta's food could not."

Mirabel laid a hand over her heart, too stunned to cry. "That was my Gift?" You mean, what I've been trying to do since I saw the cracks is to use my Gift?

"And it was selfish. I was still grieving Pedro, and I mourned that Julieta's food could not heal a broken heart. I wished for you to mend hearts. And instead, your door disappeared, and the candle flickered, and I can only conclude that I angered God, and your door disappearing, your Gift not being granted, was to punish me."

"Except it punished Mirabel, too," Camilo said, looking angry.

Abuela nodded. "Yes. And I might have been able to give you a Gift at any time, but I was so angry that my choice had been refused that I blamed you, instead of looking inside myself. I was angry that you had refused my Gift. But I have learned that you wanted your Gift with all your heart. It was me. Not you."

Mirabel felt confused and saddened. "I see." She didn't know what else to say.

"If I could do it again, I would give you a Gift symbolizing the hope that you have given us all," Abuela said.

Mirabel nodded, her gaze falling to her plate. "If you have a chance to do it again..." In theory, they could get the magic back. But Mirabel refused to hope for a Gift the second time around. It had been painful enough to be denied once. To be denied again would crush her, and she was terrified of what she would do if she had to face a grief that enormous.

xxx

After dinner, Julieta linked arms with Mirabel, smiling. "Time for Mamá e hija time. I'm starting with you because I know exactly what I want to say to you."

Mirabel laughed nervously. "Okay."

Her mother guided her through the streets until they were far enough away from the party for it to be quiet. The music could still be heard, but it was faint. Likewise, the shifting breeze carried roasting corn and roasted meat unpredictably. The last pink rays of the sunset played out over the sky.

Julieta's steps slowed down, and she turned to Mirabel. "I have so much to apologize for. I didn't see you. I told myself you were fine."

"I mean...Fine can mean a lot of things." Mirabel grinned, but it was more like a grimace, and she knew it. I'm not ready to have this talk!

"When I would tell you that you don't have anything to prove, I was saying to you what I wished my Madre had said to me growing up." Julieta wrapped an arm around Mirabel and gently hugged her close to her side.

That would have never occurred to Mirabel. "You always seemed so comfortable, so confident." Then she thought of her sisters and what she had recently learned about them. Capable isn't the same as confident. Or happy. "I thought your Gift made you happy," she whispered.

Julieta let out a wet laugh and wiped her eyes with her fingertips. "My happiest moments have all been related to things not my Gift." She squeezed Mirabel gently. "Giving birth to you made me happy. Every birth has felt...so right to me. I wished I could disappear into being a mother forever and leave the other part behind. If I could just be the mother of three little girls..." Her eyes were faraway. Then she focused on Mirabel. "I'm sorry. I had a good life in some ways, and a terrible life in others. Maybe I should have thought harder about having you. And I know now that you suffered so much."

Mirabel didn't know what to say. She internally shut down. "No, I -"

"I thought that by saying the words, I could instill in you something that I couldn't feel about myself. I'm so sorry. I know now that it doesn't work that way. Going through the motions can't make someone believe. It's like faith. Going to Mass doesn't make someone a believer. And some people might not have access to a church for years, but remain faithful. Like poor Bruno. He was the only one who understood you, even before you didn't get a Gift. He had a special way with you. I think that he bonded with you more completely than any of the other children...and that's why he was the only person who understood how much protection and how much love you really needed." Julieta cupped Mirabel's cheek.

Mirabel realized she was crying; tears the same temperature as her skin rolled down her cheeks, some of them touching her mother's hand. "But he couldn't protect me from everything. No one could. I had to be strong. Like Luisa. I had to keep trying to be perfect. Like Isabela. I had to keep trying to be good for the community. Like you. And always be positive, and don't make anyone sad, and don't make anyone think of that day, that day I had to stand in front of everyone and not get a Gift."

She hugged her mother tightly and took off her glasses, clutching them in one hand as she buried her face against her mother's shoulder. "And I had no friends over the age of 5, ever, because they would all find out about my not having a Gift and un-friend me. Either because they knew they couldn't get ahead by being my friend, or because they felt like it was weird that I was pretending everything was fine. The people I didn't push away ran away because they figured out I was weird. Not cool like Camilo."

Julieta held her. "And I never even noticed."

"You were too busy." Mirabel sniffled. "You had people to heal."

"I was too busy for my daughters. Too busy for my husband. Too busy for anything except what the town needed." Julieta sighed. "Or what Madre thought they needed."

Mirabel straightened and put her glasses back on. "You don't have to be so busy that there's no time for us. It's a choice."

Julieta stroked her cheek. "I know. And Madre and I talked about that a lot today. I'll be spending more time with you, all of you, from now on." She smiled. "You know, one option is to make food ahead of time and bring it to the market and leave it at a stall, and ask the town to be responsible. The town has shown a level of wisdom and kindness that Madre never expected of them. We might not have to watch them like children after all."

"Children need to grow up," Mirabel said. "Take a step back. Let them figure out how to do things on their own terms."

"You certainly have done that, and I love the woman you have become." Julieta cupped her cheeks.

Mirabel looked deeply into her mother's eyes, finally feeling seen by her mother. I try so hard to see others because that's what I want people to do for me.

Two yellow butterflies came long and delicately danced over their heads, then departed. At that sight, Mirabel's chest filled with awe, and she discovered that she believed in God, just a little.