Summary
Teresa Madrigal comes from an unusual family, where every child is expected to get a magical ability, a "gift", on their fifth birthday. But it's clear to Teresa that having a gift is not always a good thing, since she knows that her father and her brother get a lot of pain from it. Teresa is the first Madrigal to simply inherit a gift from her magical parent, and it means that she can see the future just like her father does. But no matter how the Madrigals work to keep their miracle alive, they can't hide the cracks in their magic house or within the family much longer.
This story is an alternative universe version of the plot of the movie "Encanto", and a sequel to the fan fiction story "Love & Roscónes" by DoroXPena8315.
Spanish vocabulary
Abuela = Grandmother
Abuelo = Grandfather, grandparent
Amor = Darling
Arepa = A kind of flat cornbread from the northern Andes region.
Buenos días = Good morning, good day
Buenas tardes = Good afternoon
Casa = House
Casita = Little house, dear house
Corazón = Sweetheart
Dios mío! = Oh my God!
Hermanito = Little brother
Hombrecito = Little man
Jovencito = Young man
Mi vida = My darling (literally "my life")
Mija = My daughter (but it can be said to girls and younger females in general)
Mijo = My son (but it can be said to boys and younger males in general)
Pobrecito = Poor (little) thing
Por favor! = Please!
Prima = Female cousin
Primo = Male cousin
Ruana = A traditional poncho-like garment in Colombia and Venezuela
Señorita perfecta = Miss perfect
Tía = Aunt
Tío = Uncle
The Madrigals
Abuela Madrigal: Alma, 75 years old.
Julieta's side: Julieta, 50 years old; Agustín, 50 years old; Isabela, 21 years old; Luisa, 19 years old; Mirabel, 15 years old.
Pepa's side: Pepa, 50 years old; Félix, 50 years old; Dolores, 21 years old; Camilo, 15 years old; Antonio, 5 years old.
Bruno's side: Bruno, 50 years old; María, 48 years old; Teresa, 21 years old; Víctor, 13 years old.
Author's notes
This story is an alternative universe version of the plot of the movie "Encanto".
But a few chapters take place before the main events of the movie.
Also, it is a sequel to another fanfic story: "Love & Roscónes" by DoroXPenana.
It is a lovely story, that asks two very interesting questions:
What if Bruno Madrigal found a girlfriend, and who might this girl be?
My story will take place 25 years after that and focuses on his daughter, Teresa.
It is mainly an attempt to see what the movie would be like with one big change: What if Bruno had gotten married and had two kids?
But you will see that many other details are the same as they are in the movie.
But plenty of characters will be less important here than they are in the movie.
So if they are your favorites, this story will perhaps not be that interesting to you.
It is probably also fair to tell you that this story is less kid-friendly than the movie.
So you will see that characters think about and discuss more mature themes…
And I must confess that I'm from Sweden and no expert on Colombia.
So I can just apologize in advance for any mistakes about that, that I make here.
And if you know all of this and still want to join me on this ride, I'm happy! ?
Chapter 1: His daughter
Teresa Madrigal froze up when she heard two women gossiping in the street. They were talking about her and her parents!
- But the girl is sweet and normal, isn't she? She might be his daughter, but…
- Well, what I heard is that she too can see… things.
- Things? You mean…?
- Yes, things that come true later on! But can you expect anything else from her, when she's got a father like him? She seems to try to be like her mother, but…
- She is very much like her when she was younger. It is like the Garcias got their daughter back, as if she had never stopped working in their bakery…
- Yes, but you have to wonder about María. It is not like you expected her to do anything shocking. She seemed to be a bit too shy, if anything. But she also was very sweet and good at her job, and it looks like the girl has inherited that. And I don't believe that anyone had anything negative to say about her. But then…
- Yeah, we were all shocked that she ended up with Bad luck Bruno. That was…
Teresa had enough when they referred to her father with that awful moniker.
She pretended to clear her throat to finally make the two women stop talking. They looked ashamed when they saw her and left in two different directions.
But it was like their words about her parents just kept echoing in Teresa's head. She had only taken out the trash from the bakery. But she couldn't even do that without having to hear the gossip… Most people were considerate enough to not say much to her face. But she couldn't help noticing the whispers and the looks. And if her father ever showed himself in town, people moved away from him as if he could harm them by looking at them. Teresa's mother was always able to make him show his face in public. But if she couldn't join him for some reason, he liked to hide his face in the hood of a ruana. Teresa had never dared to lower his hood. Maybe he wouldn't mind if she did it too, but she couldn't help feeling that only her mother was allowed to do that. So if he was out alone with his kids, he would at most show his nose tip and let the rest of his face remain obscured. Eventually, Teresa understood that other people didn't do that and had to ask…
She couldn't see his face when she asked him since he was wearing his hood, but she could tell just from how tense he became that her question pained him. He had never wanted her to see him as "different" and wonder why he did this, but it was inevitable that this day had to come. He sighed and said:
- Most of the villagers are afraid of me, but I don't want to scare anyone if I can avoid it. So I keep some distance from people by hiding my face…
Teresa couldn't see how her beloved father could be scary. He had never been anything but lovely towards everybody as far as she knew. But it was clear that she couldn't ask him more questions. She had to wait years to find out the truth. Her parents did their best to protect her from understanding what people said.
But gradually, much of the gossip and the awful rumors still reached her ears.
And it became clear to Teresa what people thought that her father could do…
Teresa had gone back to her baking and felt how she almost had to start crying. She couldn't see her abuelos around, so she could freely mutter to herself:
- They're wrong… All of them… Papá can't help that some things will happen, and I can't help it either! We see what will happen, but we don't cause it!
But still, she knew too well that no one listened if she tried to defend her father.
Even her abuelo had once said something awful about him to her abuela:
- It is true that he loves our daughter and that he's the father of our grandkids, but there will be times when I don't believe that he's right in the head…
Abuela Garcia had quickly hushed her husband, and Teresa had never told them that she heard that. And she couldn't tell her parents about what her abuelo had said either. They had enough worries as it was… Teresa sighed. Why did people have to slander her father just because he saw the future? As soon as her father predicted something bad about someone, they found a way to blame him for it. They didn't care how ridiculous it was to think that all those things were his fault.
But as much as Teresa adored her father, she had to learn that people could call him things like "Bad luck Bruno". As if they got bad luck from him! Teresa tried so hard to concentrate on her baking, but it was impossible for her to calm her- self down. Why did they have to call her beloved father that? How was it fair?
What did they think that he'd gain from hurting them if their stories were true? Teresa knew that they simply didn't know him, but it was painful nonetheless…
Some people who got a good vision from her father could be a bit nice to him. She had to appreciate that even if more people seemed to hate him or fear him.
But other than that, Teresa had only heard one villager be kind to her father…
He was really uncomfortable with crowds and never wanted to meet new people, and it was very difficult to get him to go anywhere. But a few times every month, he did take his family to the town library. Teresa usually borrowed a book or two as well, but it was nothing compared to how her brother Víctor loved the library. Teresa could of course borrow any book as she was twenty-one years old now. Víctor was only thirteen years old though, so his father had only just started to allow him to read more "adult'' books. But as he'd been an avid reader himself in his youth, he was only glad to encourage his son… Most of the other customers avoided them. They didn't speak more than necessary to the librarians either. But one day, one of the older librarians talked to Víctor:
- It is eerie how much you remind me of your father back when he was your age, except that you seem to be less unhappy than he was…
Teresa and Víctor just stared at her. They were used to hearing their tía Julieta saying that, but it was creepy to hear those exact words from somebody else. And it was hardly like anybody had anything positive to say about their father.
So could she mean that Víctor reminded her so much of him wasn't a bad thing? But they saw that she said it with a smile and didn't think ill of their father.
- He came to this library a lot when he was younger, she continued. He seemed to be so lonely, but intelligent. It is a shame how people talk about him…
She noticed that their parents approached them and hurried to talk to them.
- You've got a sweet and clever son, she said.
Naturally, they were taken by surprise by it. Víctor would of course get heaps of praise of that kind from his tutors, but it was weird to hear it from a stranger.
- We know, their father replied. And we're so proud of him!
Víctor blushed, as he always did when people praised him like this. But then, they went home and hardly talked about this librarian again. And she didn't say anything particular to them again either. Still, she was one of the few villagers to talk about their father with sympathy. As if he was a fellow human being…
Teresa kept thinking about her family while she was baking. It was pretty hard to think so when people were so vile to her father, but the Madrigals were the local leading family. Abuelo Pedro had led many villagers to safety fifty years earlier, when a group of evil-doers suddenly appeared and started to put houses on fire. But he was killed when the same evil-doers followed the villagers into the forest. Teresa's mother said that it may have happened in front of Abuela Alma's eyes. Nobody dared to ask, but it was impossible for Teresa's mother to think about it without praying. She would pray that she would never have to lose her husband. But anyway, Abuela Alma noticed in her grief that her wedding candle changed. It had become magical, and a strong force emerged from it to keep them safe from new attacks. Even the mountains that surrounded them all had appeared. They were given a safe place, an encanto, where they could build a new town, and the Madrigals themselves even got a magical house to live in, their Casita. Abuela Alma was now alone with three babies, but she would also become the leader of the town. Actually, Teresa wondered if there was anyone left who could call her "Alma". She was Abuela Madrigal, who was in charge of everything…
Teresa's family were the amazing Madrigals, where every child was expected to get a gift on their fifth birthday. That gift would turn out to be some magic ability. All of this had started with Teresa's father and his two sisters. Tía Julieta could heal all injuries if you ate her food. Tía Pepa's mood affected the weather in the entire encanto. And it had continued in the next generation when their kids got gifts as well. But there was something weird about what happened with Teresa. Her gift was not uniquely her own. She had simply just inherited her father's gift. That was a good thing too, because it meant that she didn't have to do sessions. There was after all no need for two people to use the same gift in a small town. But she could blurt out predictions before she realized what she was even doing. And as far as anybody knew, neither she nor her father was ever wrong either. As soon as they had predicted something, it had to come true somehow every single time! Teresa's eyes glowed green when she saw the future, just like her father's did when he had visions. But it was harder for her than for him to control her predictions, because she didn't need to drain herself like he did…
She had known since she was a kid that his work could be exhausting for him. Tía Julieta, who was the one who could talk a bit about when he was younger, had told her that he had been unhappy most of the time until he met her mother. That had apparently improved his life greatly… It was of course a responsibility for life to be married to a Madrigal, and it was true that Teresa's tíos seemed to live just to support her two tías. But still, her mother just radiated a special kind of pride. She seemed to take any chance to hug and kiss her husband in public. And that annoyed people. Teresa sometimes even wondered if her mother liked to be this defiant, as if she dared people to talk about her husband around her. Normally, there was no way that loving your husband would be that shocking. But with all the gossip and the nasty rumors going around about Teresa's father, her mother was a special case. Nobody had ever expected anyone to want to be with him. And it seemed like the villagers thought that she had gone totally crazy, or they would think that she only was with him to become a part of the local elite. Either way, most of them wanted to stay as far away from her as possible…
The good thing was that most people didn't say much in front of Teresa's mother. For it was like the villagers still respected her for all her love and her dedication, even if they didn't understand why she chose him out of all the men in the town. But it was impossible for Teresa's mother to make friends among the villagers… Some people might talk to her as she bought baking ingredients at the market. And it was common that someone told her that they missed her at the bakery. They remembered how she worked there until she got married. And normally, she would have been the one to run the bakery by now. Her parents were old, so they would have to retire soon. But instead, she had to just do her baking in her own private kitchen. Then she would bring some of her goods to the bakery nearly every day, where they could be sold. Because the partner of a Madrigal couldn't expect to do more than that…
- But it's good that your daughter can help her abuelos, people said. You can be proud of the girl!
- I am, her mother replied. Teresa started to learn our family trade when she was just a kid, which is what I did too. And I must say that she's doing really well…
And it made Teresa happy to hear people and her mother praise her like that.
But it made her sad that not only would her father try to avoid people altogether, but it was like nobody was friends with her mother either since he was his wife. Of course, she had never complained about this as far as Teresa was aware. But still… Then again, it seemed to just give her parents one more reason to cherish each other. And luckily, her mother had her sisters-in-law and wasn't completely friendless. Tía Julieta and Tía Pepa had even known her before their brother had met her. But it was like Teresa's parents had no friends except for his sisters and their husbands, Agustín and Felíx. And as for Teresa and Víctor, they ended up in a similar situation… Nobody had to tell them that it was true, but they still just knew that the villagers told their kids to stay away from them. Abuela Madrigal felt that her grandkids shouldn't go to the village school either. She seemed to think that kids who had a gift had to know that they were special. She managed to find some private tutors, who came to the Casita and educated them there. And it made it hard for any of them to find friends outside the family. But fortunately, Teresa and Víctor had six cousins within Casa Madrigal…
It would have made sense if Teresa had been the closest to Isabela or Dolores. They were both born in the month before she was. But instead, she had to say that Mirabel now was her best friend. She was only fifteen years old, but Teresa had learned that she could be very wise for her age. And it was like they could relate a lot to each other… They seemed to be the two outliers of their family: Teresa who managed to only inherit her father's gift, and Mirabel who never had gotten any gift at all. Teresa felt sorry for Mirabel, since she would be mistreated by Isabela and Abuela Madrigal all the time. They seemed to think that because she had no gift, she was only in the way for the rest of the family. But fortunately, Mirabel managed to still be bubbly and upbeat most of the time. Which was very different from Teresa's father and Víctor, who were so melancholic and nervous. But it had become clear to Teresa that Mirabel also hid a lot of sadness inside. She tried to tell Mirabel that having a gift wasn't as fun as it maybe looked like. Even if Teresa's father was much happier now than back when he was young, his gift had mostly just given him pain. Mirabel didn't seem to fully understand, but Teresa could tell that she was happy to just have someone to talk to…
Teresa Madrigal comes from an unusual family, where every child is expected to get a magical ability, a "gift", on their fifth birthday. But it's clear to Teresa that having a gift is not always a good thing, since she knows that her father and her brother get a lot of pain from it. Teresa is the first Madrigal to simply inherit a gift from her magical parent, and it means that she can see the future just like her father does. But no matter how the Madrigals work to keep their miracle alive, they can't hide the cracks in their magic house or within the family much longer.
This story is an alternative universe version of the plot of the movie "Encanto", and a sequel to the fan fiction story "Love & Roscónes" by DoroXPena8315.
Spanish vocabulary
Abuela = Grandmother
Abuelo = Grandfather, grandparent
Amor = Darling
Arepa = A kind of flat cornbread from the northern Andes region.
Buenos días = Good morning, good day
Buenas tardes = Good afternoon
Casa = House
Casita = Little house, dear house
Corazón = Sweetheart
Dios mío! = Oh my God!
Hermanito = Little brother
Hombrecito = Little man
Jovencito = Young man
Mi vida = My darling (literally "my life")
Mija = My daughter (but it can be said to girls and younger females in general)
Mijo = My son (but it can be said to boys and younger males in general)
Pobrecito = Poor (little) thing
Por favor! = Please!
Prima = Female cousin
Primo = Male cousin
Ruana = A traditional poncho-like garment in Colombia and Venezuela
Señorita perfecta = Miss perfect
Tía = Aunt
Tío = Uncle
The Madrigals
Abuela Madrigal: Alma, 75 years old.
Julieta's side: Julieta, 50 years old; Agustín, 50 years old; Isabela, 21 years old; Luisa, 19 years old; Mirabel, 15 years old.
Pepa's side: Pepa, 50 years old; Félix, 50 years old; Dolores, 21 years old; Camilo, 15 years old; Antonio, 5 years old.
Bruno's side: Bruno, 50 years old; María, 48 years old; Teresa, 21 years old; Víctor, 13 years old.
Author's notes
This story is an alternative universe version of the plot of the movie "Encanto". But a few chapters take place before the main events of the movie. Also, it is a sequel to another fanfic story: "Love & Roscónes" by DoroXPenana. It is a lovely story, that asks two very interesting questions: What if Bruno Madrigal found a girlfriend, and who might this girl be? My story will take place 25 years after that and focuses on his daughter, Teresa. It is mainly an attempt to see what the movie would be like with one big change: What if Bruno had gotten married and had two kids?But you will see that many other details are the same as they are in the movie. But plenty of characters will be less important here than they are in the movie. So if they are your favorites, this story will perhaps not be that interesting to you. It is probably also fair to tell you that this story is less kid-friendly than the movie. So you will see that characters think about and discuss more mature themes… And I must confess that I'm from Sweden and no expert on Colombia. So I can just apologize in advance for any mistakes about that, that I make if you know all of this and still want to join me on this ride, I'm happy! ?
Chapter 1: His daughter
Teresa Madrigal froze up when she heard two women gossiping in the street. They were talking about her and her parents!
- But the girl is sweet and normal, isn't she? She might be his daughter, but…
- Well, what I heard is that she too can see… things.
- Things? You mean…?
- Yes, things that come true later on! But can you expect anything else from her, when she's got a father like him? She seems to try to be like her mother, but…
- She is very much like her when she was younger. It is like the Garcias got their daughter back, as if she had never stopped working in their bakery…
- Yes, but you have to wonder about María. It is not like you expected her to do anything shocking. She seemed to be a bit too shy, if anything. But she also was very sweet and good at her job, and it looks like the girl has inherited that. And I don't believe that anyone had anything negative to say about her. But then…
- Yeah, we were all shocked that she ended up with Bad luck Bruno. That was…
Teresa had enough when they referred to her father with that awful moniker. She pretended to clear her throat to finally make the two women stop talking. They looked ashamed when they saw her and left in two different directions. But it was like their words about her parents just kept echoing in Teresa's head. She had only taken out the trash from the bakery. But she couldn't even do that without having to hear the gossip… Most people were considerate enough to not say much to her face. But she couldn't help noticing the whispers and the looks. And if her father ever showed himself in town, people moved away from him as if he could harm them by looking at them. Teresa's mother was always able to make him show his face in public. But if she couldn't join him for some reason, he liked to hide his face in the hood of a ruana. Teresa had never dared to lower his hood. Maybe he wouldn't mind if she did it too, but she couldn't help feeling that only her mother was allowed to do that. So if he was out alone with his kids, he would at most show his nose tip and let the rest of his face remain obscured. Eventually, Teresa understood that other people didn't do that and had to ask…
She couldn't see his face when she asked him since he was wearing his hood, but she could tell just from how tense he became that her question pained him. He had never wanted her to see him as "different" and wonder why he did this, but it was inevitable that this day had to come. He sighed and said:
- Most of the villagers are afraid of me, but I don't want to scare anyone if I can avoid it. So I keep some distance from people by hiding my face…
Teresa couldn't see how her beloved father could be scary. He had never been anything but lovely towards everybody as far as she knew. But it was clear that she couldn't ask him more questions. She had to wait years to find out the truth. Her parents did their best to protect her from understanding what people said. But gradually, much of the gossip and the awful rumors still reached her ears. And it became clear to Teresa what people thought that her father could do… Teresa had gone back to her baking and felt how she almost had to start crying. She couldn't see her abuelos around, so she could freely mutter to herself:
- They're wrong… All of them… Papá can't help that some things will happen, and I can't help it either! We see what will happen, but we don't cause it!
But still, she knew too well that no one listened if she tried to defend her father. Even her abuelo had once said something awful about him to her abuela:
- It is true that he loves our daughter and that he's the father of our grandkids, but there will be times when I don't believe that he's right in the head…
Abuela Garcia had quickly hushed her husband, and Teresa had never told them that she heard that. And she couldn't tell her parents about what her abuelo had said either. They had enough worries as it was… Teresa sighed. Why did people have to slander her father just because he saw the future? As soon as her father predicted something bad about someone, they found a way to blame him for it. They didn't care how ridiculous it was to think that all those things were his fault. But as much as Teresa adored her father, she had to learn that people could call him things like "Bad luck Bruno". As if they got bad luck from him! Teresa tried so hard to concentrate on her baking, but it was impossible for her to calm herself down. Why did they have to call her beloved father that? How was it fair? What did they think that he'd gain from hurting them if their stories were true? Teresa knew that they simply didn't know him, but it was painful nonetheless…
Some people who got a good vision from her father could be a bit nice to him. She had to appreciate that even if more people seemed to hate him or fear him. But other than that, Teresa had only heard one villager be kind to her father… He was really uncomfortable with crowds and never wanted to meet new people, and it was very difficult to get him to go anywhere. But a few times every month, he did take his family to the town library. Teresa usually borrowed a book or two as well, but it was nothing compared to how her brother Víctor loved the library. Teresa could of course borrow any book as she was twenty-one years old now. Víctor was only thirteen years old though, so his father had only just started to allow him to read more "adult'' books. But as he'd been an avid reader himself in his youth, he was only glad to encourage his son… Most of the other customers avoided them. They didn't speak more than necessary to the librarians either. But one day, one of the older librarians talked to Víctor:
- It is eerie how much you remind me of your father back when he was your age, except that you seem to be less unhappy than he was…
Teresa and Víctor just stared at her. They were used to hearing their tía Julieta saying that, but it was creepy to hear those exact words from somebody else. And it was hardly like anybody had anything positive to say about their father.
So could she mean that Víctor reminded her so much of him wasn't a bad thing? But they saw that she said it with a smile and didn't think ill of their father.
- He came to this library a lot when he was younger, she continued. He seemed to be so lonely, but intelligent. It is a shame how people talk about him…
She noticed that their parents approached them and hurried to talk to them.
- You've got a sweet and clever son, she said.
Naturally, they were taken by surprise by it. Víctor would of course get heaps of praise of that kind from his tutors, but it was weird to hear it from a stranger.
- We know, their father replied. And we're so proud of him!
Víctor blushed, as he always did when people praised him like this. But then, they went home and hardly talked about this librarian again. And she didn't say anything particular to them again either. Still, she was one of the few villagers to talk about their father with sympathy. As if he was a fellow human being…
Teresa kept thinking about her family while she was baking. It was pretty hard to think so when people were so vile to her father, but the Madrigals were the local leading family. Abuelo Pedro had led many villagers to safety fifty years earlier, when a group of evil-doers suddenly appeared and started to put houses on fire. But he was killed when the same evil-doers followed the villagers into the forest. Teresa's mother said that it may have happened in front of Abuela Alma's eyes. Nobody dared to ask, but it was impossible for Teresa's mother to think about it without praying. She would pray that she would never have to lose her husband. But anyway, Abuela Alma noticed in her grief that her wedding candle changed. It had become magical, and a strong force emerged from it to keep them safe from new attacks. Even the mountains that surrounded them all had appeared. They were given a safe place, an encanto, where they could build a new town, and the Madrigals themselves even got a magical house to live in, their Casita. Abuela Alma was now alone with three babies, but she would also become the leader of the town. Actually, Teresa wondered if there was anyone left who could call her "Alma". She was Abuela Madrigal, who was in charge of everything…
Teresa's family were the amazing Madrigals, where every child was expected to get a gift on their fifth birthday. That gift would turn out to be some magic ability. All of this had started with Teresa's father and his two sisters. Tía Julieta could heal all injuries if you ate her food. Tía Pepa's mood affected the weather in the entire encanto. And it had continued in the next generation when their kids got gifts as well. But there was something weird about what happened with Teresa. Her gift was not uniquely her own. She had simply just inherited her father's gift. That was a good thing too, because it meant that she didn't have to do sessions. There was after all no need for two people to use the same gift in a small town. But she could blurt out predictions before she realized what she was even doing. And as far as anybody knew, neither she nor her father was ever wrong either. As soon as they had predicted something, it had to come true somehow every single time! Teresa's eyes glowed green when she saw the future, just like her father's did when he had visions. But it was harder for her than for him to control her predictions, because she didn't need to drain herself like he did…
She had known since she was a kid that his work could be exhausting for him. Tía Julieta, who was the one who could talk a bit about when he was younger, had told her that he had been unhappy most of the time until he met her mother. That had apparently improved his life greatly… It was of course a responsibility for life to be married to a Madrigal, and it was true that Teresa's tíos seemed to live just to support her two tías. But still, her mother just radiated a special kind of pride. She seemed to take any chance to hug and kiss her husband in public. And that annoyed people. Teresa sometimes even wondered if her mother liked to be this defiant, as if she dared people to talk about her husband around her. Normally, there was no way that loving your husband would be that shocking. But with all the gossip and the nasty rumors going around about Teresa's father, her mother was a special case. Nobody had ever expected anyone to want to be with him. And it seemed like the villagers thought that she had gone totally crazy, or they would think that she only was with him to become a part of the local elite. Either way, most of them wanted to stay as far away from her as possible…
The good thing was that most people didn't say much in front of Teresa's mother. For it was like the villagers still respected her for all her love and her dedication, even if they didn't understand why she chose him out of all the men in the town. But it was impossible for Teresa's mother to make friends among the villagers… Some people might talk to her as she bought baking ingredients at the market. And it was common that someone told her that they missed her at the bakery. They remembered how she worked there until she got married. And normally, she would have been the one to run the bakery by now. Her parents were old, so they would have to retire soon. But instead, she had to just do her baking in her own private kitchen. Then she would bring some of her goods to the bakery nearly every day, where they could be sold. Because the partner of a Madrigal couldn't expect to do more than that…
- But it's good that your daughter can help her abuelos, people said. You can be proud of the girl!
- I am, her mother replied. Teresa started to learn our family trade when she was just a kid, which is what I did too. And I must say that she's doing really well…
And it made Teresa happy to hear people and her mother praise her like that. But it made her sad that not only would her father try to avoid people altogether, but it was like nobody was friends with her mother either since he was his wife. Of course, she had never complained about this as far as Teresa was aware. But still… Then again, it seemed to just give her parents one more reason to cherish each other. And luckily, her mother had her sisters-in-law and wasn't completely friendless. Tía Julieta and Tía Pepa had even known her before their brother had met her. But it was like Teresa's parents had no friends except for his sisters and their husbands, Agustín and Felíx. And as for Teresa and Víctor, they ended up in a similar situation… Nobody had to tell them that it was true, but they still just knew that the villagers told their kids to stay away from them. Abuela Madrigal felt that her grandkids shouldn't go to the village school either. She seemed to think that kids who had a gift had to know that they were special. She managed to find some private tutors, who came to the Casita and educated them there. And it made it hard for any of them to find friends outside the family. But fortunately, Teresa and Víctor had six cousins within Casa Madrigal…
It would have made sense if Teresa had been the closest to Isabela or Dolores. They were both born in the month before she was. But instead, she had to say that Mirabel now was her best friend. She was only fifteen years old, but Teresa had learned that she could be very wise for her age. And it was like they could relate a lot to each other… They seemed to be the two outliers of their family: Teresa who managed to only inherit her father's gift, and Mirabel who never had gotten any gift at all. Teresa felt sorry for Mirabel, since she would be mistreated by Isabela and Abuela Madrigal all the time. They seemed to think that because she had no gift, she was only in the way for the rest of the family. But fortunately, Mirabel managed to still be bubbly and upbeat most of the time. Which was very different from Teresa's father and Víctor, who were so melancholic and nervous. But it had become clear to Teresa that Mirabel also hid a lot of sadness inside. She tried to tell Mirabel that having a gift wasn't as fun as it maybe looked like. Even if Teresa's father was much happier now than back when he was young, his gift had mostly just given him pain. Mirabel didn't seem to fully understand, but Teresa could tell that she was happy to just have someone to talk to…
