"What brings you two here?" Imelda asked her brothers. After a long hug, she had sat them down on the couch and began putting bandages to their cuts.
"We wanted to see you, so badly!" Oscar said.
"We wanted to see you, so badly since you got married!" Felipe chirped.
"No need to repeat me!" Oscar grumbled. His twin pretended he didn't hear him.
"But why did you boys wait so long?" Imelda asked, a bit abruptly. "Do you have any idea how lonely I had been?" She knew she was sounding a bit rude but she had really craved good company ever since Ernesto began mistreating her.
"We are sorry, dear sister," the boys said, sorrowfully. "We tried to see you but Papa forbade us!"
"Que!?" Imelda was appalled.
"You know how strict he could act," Felipe added. "He wouldn't let us have any contact with you at all! We couldn't visit you-"
"-Or write to you," Oscar chimed in.
"-Or call you, once we bought a telephone."
"-He even made sure that we don't see you in the town square!"
"School and chores also made it impossible," Felipe clarified. "Thankfully, the Lord blessed us today! We got a day off from school-"
"Because Profesora Ynez was sick with a cold-"
"-and what better way than to spend the day with our dear sister?"
"So it is true," Imelda sighed. She was not surprised that her family lost touch with her but the fact that her father prevented her brothers from seeing her, felt like a stab to the heart. "I had no idea how much Papa hated me."
"He doesn't hate you," Oscar said, softly.
"He misses you more than he likes to admit!" Felipe added.
"Actually, If you ask him if he ever missed you, he'll say that he 'thinks of you,' rather than 'miss you,'" Oscar clarified. "His words, not mine!"
"And what about Mamá?"Imelda asked, nervously. "Does she...think of me, too." The tone of her voice was hesitant because she really wanted to say "miss me," but asking if her mama missed her was too much for her to hope for, since her papa only 'thinks of her.'
"Of course, Mamá thinks of you!" Oscar cried.
"She thinks of you all the time!" Felipe confirmed.
"Although she may not talk about you-" Oscar replied.
"-especially in front of Papa-"
"-She'd look at the old photograph of you and us when we were younger."
"-She kept that old photograph-"
"-Close to her heart. 'A mother never forgets her child, no matter what,' she always says!"
The woman smiled a bit, touched that at least one of her parents missed her.
"Do Mamá and Papá know that you two are here?" Imelda asked, changing the subject. She had completed putting bandages on her brothers.
"Mamá knows," Oscar replied. "She spotted us going out through the back door. We tried to tell her that we were going fishing. But Mamá was no easy to fool! So we told her the truth, and surprisingly, she let us go!" He wiped across his brow. "What a relief!"
"Papá doesn't know," Felipe added. "If we told him, he'll chop off our rears and hang them over his fireplace! Mama told us she would tell him that we went fishing."
"Anyway, enough about us!" Felipe finished. "Tell us about yourself!"
"Yes, what has happened to you since we last saw you?" Oscar chirped, also interested.
Imelda looked as if she hadn't gotten any sleep.
"Ugh, you wouldn't believe what happened!" Imelda sighed, tiredly. She leaned back against the couch.
"Don'r keep us waiting, sister!" Oscar encouraged her.
"Que pasa?" Felipe prompted her.
Imelda took a deep breath and told her brothers everything. Starting with Ernesto, how she met his friend, Héctor, and how she developed a friendship with him.
Her brothers found it strange that Imelda had to entertain the guest, instead of Ernesto.
Then Imelda brought up other highlights such as the fatal dinner, the horse ride accident, and the talent show. Not once did she speak about her feelings for the musician or how she made sinful love to him last night. Whatever happened in the bedroom, stayed in the bedroom.
However, her brothers had detected that there might be a romantic undertone in their sister's friendship with her houseguest.
Felipe leaned over to whisper to his twin. "Oscar, you don't think there's something there between her and-"
"-and this Héctor fellow? No absolutamente!" The other twin whispered back. "She's married! Speaking of which..." He turned his attention back to Imelda. "So how was your husband?"
"My husband?"
"Sí, the bulky man with the mustache and a butt chin!" said Felipe. "What was his name, again? Ernesto de la Crud?"
"No, it is Ernesto de la Cruz," Oscar corrected him.
Imelda briefly explained that he had left for his music tour. The brothers found it strange that Imelda didn't seem quite bothered about it.
When she happily told them that she divorced Ernesto, they were stunned.
"Really?"
"Oh sí, hermanos!" Imelda said with relief on her face. "I have never felt so free in my life! Héctor and I were able to-" the woman quickly silenced her tongue, cursing herself for giving away her secret.
Her brothers gave her the look-the same hard and unwavering look that her father used to give her whenever she did something naughty.
Imelda's eyes showed a sign of fear, instead of the confidence she had hoped to produce.
"Imelda, qué pasa?" Oscar asked.
"Tell us the truth," Felipe said firmly.
Imelda swallowed. "Promise you won't tell a soul?"
"Promise!" the boys said, doing a salute.
"Héctor and I had a very romantic night!" she confessed. Her voice was tinged with guilt and shame.
"Oscar...you don't think she-"
"Oh no! She didn't, Felipe!"
"Oh yes, she did!"
The boys made the loudest terrified gasp they had ever produced.
"Imelda, you sinned!"
"Oh, you are in big trouble now!"
"No, I am not, hermanos!" Imelda denied. "It's not like I am with child!"
"Are you sure?" Oscar asked.
"Positive!"
"If you say so," he drawled off.
"Why aren't you with Héctor?" Felipe interrupted. "Did he abandon you?"
"I can't believe he did that!" Oscar gasped.
"No, no, no!" their sister shook her head, furiously. "Héctor did not abandon me! He had to leave for a train heading out to his home. He had asked me to come with him, but I chose to stay."
Her brothers were as still as a bunch of mummies at a museum. Not one of them said a word for a long time as they were processing everything their sister had told them.
"He asked you to come with him-" Oscar slowly spoke.
"-and you chose to stay here!?" Felipe cried.
Their sister nodded with a frown and eyes closed.
"Imelda, you should have said yes!" Oscar cried.
"Your honor would have been saved!" Felipe added.
"My honor was already ruined the moment Ernesto took advantage of me!" Imelda said bitterly. "Besides, what if Héctor didn't love me? What if he was trying to trick me into coming with him so he could secretly kill me? I have heard tragic stories about what happens to girls like me!"
"But Imeldita," Felipe spoke, gently. "If a man wants you to come with him after spending a romantic night with him, I think that is a sign that he truly loves you, right Oscar?"
"Wring hermano," his twin disagreed. "I think he could be secretly trying to get rid of her. The fact that he wanted you to come with him sounded too good to be true."
Imelda sighed, feeling agitated. One brother thinks she made the wrong decision, the other thought otherwise. Great, how was she supposed to know if she made a moral decision or not?
"Look on the bright side, hermanita," Felipe smiled, trying to cheer her up. "Now that you are divorced from Ernesto de la Crud-er, Cruz, you can come home with us!"
"Agreed!" Oscar beamed. "Mamá will be so happy to have you back!"
"Y Papa?" Imelda asked.
The only sound her brothers could make out was "Uuuuuhhh..."
Imelda rolled her eyes and abruptly stood up from the couch. "You know what? I am going to make lunch for all of us! I don't know about but tengo hambre!"
While Imelda prepared for lunch in the kitchen, the twins whispered to each other about what to do.
"Okay, we both agreed that Imelda should come home with us," whispered Felipe. "But how do we tell Papa?"
"I don't know!" Oscar hissed. "Mamá is not strong enough to persuade him to let her stay!"
"He wouldn't like that she is divorced!"
"We'll make up a sob story of how Ernesto died-cause widows are more forgiving than divorced women."
Five minutes later, lunch was served. Felipe and Oscar had complimented Imelda's cooking.
"These enfrijoladas are delicious!" the boys exclaimed while eating their food. The fried tortillas, served with beans and sauce were very heavenly.
The woman felt flattered at their compliment. Only Héctor liked her cooking. Now she knows that her cooking had been good all along. Take that Ernesto! She thought while smirking.
"Imelda, would you come home with us, por favor?" Felipe asked.
When Imelda looked too nervous to answer, Oscar jumped in by saying, "At least stay with us for one day just to say hello to Mamá and Papa!"
Imelda thought for a bit. "Well...okay!" She smiled, as her brothers cheered. What has she got to lose?
Later in the afternoon, Imelda carried Pepita as if she were her safety teddy bear. She was walking with her brothers on a path to a big house. The same old house that she grew up.
"Don't worry, Mamá is going to be happy to see you," the boys assured her.
Pepita had jumped off from Imelda's hands and wrapped her body around the woman's legs as if to give her some comfort.
When the boys knocked on the door, it opened to reveal their mother. Relief appeared on Martha's countenance, as soon as she saw her sons. Surprise and joy flashed in her eyes when she spotted someone she hadn't seen in such a long time. Could it be?
"Oh Imeldita!" she exclaimed, running and wrapping her arms around her only daughter. The woman hugged and kissed Imelda on the head.
"Mamá!" Imelda was joyous to be in her mother's arms, and she shed tears of joy. She never dreamed that her mother would be incredibly happy to see her again.
When mother and daughter pulled away, Pepita purred, glad that her mistress was getting the love she deserved.
"Mamá, I thought you'd have forgotten about me," Imelda said softly.
"Oh mija, why would you ever think that?"
Imelda wanted to say that her letters to them in her early months of marriage went unanswered. Or that her father prevented her brothers from seeing her. It also didn't help that her husband prevented her from seeing her family, either. If she didn't want to ruin this rare and special moment with her mother. What she said, instead, was: "I committed a sin and I thought you and Papa don't want me anymore."
"Nonsense mija!" Martha cried. "I would never forget you!" She hugged her daughter again. "But where is your husband?"
"Oh he is not with me anymore," Imelda said, in a casual tone.
"Que!?" Martha was stunned.
"It is a long story. Mind if we talk this privately inside?"
"Of course," Martha smiled. As a mother, daughter, two sons, a cat walked into their home, Imelda thought of something. She was free from Ernesto! She may have lost Héctor sadly, but she has her family back. This will be the end of her troubles.
Little did she know she would still have to meet her father once he comes home from work.
Also two weeks later, Imelda would discover something quite shocking: she missed her time of the month.