Besides the absolute excitement (and heartbreak of those who had hoped to still have a chance with either of them) of the wedding announcements Abuela had set up for Isabela and Mariano, the days that followed were surprisingly calm and quiet for everyone in (and not directly in) Encanto. It took almost a full week for anyone to recognize that not only was Mariano gone, but so too was Dolores. And then it was only the Madrigal family who had even known Dolores was gone. Whispers had begun to circulate upon the realization that nobody had truly seen Mariano around since the day the Guzman family went to the Madrigal house for dinner. When these whispers finally reached Alma Madrigal an awful feeling settled in her gut and she angrily stomped all the way to her granddaughter's room. Her footsteps thundering drew the attention of the whole family and they crowded into the downstairs courtyard, with a full view of each of their own doors.
With bated breath they watched as Alma stormed into the room. Even Pepa did not cause a storm in her anxious state, working to reign it in while she waited, knowing she'd give away their plan should she let it loose. When she emerged from the young adult's bedroom alone, she scowled down at them all, "Where. Is. Dolores?" she bit out at them.
It was then that Pepa let loose a storm, "What?" she screeched. "What do you mean where is Dolores? She's in her room like you have forced her to be! Isn't she?" Isabela was always impressed with her Tia's, sometimes explosive, way of doing things. It was always so expressive in ways Isabela herself longed to be. Even with her magnifying tell- her emotional weather - she still could manage to put up a good front. She was acting like her daughter's life depended on it, and truly, Isabela rather thought it did. This whole plan hinged on Pepa having precise control over her emotions, especially right now. Abuela couldn't know they were all in on it.
Luisa's eye twitched and Isabela's breath stopped as Abuela zeroed in on it. She was suspicious, but didn't yet have much to accuse them of, not that this would usually stop her.
Alma twitched and the whole family almost flinched when she growled out, "Find. Them. Both. Now." It was a clear order to be followed. "They will not screw this marriage arrangement up. I have worked too hard for you children to throw it all away."
As they turned to flee and pretend to search for Dolores and Mariano, Alma stopped Isabela. "Not you, Julieta, Isabela. You are both coming with me." She fixed a pleasant look on her face as Isabela timidly left Luisa's side to join her by the door. "Yes mama." Julieta gave one last squeeze to Agustin's palm before she too joined them. "Yes Abuela." Isabela murmured, an echo of her mother.
"Where are we going?" Julieta found it in her to ask as she helped drape her mother's shawl around her shoulders and Alma spared a warm smile for her own golden child who had given her the golden grandchild. "To make the arrangements." she informed her simply. "Come." she beckoned, and the trio started off to town, Isa held on to her mother tightly, sending a prayer to whoever would listen for her cousin and for herself. For the sake of both of their futures, they wanted, no needed, this to all end up in their favor.
Julieta and Isabela met each other's eyes as they demurely followed Alma on the path. Could they both do this? Play the part of the golden child they were both given? Would they be able to help anyone this way? Dolores? Mariano? Each other? Julieta didn't want to let her daughter down again. There were days she wished she was more like Pepa in her boldness. She admired her sister and the way she stepped up to the plate just last week to take a stand against their mother to allow her daughter to escape from the gilded cage she was trapped in. That was the night Julieta truly realized she too had daughters trapped inside cages like her own. Here she had thought by allowing herself to be kept behind those golden bars that her children might be spared. So deep into her own captivity she had not seen the way the bars began to build around their sweet innocent children. Hers, Agustin's, Pepa's, Felix's. They didn't deserve this.
She found her courage watching her eldest child as she miserably tried on the dresses the tailors had prepared for her, each of them beautiful and perfect, but altogether not Isabela. They were a mask to hide her daughter behind. She was nothing more than a doll for Alma to dress and create stories for, and that cut Julieta deeply. This is not what she wanted; this is not what her baby wanted. Isabela's shoulders curved in the slightest hunch, her fingers fidgeted discreetly, flowers vines around the vase uncomfortably. "Ah, it will be such a difficult choice! Won't it Isabela?" In response she shifted between her feet, "Yes Abuela, quite."
"Mama?" Alma spared her a look, "Not now, Julieta." She played with the veil they were trying on Isabela who was looking away, refusing to look at herself in the mirror.
"Mama?" she tried again to get her attention. Alma looked surprised to hear her voice a second time and based on the expression Julieta wore she waved the attendants from the room. "Give us a moment, will you?"
"What is it, Julieta? Your mood is so sour today, it is unbecoming." she scowled at her, and Julieta gulped, trying to not lose her nerve now.
"Mama is this really for the best?" she started, hoping to appeal to her mother's good side. She knew she cared, she knew she was sensible, she just didn't deign to let them make their own choices. "Mama, it has been made quite clear that Mariano loves Dolores and that will not change. Even if they are found and they do come back- Mama, their feelings will not disappear just because you force them apart." Julieta kept her shoulders back and her eyes trained on her mothers, thinking of Pepa's stance earlier. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Isabela perk up, wide-eyed she looked at her with hope. It was the push she needed to put all the confidence she could muster into her words, raising her voice to be louder and clearer with the goal of getting her point across "Mama." she licked her lips, "Mama, I will not have my daughter hurt by entering into a loveless marriage. I will not have my niece hurt by watching the one she loves so deeply marry her cousin. I will not have Mariano marry my daughter while he pines for my niece."
Even as her mother approached her, a hideous, venomous anger in her eyes she held her breath and did not back down. Julieta refused to flinch now. Pepa, Pepa, Pepa. she repeated, Be like Pepa. So focused on keeping eye contact she didn't know what happened when suddenly she felt the stinging slap that left her eyes watering, her ears ringing, and her tumbling to the ground all at once.
The curtains beside them shifted and even as she herself gasped and looked in horror at her mother curled on the ground, Isabela heard a matching gasp and saw a shadow quickly move away. Good, she thought in the back of her mind, let them hear. "Mama!" she cried loudly, collapsing next to her before being shoved to the side by her Abuela. Terror seeped into her bones at the look her Abuela had on her face, and she let it show with wide eyes, flinching away from her.
"It's okay Isa, it's okay." her mother's calming voice brought her eyes back to her where they were now level with each other, both still on the ground. "Mama!" she repeated the single word, unable to look away. Julieta now had a mark spanning her entire cheek from the force of Alma's hit and she was holding her wrist in her lap gingerly - as though she sprained it or worse when she landed on it. She looked pained and it did nothing to quell Isabela's fears, her heart continuing to race. Isabela wanted to throw up as she realized with how calm and collected her mother was, even while in pain, that this was not the first injury her mother had sustained and would hide, but just the first she had seen. "Mama." she whispered again in a tiny, pitiful whimpering voice, wanting to crawl back by her side but unable to do so with Abuela still mostly in between them.
"Not you too, Julieta. Not you too." she stared down at her, anger dimmed and now showing disappointment. "It's bad enough your sister has never stopped throwing childish fits. Not you too." Yet again, her tone was authoritarian, ordering her own child around. Without an apology she turned her back to Julieta and instead focusing back on Isabela. "Isabela why are you on the ground?" she sent her a patronizing look. "You'll get the dress dirty that way." Quickly she threw herself up to her feet, breathing hard and looking down at her feet. "Yes Abuela. I'm sorry Abuela."
"We'll take them all." She decided, "Our perfect Isabela deserves many beautiful dresses for her wedding." Throwing open the curtains she gave the attendants who were whispering and almost cowering on the other side of the small shop a wave back over with a calm expression on her face. "Pack them all up for us." she told them, "Send us the bill and help Isabela back into her own dress, will you? We have many stops today and we mustn't be late."
Everyone was mute as they stepped into their roles, helping change Isabela from the beautiful wedding dress so it wouldn't get ruined, and she could get back in her own lavender dress. But if their gazes lingered a little too much on Julieta who was still on the ground holding her wrist gingerly, Alma didn't notice, too absorbed in the realization of her perfect plans for perfect Isabela. The perfect granddaughter with the perfect man who wanted a big family. Why didn't her children see it? This would be perfect for the family. If their squabbling, tantrums, and foolish children didn't interfere with it, of course.