Chapter 24
31 years before Encanto
"You need help today, Señora?" The farmers asked Pepa as she approached the fields with her umbrella.
"No, thank you." Pepa smiled as she passed them by, her face bright as the sky.
The farmers glanced at eachother in surprise then smiled too, not sure what to make of it.
Pepa reached the clearing and grinned as she saw Felix waiting for her. She dropped her umbrella and ran through the fields, leaping up into his arms. Felix laughed as he caught her, spinning her around. The sun shone bright as Pepa laughed excitedly.
She kissed Felix and they fell down together onto the grass. Pepa giggled as she landed on top of Félix, a rainbow appearing over her head. He grinned, rolling Pepa over and pinning her onto her back, playfully covering her face with kisses.
"Ay!" Pepa exclaimed breathlessly, pushing Felix off with a cheeky smile. "We can't! I am working."
Pepa tried to get up, but Félix wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back down, kissing her some more.
"Felix!" Pepa laughed, trying to break free. "Not here!The crops-"
"Ay, the crops." Felix laughed too, hugging her playfully. "We can't let them see you like this, can we?" Felix kissed Pepa's face, then glanced at the plants around them. "Do you think they will share you?"
Pepa shook her head with a grin. She leaned in close to Félix. "They are too jealous. See?" Her eyes gestured over his shoulder, but the moment Felix turned around Pepa quickly wriggled out of his grasp and escaped.
"Ay!" Felix laughed, chasing Pepa through the sunny fields. They ran through the coffee plants and into the cornfields. Pepa pushed her way through the tall plants, glancing over her shoulder with a grin, Felix trying to catch her. She was surprisingly fast, and Felix really had to push himself to keep up.
Pepa quickly sidestepped through the plants and disappeared out of sight. Felix tried to follow, but she'd outsmarted him. He pushed through the corn in search of Pepa until he reached a clearing. Felix paused, looking around.
There was a sudden rustling from behind him and Pepa jumped up onto Felix's back, her arms wrapping around his shoulders as she laughed breathlessly. Felix laughed too, glancing over his shoulder to see Pepa's excited face. Pepa hugged him tightly. He gave her a cheeky grin, then dropped to the ground as Pepa shrieked in surprise.
Felix pinned Pepa down and tickled her. Pepa laughed happily as rainbows danced around them. Felix blew a raspberry against Pepa as she laughed and gasped for breath.
Tears streaked down Pepa's cheeks and a white cloud appeared over her head. Felix smiled and watched as it begin to rain down over them. Pepa quickly sat up in surprise, wiping her eyes as she caught her breath.
"There you go," He said to her happily. "Looks like you don't have to be sad to water them."
Pepa shook her hand in excitement, snapping her index finger against the rest of her hand as she looked up at the cloud with bright eyes. The raindrops felt hard and cold as they pattered down over their heads, making tapping sounds against the corn leaves as they bounced to the dirt like diamonds.
"Que chimba!" Pepa exclaimed, holding out her hands to catch some. They were like raindrops, but frozen.
"You haven't done this before?" Felix asked with a smile.
Pepa shook her head, examining the frozen drops in her hands. "What do you think they are?" She wondered.
Felix grinned excitedly. "Snow."
Pepa turned to him in surprise, then shook her head. "It can't be." She turned back to the ice in her hand. "I know what snow feels like. This is different."
"What does snow feel like?" Felix asked excitedly.
Pepa's face fell a little at the question and the cloud stopped raining. Felix looked up, feeling regretful for asking.
Pepa looked up too, exhaling with a puff to express her disappointment of losing the fun cloud. She glanced back at the drops in her hands and held them to her face, enjoying their cold touch.
"Snow is the worst weather." Pepa replied softly. She slipped the sparkling drops from her hand and put them into her dress pocket. "If it snows, it means my heart is broken."
Felix's face softened at the thought. "Well," He smiled, leaning in close. "Maybe this is the opposite of that, hm?" He hugged her. "Maybe this is fun snow. For when your heart is full."
Pepa turned to Félix with warm eyes and kissed his cheek. He always knew what to say. She rested her head against Felix's happily, looking out at the ice that glittered across the fields.
Later that night
"What have you been doing?" Alma asked Pepa in concern, gently picking a leaf out of her daughter's hair and glancing down at her grass stained dress.
Pepa tried not to laugh as she held onto Felix's arm. "We were watering the crops, Mama." She glanced at Félix with a smile, then back to Alma.
Alma didn't look impressed.
"Were you?" Alma asked in disbelief. " Because I did not see any rain today, Pepa."
Felix felt Pepa's body tense up beside him as she became very quiet. Felix watched her sadly.
"Pepa." Alma's voice took on a very serious tone. "You have a responsibility to this village. If you don't water the crops, the crops will die. And if the crops die, we will all have no food. Do you understand what that will mean for everyone? For our family? Do you realise why this is so important?"
Pepa took a shaky breath and nodded, a grey cloud appearing over her head as her Mama spoke.
"See? That wasn't so hard." Alma smiled encouragingly, gesturing up at cloud. "Why didn't you do that at the fields, hm?" She gently stroked Pepa's face, then glanced over at Félix suspiciously.
Felix smiled back peacefully, trying to remain as neutral and unthreatening as possible. Alma considered him, then turned back to Pepa. "I think it's best if you do your work alone from now on, mija." She said gently. Then noticing Pepa's pained reaction, she added, "No more distractions."
"But Mama, he helped me!" Pepa tried to explain, reaching into her pocket to show Alma the special rain that she'd made, but when her fingers touched the soggy fabric of her dress she realised the ice had melted. Pepa's heart sunk in disappointment, tears welling up in her eyes as her cloud began to rain over her.
"Good, Pepa." Alma sighed, "But not here." She waved a hand towards the road behind them. "To the fields. Quickly now."
Tears rolled sadly down Pepa's cheeks. She took a shaky breath and ran.
Felix watched her leave, his heart aching to follow Pepa. Felix exhaled slowly. He knew better than to push things with Alma, especially this early on. Felix understood that if he wanted things to work with Pepa long term, he needed to be on good terms with her mother.
Rain poured down heavily over the Encanto and they stepped back into the casita doorway together. Felix could feel Alma watching him. Felix exhaled slowly. This was as good a chance as any, he supposed. Felix wondered what could be the best way to connect with her.
They both watched the rain together, then Felix turned to Alma with a friendly smile.
"Is she more like you or Pedro?"
The question took Alma by surprise. She looked back at him with wide eyes, her expression guarded.
"Forgive me, Señora." Felix smiled politely. "Pepa showed me his painting the other day. He looked like a good man."
She relaxed a little. "He was." Alma's eyes were sad, then she caught herself and regained composure. "Sorry," She said softly. "It's just been a while since I talked about him."
"It must been hard."
Alma hesitated.
"Well. It certainly has been challenging." She admitted, glancing towards the fields, then shaking her head to herself. She sighed. "You must think I'm being unfair on her."
Felix watched quietly, knowing better than to respond to that question. Alma sighed again, her hand stroking one of her braids. Felix smiled.
"You never told me." He reminded her gently.
Alma looked at him in confusion.
"Pepa," Felix smiled. "Is she more like you or Pedro?"
"Oh." Alma smiled knowingly, then shook her head to herself again with a laugh. "Me. Definitely me. Too much like me."
Felix grinned.
"What about Julieta and Bruno?"
Alma looked at him in amusement. She seemed to be enjoying this conversation.
"Brunito has always been his own person." He replied, her eyes nostalgic. "He's a lot like Pepa and myself, so we can all be a little... Dramatic." She chuckled to herself. "But then Bruno is different. He has an imagination I couldn't even begin to understand. The stories he comes up with, the worlds he creates..." Her eyes sparkled in a way Félix hadn't seen before. He could really see how much she loved her children.
"And Julieta?" He grinned.
"Oh, that cariño." Alma sighed. "Such a good girl. Such a perfect girl. I don't know how we'd get anything done without our Julieta."
Félix had to stop himself from frowning at that. He hoped she didn't compare them like that in front of Pepa.
"Julieta is a lot like Pedro." Alma said proudly, her eyes warm as she remembered. "Strong and brave. She has his calm confidence, too. I see her fixing things for the other two and it just reminds me so much of Pedro. He was always getting me out of trouble like that when we were younger." She chuckled to herself.
"You got into a lot of trouble, Señora?" Felix asked with a bold smile. Alma gasped softly at his confidence and laughed.
Pepa shivered as she returned to the casita, her arms around her chest as water dripped from her hair and down her back. She whimpered a little in discomfort, a cloud floating over her head as she walked.
As she reached the front doors, casita's tiles brought over a yellow towel and tossed it onto her shoulders. Pepa snuggled it around herself, glancing up at the doorway with a grateful smile. As she walked through the casita she could hear her family's voices coming from the sitting room, so she headed over curiously.
Pepa's heart skipped a beat as she saw that Felix was still there, sitting next to Bruno. Felix grinned at her and Pepa hid her smile against her towel as the cloud above her vanished and a rainbow appeared. Bruno and Julieta grinned at eachother as they watched her Pepa run over to him, Félix standing up to hug her tight. Pepa sighed in relief, resting her head against him.
"Are you ok?" He whispered, kissing her wet hair in concern. Pepa nodded.
"Pepa." Alma said gently. "You are soaking wet. Go upstairs and take a bath."
She glanced at her Mama, then back to Félix with worried eyes. Alma chuckled.
"Your guest will still be here when you return." Alma assured her.
"And so will the hot chocolate." Juliet's grinned encouragingly, gesturing to a pot she'd made for them all. "Go on Pepi, you'll feel a lot better."
Pepa frowned at them. She didn't like everyone telling her what to do like she was a child. She'd never really took notice of it before, but now that she'd been spending a lot of time with Felix and making her own decisions it was becoming very apparent.
"Hey sis, guess what." Bruno spoke up brightly. "Theres a party this weekend, and Mama said we can all go."
Pepa blinked in surprise. Cosa? They hadn't been allowed to go a party in a long time. Pepa thought they'd burned out Mama's trust on this topic years ago. Bruno looked back at her, his expression reflecting hers as they silently agreed. This was big.
"The newcomers are hosting a fiesta." Felix smiled. "To thank everyone for welcoming us into the Encanto. There's gonna be Caribbean food and music, and lots of dancing." He glanced playfully at Alma. "And hopefully I'll be lucky enough to get a dance with all three of the Madrigal ladies."
Alma smiled, shaking her head in amusement.
Pepa watched her Mama curiously, not knowing how to react to this.
"See you tomorrow?" Felix smiled as they stood at the door together, holding hands.
She nodded, leaning down a little to kiss him. "Every day." She smiled back at him.
Felix grinned.
"Hey," he spoke in a quieter tone. "I didn't know if it was ok or not to say this in front of your Mama," He leaned in closer with a smile. "But Agustin is invited to the party too. Can't have your sister dancing around without her Chico."
Pepa looked back at him with surprised eyes. "How do you know about them?" She asked in confusion. "Mama doesn't even know she's been seeing him."
Felix hesitated, then decided to be honest with her.
"When I came to the fields to see you," he explained. "That time we went to the river... I met Julieta, Bruno and Augustin the day before. They came to visit my casita. They told me you wanted to see me, and that's how I knew it was ok to come."
Pepa groaned in embarassment, a cloud appearing over her head.
Felix chuckled. "But aren't you glad they did?" His fingers tickled along Pepa's arm and up her neck.
Pepa's shoulders relaxed at his touch and she smiled in resignation. "Hm."
Felix kissed her head.
"See you tomorrow, amor."
Pepa looked surprised at his words.
"Can I call you that?" He asked with a grin.
Pepa nodded happily.
"Alright," He kissed her again, "Adios, amor!" He winked and turned to leave.
"Adios!" Pepa called after him, watching him go. She waited till Felix was out of earshot, then quietly added, "amor."
A rainbow appeared over Pepa's head. She glanced up at it with a smile, quickly slipping back inside the casita before Félix could see.
