Disclaimer: I do not own Encanto. This story is not for profit.
Chapter 29
November 7th
Afternoon and Evening
Pepa
Of all the rooms on the second story of the house, the bathroom had been completed first. By the time Pepa clambered up the ladder to join Félix on the main platform, which would become the hallway, the tub had been installed by a team of half a dozen men from town. Her husband grinned at her. "You're just in time to help us paint, amor." He was dressed in a canvas smock, and he dropped another such smock over her head. "These are from Garcia, the painter. We wouldn't want paint on your beautiful dress." He kissed her cheek.
Camilo popped out of the bathroom, which currently still needed its door, also wearing a smock. "Mamá!" He brandished a house painting brush. "Let's get to work!"
"Do you have a fever?" Pepa teased.
"After the walls are primed, I'm going to paint murals," Camilo said.
Pepa joined him in the bathroom. It wasn't like their old bathroom, which had changed size so that no one was ever crowded no matter how many people needed to get ready before breakfast, but there were multiple small sinks, two water closets, and a large soaking tub. With the space they actually had, the best bathroom possible for a large family had been designed.
Buckets of white paint were already open and stirred, and the pans of paint were ready as well.
Félix entered after Pepa. "Now, paint is real magic! Finally, something that motivates our son." He handed Pepa a paintbrush. Camilo grinned. "And while we paint, you can tell us about what Bruno said."
Pepa instantly felt internal thundering. "Bruno asked me to think about Mirabel."
Camilo looked warily surprised. "Mirabel?"
"Think of Mirabel how?" Félix asked. He gave her a wide berth, working on a different wall.
Pepa vented her feelings into vigorously attacking the wall with primer. "What makes Bruno think I have time to think about Mirabel? Mirabel caused all her problems herself, as far as I'm concerned! Her response to not getting a Gift was to pester everyone every day. I would have loved to not get a Gift." She scoffed. "Some 'Gift'. Never being able to keep a secret or be tactful thanks to the weather always reacting, the weather always changing to reflect my mood no matter what I do, getting rained on all day…Mirabel is the luckiest Madrigal in all existence! And what does she do? Complain that she doesn't have some soul-crushing responsibility from God to uphold every minute of every day. That child can't be happy about anything."
"She felt left out," Camilo pointed out, painting his own wall slower, in measured up and down strokes.
"Ugh!"
"Like she wasn't one of us." Camilo sounded remorseful.
"That's ridiculous! I have no time for a child's brooding."
"Pepi, I think you're being too hard on her," Félix said. "You see how mi suegra treats people in the family with no Gifts. And she was always convinced that what happened that day was Mirabel's fault. Your Madre sets the tone for the family, and there's nothing much we can do about that. You might think it's ridiculous, but Alma has held a grudge all this time. Your Madre is the queen of holding grudges! She made Mirabel's life miserable. Mirabel couldn't move on from the failed Gift ceremony because Alma wouldn't let her move on from it. Every day it was rubbed in her face."
"Antonio wouldn't like her if she was really such a downer," Camilo said. He wielded his paintbrush with broad strokes against the wall. "And on his birthday, the only person who made him feel better about facing everybody staring at him was Mirabel. I felt really jealous of that, because I was trying to help him feel better, and he didn't even giggle. Instead it was Mirabel who got him to his door. But since Mirabel helped us start talking to each other, he's told me why he loves Mirabel so much. Mamá…Mirabel is a great person. And I've been a jerk. And I think we all have been."
"Hey, I've always been nice to Mirabel," Félix said. "You don't need to lecture me."
"You're nice to everyone," Camilo said. "You're her tio. Have you ever really helped her with anything?"
"Sure, we do chores all the time together, you know that."
"I mean with a personal problem."
"She would have to ask me first."
"Did you make it seem like you wanted to be asked?"
"Why are you needling me?" Félix stopped painting and frowned at him.
"Because you ought to feel like you have a special connection to Mirabel," Camilo said, frowning back.
"What are you talking about?" Félix asked.
But Pepa grasped the point, and tears filled her eyes. Her shoulders slumped, and she stopped painting. She couldn't hold back her emotions, no matter how much or how repeatedly she tried, and now that her emotions couldn't cause damage to everyone around her, there was no reason to fight so hard. "He's right. We're family. And I never even thanked her for practically raising Antonio from a baby for me. I took for granted what she was doing because she lived in the Nursery…and I never stopped to consider how I would feel if I had been asked to raise a baby when I was 10 years old. I couldn't have handled it anywhere near as well as Mirabel has. And I never even asked if she needed something in return." She wept, letting her tears spill over.
Camilo set down his paintbrush and patted her back, looking concerned. "I think it would mean a lot to Mirabel if you talked to her now. Tell her how much you appreciate what she's done for you and Papá and Antonio."
"I don't know how to begin to make it up to her."
"Just…do something. Start somewhere."
"In my family, we siblings all raised each other as much as our parents did," Félix said.
"Did you see Isabela and Luisa helping to raise Mirabel?" Camilo demanded. "No. No, you didn't. Mirabel went out of her way. No one told her to. No one even asked her to."
"I never thought about the fact that Isabela and Luisa didn't help with Mirabel much, so Mirabel was really putting herself out there for Antonio in a way that she never experienced herself," Félix said. "That's hard. Where does that kind of compassionate and responsible nature come from?"
Pepa sniffled. "Julieta has always had to look out for us because of her Gift. She passed that on to her girls. Isabela and Luisa have been helping, in their own ways, just not with Mirabel. I wish Isabela could have found it in her heart to be kinder to Mirabel – as kind as she has been to me and to Madre."
"I noticed sibling rivalry between Isabela and Mirabel and never thought much of it," Félix admitted. "Clashes between siblings are normal – especially brothers against brothers and sisters against sisters. And Isabela and Mirabel are such opposites. They were bound to fight. I told Mirabel not to put any stock in it."
"I don't think that was enough," Camilo said. "And Isabela can be…"
"Can be what?" Félix asked.
Camilo turned away and resumed painting the wall. "Never mind. Isabela's your 'angel'."
"Oh, stop sulking," Félix huffed.
Pepa crossed over to Camilo and kissed his cheek. "You're our angel, too."
"Our fallen angel, maybe," Félix retorted.
Camilo grinned at his father with a deliberately, satirically wicked expression. Then he relaxed and shrugged. "I'll take it. Besides, I don't want to be like Isabela."
Félix gave his son a look. "Okay, say what's on your mind. What's so terrible about Isabela?"
"Other than the fact that everything you know about her is an act? People accuse me of acting my way through everything, but that was my Gift. Isabela's Gift was growing plants. What's her excuse? Making Abuela happy?"
"Maybe she did want Abuela to be happy," Félix snapped. "Maybe she wanted all of us to be happy."
"Not Mirabel." Camilo stared at the wall and resumed painting it. "Never Mirabel. Before her 5th birthday she didn't matter to Isabela because she was too young to have a Gift, just like Antonio didn't matter to anybody, and after Mirabel's 5th birthday, she didn't matter because she didn't get a Gift. Isabela has no use for people like that."
"You're being too hard on her. And what's all this nonsense about Antonio not mattering?"
"We never spent time with him, did we? We dumped him on the only other kid with no Gift."
"We didn't dump Antonio anywhere! Mirabel volunteered to take care of Antonio!" Félix shouted.
"Why would she do that, when she could have her own life?" Camilo asked. "She was 10. A 10-year-old wanted to take care of a baby?"
Félix stomped over and grabbed Camilo's ear. "You listen to me. Don't talk about things you don't understand."
"Ow, Pá…"
Pepa didn't feel ready to tell Camilo this story. "It happened at first because I was very tired after having Antonio. Mirabel was already in the Nursery all the time. She volunteered. But after I felt better, I don't know why Mirabel kept taking care of Antonio."
"You mean, you never even asked her?" Camilo asked incredulously.
Félix let him go. "Your Mamá is feeling generous to talk about this time in her life at all. Having a baby is hard. You might be able to shapeshift into a person who looks like a woman, but you'll never know what it's like. You can be a man anytime you want. So be respectful of experiences you can't understand."
Camilo rubbed his ear and scowled.
Pepa resumed painting and lapsed deep into thought. I'll have to ask Antonio how to make this up to Mirabel. He knows Mirabel best – and he's a total sweetheart. I know he'll think of the perfect thing to do.
But right now, Antonio was helping Dolores.
xxx
The bathroom was nearly done, and Pepa took a break and went to the open doorway to get some fresher air. There was no roof yet, but she had still been surrounded by paint fumes for almost three hours.
Pepa saw Dolores and Mariano climb up to the second story of the house together, Mariano first, and then he gave Dolores a helping hand. Dolores' response was to smile at him adoringly and press herself to his side. Pepa stumbled back in shock.
Dolores and Mariano approached the bathroom together.
Camilo caught her. "Here, Mamá. You must be getting tired. We've been painting for three hours straight." Then he saw Dolores and Mariano and froze. "Pá."
"What?" Félix asked, turning around. He literally jumped back a step. Then he brandished his paintbrush. "Oye! Why are your hands all over my daughter, Mariano?"
Dolores scowled. "Because I want them to be. There's nothing wrong with it. And his hand is on my hand. Calm down, Papá. Mariano and I have wonderful news for you." She hugged Mariano's arm with both hands. "Tio Bruno's vision wasn't a disaster. Mariano is the man of my dreams, and he wants to court me."
Pepa felt blindsided. If she had still had her Gift, it would be telling everyone all about her feelings – in the form of a hurricane. She took a deep breath, shaky, and placed a hand over her pounding heart.
"And I'd like to marry her, as soon as she'll let me," Mariano added.
"And when did this all happen?" Pepa asked. How did I not know she is in love with Mariano? Why didn't my baby tell me? I never would have let Mamá hatch her plot to marry Isabela off to Mariano if I had known!
"While we were walking, just now," Mariano said.
Félix took a deep, slow breath. "So…let me get this straight. You went on a walk…without a chaperone…with my daughter…and you instantly proposed to her without asking me or her mother or the head of our family first?"
"We were walking around to find you," Dolores said in an exasperated tone.
Mariano seemed abashed. "I see what you mean. I'm sorry. I was only thinking that – well, I was thinking about how amazing Dolores is, and everything she said in her confession, and how this must be fate. I had no idea how she felt about me. If I had mistakenly married Isabela, I would have hurt her so badly. I'm glad now that I didn't become engaged to her cousin." He squeezed Dolores' hand.
"What confession?" Félix asked.
"That I've been in love with him ever since I was 14 years old." Dolores squeezed Mariano's arm gently and leaned against him, looking up at him with soft adoration. "Tio Bruno's vision must have shown Mariano and his mother walking with Abuela to the engagement dinner, and he jumped to conclusions. Thank goodness."
"It's true, sir," Mariano said earnestly. "Dolores told me all about the vision. I had no idea. I'm glad that the truth is that Dolores and I are meant to be married."
Dolores' expression became fondly critical. "Someday," she reminded him.
Mariano looked flustered. "Right. Someday."
"No more unchaperoned visits." Félix crossed his arms in front of him in the air and then flung his arms apart. "No more walks, no secret trysts, no visits to each other's houses without escorts, and no making out."
"Pá," Dolores said, rolling her eyes. "You did all those things before you married Má."
"That's exactly how I know to forbid it!"
"I promise you, sir. I will not damage Dolores' honor." Mariano looked very, very serious and sincere. "May I…serenade her? I would be outside, and she would be in her room. Does that need a chaperone?"
"Maybe, to be on the safe side," Félix said.
Dolores groaned.
"All right," Pepa said, patting her husband's arm and stepping in. "Now that I've let you vent, let's be reasonable. I agree that Dolores and Mariano need a chaperone, but not for serenading. And as long as I can extract a promise that if they walk each other home after a date, all they do is talk – no kissing, nothing that comes after kissing – then they can have that time without a specific chaperone. But no cutting through back alleys to get away from the townspeople. You stay on the main roads. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," Dolores mumbled.
"I promise you, I'll do what's right by Dolores," Mariano said.
"If you don't, and we get our magic back, I'll electrocute you," Pepa said.
"Yes, ma'am."
Dolores sighed. "You're as bad as Papá."
"He's right. We know about all the sneakiness and all the before marriage touching because we did it. And we want better for you," Pepa said sternly.
Camilo stared at Mariano the entire time with narrowed eyes.
"Because I was born only seven months after you and Pa were married," Dolores said, glancing at Mariano with a grimace. "I'm not having babies anytime soon. Either we get married sooner and put it off until I'm old enough to be a mother for the first time, or we get married later and have babies sooner. Mamá was 29 when I was born. I don't want to be younger than that."
Mariano kissed her hand. "Whatever you want."
"That better be your answer for the rest of eternity," Félix said. He came forward and shooed Mariano. "All right, we already know that Abuela will approve of this, so it's down to us. As long as you're respectful and you court Dolores for at least a year before bringing up your proposal again, I'll consider it. Now, we all have work to do. You can't hang all over my daughter and smile for the rest of the day. Got it?"
"Yes, sir," Mariano said meekly. "I'll see you at supper, Dolores. Maybe I'll get to walk you back to the house? In a group, of course."
"Vamos," Felix said.
Mariano obligingly scooted off. "Nos vemos luego."
Dolores frowned at Félix. "Pá."
"What? This is all so sudden!" He gestured with both hands.
Dolores propped a hand on her hip and stared him down. "Not for me. And if you mess this up, I will never forgive you." She walked away.
xxx
Pepa, Félix, and Camilo finished the detail work on the bathroom's primer coat and broke for lunch. Dolores was already eating, surrounded by Mirabel, Luisa, Isabela, and Antonio. Pepa caught snatches of Dolores talking about Mariano and Julieta's girls congratulating her. Isabela seemed genuinely fine with all of this.
Across the work site, Mariano was speaking with his mother and with Pepa, Julieta, and Bruno's Madre.
"He doesn't waste time," Félix muttered. "It's like he thinks Dolores will sprout wings and fly away."
Camilo snorted.
"As usual, no Bruno," Pepa muttered, scanning the crowd and failing to find her brother.
Julieta directed the crowd plating up lunch. As Pepa, Félix, and Camilo moved through, her husband and eldest son partook generously. Pepa's stomach was tied up in knots, and she took far less. Thankfully, Julieta didn't scold her.
When they finished lunch, they joined the team of people helping with the outer walls of the second story. That was hard work that distracted Pepa until it was time to quit for the day.
xxx
After supper, Julieta surprised Pepa by securing Dolores and taking Dolores out into the courtyard. After only a couple minutes, Dolores came back inside, borrowed a picnic blanket from a very obliging Mariano, and explained, "I'm going to show Tia Julieta my favorite stargazing spot. Privately."
"Why can't I go?" Antonio asked. "I want to see the stars."
"Sorry, Toñito, but Dolores and Julieta have something to discuss," Bruno said.
Antonio looked disappointed, but he wasn't argumentative – unlike Camilo at that age. "Okay."
"Thank you," Dolores said. "I promise I'll show you on another clear night." She departed.
Mirabel grinned at Antonio. "Well, if we ask Señora Guzman very nicely, she might let us climb onto the roof so we can look at the stars from there."
Antonio ran up to her. "Please?"
Señora Guzman chuckled. "Of course. Mariano does that all the time. Mariano, show them how to get up onto the roof safely."
"I'll be happy to," Mariano said, seeming to mean it.
Pepa watched Mariano guide Mirabel and Antonio upstairs. He really is the perfect man. She reminded herself to find a way to thank Mirabel for being so good to Antonio, but first, she needed to have it out with her brother. She turned to face Bruno. "Speaking of conversations…outside. Now." She grabbed his wrist and dragged him outside. As soon as they were behind the house, she let go of his wrist. "Why didn't you tell me it was Mariano you saw in your vision?"
Bruno backed up rapidly. "I didn't know!"
Pepa marched straight at him, determined to reach him and strangle him. "You didn't know it was Mariano? What are you, blind? He's the handsomest man in the village! No one else looks like him."
Bruno waved his hands as he continued to dodge her. His rats squeaked at his distress. "But he didn't look like him yet when I had the vision! That's not fair."
Pepa balled her hands into fists. "Because of you, I almost ruined Dolores' life!"
"You didn't do anything one way or another. I only see things that are set in stone, except for this one time about Mirabel. That's the only vision that had two endings!"
"What good is a vision if you can't see anything worth seeing?" Pepa shrieked.
Bruno's eyes widened. His shoulders squared, and he stopped backing away from her. "I don't know!" he yelled back. "What good is being connected to the weather if you rain on yourself every time you're sad?"
At these moments, it was like Bruno turned into a different person. He would switch from the timid apologizer who wanted nothing more than to live like a hermit with his rats for company into this yelling, accusing, confrontational Bruno who had repeatedly burnt their Madre's eyebrows off with a sudden outburst. The timid Bruno drove Pepa insane, and this confrontational Bruno made her feel like it was safe to let out the worst of her feelings without actually hurting him. "Madre finally admitted that it's her stupid wishes that directed the candle, so it's all her fault our Gifts never worked!"
"Yes, it is! So stop shouting at me!"
Pepa took deep breaths. "You're right. I should be yelling at Madre for shoving Mariano up Isabela's ass when Dolores wanted him."
Bruno took deep breaths as well. "Right." His nervous expression came back. Rats poked out of his collar and then scampered onto his shoulders. "Uh…Pepa…"
"What?"
"Te amo."
Pepa smiled at him crookedly, relieved beyond measure, even though his rats were all staring at her. "Te amo. Even though your rats are disgusting and you haven't brushed your hair since we were 6 years old."
Bruno grinned. "It hasn't been that long." He stuck his hand in his hair and his fingers promptly got stuck when he tried to comb them through. "Oops." He pulled his fingers out of his hair with a chuckle. "I guess I should take the time to fight a comb through my hair."
Pepa rolled her eyes. "Let me. You'll just make the tangles worse." She led him by the hand into the house, up to the bathroom, and got to work on him. It took an hour; after getting the tangles out she made him wash his hair and then rubbed coconut oil through it. "Moisturize," she scolded him. "Hair needs to be moisturized. I know Mamá taught you the right way to do things. You don't live in the wall anymore. You need to start taking care of yourself. And while we're talking about self-care, cut your fingernails."
Bruno grinned sheepishly. "Thank you, hermana." He hugged her.
She hugged him in return, startled, and then relaxed into his embrace.
xxx
Pepa climbed up onto the roof with less agility by far than when she had been Mirabel's age, but she still made it safely and without feeling like she was in danger of breaking her neck. Mariano, Mirabel, and Antonio all sat in a row looking up at the stars. "May I join you?" she murmured.
Antonio looked over his shoulder. In the dim light, it was difficult to read her son's expression. "Mamá." He sounded surprised. "You want to look at the stars, too?"
"I do."
Mirabel scooted over, making a space between her and Antonio.
Pepa sat down, struck by Mirabel's kindness.
She looked back on the morning after Antonio's party with regret. Antonio's reliance on Mirabel in front of the entire town had embarrassed her. She hadn't understood why her baby hadn't asked her to walk him up to his door if he was so nervous. Mirabel acting disruptively at breakfast after that had been too much. Even when Mirabel had run away down to the river in distress, Pepa had been angry, hypocritically angry, at Mirabel's theatrics. Learning Mirabel was fated to make Casita crumble in the first place during Isabela's engagement dinner had effectively sealed Pepa's negative opinion of her niece, so part of her had hoped Mirabel couldn't be found. It had been easy, very easy, to forget that Mirabel had literally taken baby Antonio out of her arms when she had her nervous breakdown shortly after Antonio's birth and reared Antonio with minimal help from the adult women of the household. By the time Mirabel was 12 years old, she had taken over completely and had made toting a toddler wherever she went seem effortless.
Pepa gently touched Antonio's head, gazing at his sweet face.
Antonio looked at her with an expression of confusion. "Mamá?"
"Hm?" Pepa answered.
"Are you all right? It's hard to tell how you're feeling now that you don't make weather anymore."
Pepa was startled and struck through. "You liked that you could always tell what I was feeling?"
Antonio nodded. "Mm-hmm. It made it very easy. I didn't have to ask. I always knew. It was scary when you were mad, but I still liked it."
Pepa hugged him. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you more."
"You were busy," Antonio said, as if that satisfied him and it was okay with him.
Pepa felt ashamed.
"Now that we don't have our Gifts, will you have more time?" Antonio asked.
Pepa squeezed him tightly and kissed his forehead. "Even if we get our Gifts again, I will still have more time with you. I have learned my lesson. Lo siento mucho, mucho."
"For what?" Antonio asked.
For letting a little girl raise my little boy as her own. "For not letting you know how important you are to me. You are my son. I am your mother. Te amo."
"Te amo, Mamá." Antonio still seemed puzzled. "Do stars make you sad?"
"Sometimes."
Antonio nestled up to her side. "When you're sad, sometimes it helps to just be sad all the way. Then it passes more quickly."
Mirabel tensed. Pepa thought Antonio didn't notice that, but she did.
Mariano yawned. "Sorry. It's been a long day. Please, feel free to sit here as long as you want." He stood and bowed. "Good night."
"Good night, Mariano," Pepa said.
"Night," Mirabel said in a cheerful tone. "Yeah, I'm tired, too." She stood, then bent over and ruffled Antonio's hair. "Good night, hombrecito."
"Good night," Antonio said.
"Good night," Pepa echoed, wondering if Mirabel was leaving her to have private time with Antonio on purpose.
"Good night, tia." Mirabel followed Mariano back inside.
Antonio climbed onto Pepa's lap. Pepa hugged him, feeling how precious this moment was. They looked at the sky for a long time together, snuggling, until finally the night grew late and crisp, and they were yawning and shivering against each other. Only then did they retreat back into the house. Pepa tucked Antonio in downstairs with the other children and kissed his forehead goodnight. Then she crept upstairs, into the guest bedroom, and wormed her way into Félix's arms.
