Chapter Ten:

Mirabel head was spinning out of control, this wasn't right, this shouldn't be happening. She had left to protect the Miracle, not destroy it. This was all her fault, yet, Isabela was blaming herself. What was worse though was the fact that now she was stuck. There was no way she could go to school next year. She would never make it over the mountain pass. She couldn't use a sewing machine, and a large part of her school work would require her to use one. Her career was over with before it even had a chance to get started and she was stuck here in Encanto for the rest of her days. She was probably going to be stuck in bed like some invalid forever. Everyone had thought that she was useless before hand, but now, now she really was useless. She wasn't just going to be known as the Madrigal with no gift, she'll be known as the Madrigal that destroyed the miracle and brought Casita down.

"Let me get you something for the pain," Julieta offered, glancing at her youngest, who simply stared out at the wall. She obviously was in shock, not that she didn't blame her. It was a lot to take in, and Isabela's announcement about her legs hadn't helped any.

Isabela glanced at her, "I'm sorry Mama, I didn't know that she didn't know."

"I know," Julieta said with a sigh, "She had to find out sometime, I guess now's as good as ever."

"Will she be okay?"

"I really don't know," she confessed, "It's up to Mirabel. She has to choose how she reacts to this new challenge, just like the rest of us. She can be bitter about it if she wants to. But I know your Hermanita, she'll find a way to thrive, she always does."

"How? How can I thrive? I can't even use a sewing machine," Mirabel muttered from the bed, "My career is over with."

"You know, there once was a time that all sewing was done by hand."

"That was like a hundred years ago," Mirabel muttered, "Sewing by hand takes too long, I'll never be able to keep up with all the demands."

"Let's get you something for the pain," Julieta insisted, "It's hard to think clearly when you're hurt."

"Don't worry," Isabela insisted as Julieta disappeared down a hall that Mirabel vaguely remembered leading to the church's kitchen, "Abuela and Luisa left the Encanto the day after the quake, and brought back some pain killers. They take longer to work and they wear off, but hey, it's better than nothing."

Mirabel groaned, what kind of nightmare was this. She was stuck in bed with Isabela watching over her. It was the weirdest thing. Usually she made up excuses not to be near her, not sitting next to her bed talking to her.

"Luisa told me about it. It's sounds amazing, did you know that they have these airplanes that allow you to fly from one place to another? I want to ride in one, and in a bus, and a car, and a train and I don't know what they all have, but I'm going to experience it all. Abuela says that we'll all go, once you're well enough to travel."

By now Julieta had returned, handing Mirabel a couple of round pills and a glass of water, "Here," she offered, "put these in your mouth and drink the water until they go down."

Mirabel quickly followed her instructions, gagging at the end, "Those are nasty."

"I know," Julieta muttered, smoothing the blanket over her.

Mirabel watched her mother's hand run down a long bump in the blanket, that was her leg, but she couldn't feel anything, "I can't feel your hand," she confessed.

"I know, Corazon, I'm sorry."

The door to the church flew open and there was the sound of pounding footsteps before Antonio launched himself on top of Mirabel, "Mira! You're awake!"

Mirabel grimaced, "Hey Tonito," she gasped out.

Antonio eyes grew ride, quickly scrambling off of her, "Did I hurt you?" he demanded, "Mami told me that I'll have to be gentle, but I was just so excited that you were awake because you were asleep for sooo long, that I was afraid that you weren't going to wake up."

The door creaked open again, as Pepa entered, "Tonito, I told you, gentle, Mira's still pretty sick."

"Are you badly sick?" Antonio asked, peering at his favorite prima with wide unblinking eyes.

Mirabel didn't respond, she was peering over his head to were several people had crowded into the room, "You better get back to work before Abuela gets mad."

"Abuela's the one who told us you were awake," Camilo insisted, shoving Isabela out of the way, to stare at her, "Where were you even planning to go? Where you planning to find Tio Bruno, because he was hiding in the walls of Casita this whole time."

"She knew perfectly well that she was not going to find me outside the Encanto. I bet she hadn't even gotten out of the walls before she decided that she was going to run away," Tio Bruno said, appearing over Julieta's shoulder. Obviously enjoying the brief moment of being taller than one of his siblings before Julieta stood up from her chair and squeezed past, "Try not to crowd her," she insisted, "She just took some pain meds and needs to rest," she gave Camilo a look, "Understand, she needs to rest, she's still healing. I know that's something we aren't use to having to consider, but for Mirabel's sake, please don't maul her. I'm going to go find Mama now that Mirabel's calmed down some."

As soon as Julieta left the room, six eager faces swarmed into her view.

"You had us all worried, so much, Mirabel," Dolores insisted.

"Yeah," Luisa agreed, "I'm pretty sure Mama hasn't slept since the earthquake."

"That's not true Lulu," Isabela shot back, "She slept next to Tio Bruno that first night, remember?"

"She hardly slept that night either," Bruno informed them from the corner he had put himself in as if he was so use to observing from a distance he wasn't sure how to interact with other people any more, "She kept waking up, checking to see if I was still there, checking to make sure you weren't awake yet. It was really annoying. How Pepa slept through her getting up all the time is beyond me."

"Tia is a heavy sleeper," Mirabel whispered, "When Tonito was a baby I always had to get Tio Felix because I could never wake her."

"Oh she probably didn't like that," Bruno snickered, "When Isabela and Dolores were babies, Julieta and Pepa took turns tending to both babies at night, but when Luisa was born, Pepa had just got Dolores sleeping through the night. She refused to help. Then came Camilo and Mirabel and Pepa was all fro trading nights on baby duty again."

Everyone but Antonio, who gave everyone a confused look, laughed. "Why couldn't you sleep through the night from the beginning?" Antonio asked.

"Babies needs lots of special care at night, that's why you spent the first six months in Mama's room," Dolores explained.

"I did?" Antonio asked, "I don't remember that. I thought that I've always shared with Mirabel."

"Nope," Camilo insisted, "In fact, Mirabel begged Abuela not to put you in the nursery with her. She actually said that she hated you."

"Mirabel?" Antonio cried out, turning to face his prima. Was Camilo teasing him, or had Mirabel really said that? She told him that he was the best roommate she had ever had. Had that been a lie? Had she really hated him?

Unfortunately for him, Mirabel had fallen asleep sometime during their conversation.

"Oh, no!" he exclaimed, "Mira's asleep again."

"What!" Isabela exclaimed, glancing at her sister, "she just woke up!"

Luisa frowned, glancing at Mirabel, "Maybe I should go fetch Mama," she offered, "You know, just to be on the safe side."

…

Julieta found Abuela at Casita, inside what would eventually become the kitchen, giving instructions to some of the men.

"I want the sink down low so someone can do dishes while sitting down," she was saying, "If we had a chair, we can make a better estimate on how high to put it."

"I don't see why you even care," one man muttered, "It's not like the girl will ever amount to anything. As pathetic as she was beforehand, she's even more so now. If you ask me, you need to just put that girl in an institution."

"Excuse me," Julieta demanded, making a beeline for the man, holding her skirt in her hands as she made her way through the construction site towards him, "What did you just say about mi hija?" she growled in a low voice, more inches from the man.

"I'm surprised that she's your child. You're so special, she's such a screwup. Are you sure she isn't Bruno's? For him to have had a child like her. It would make sense, but you. You're perfect, how in the world could you have had a child like that?"

Julieta blinked, took a deep breath and asked in a sugary sweet voice that sounded extremely dangerous, "Are you asking me to explain the birds and the bees to you, Senor?"

"I'm just saying, you're such a golden child. Perfect in every way, just like Isabela, at least until she went off the deep end and went all feral on us. How did you end up with a dud like Mirabel? She's completely useless, she doesn't have a gift, she can't walk, she's no good for anything. You should have just culled her after her failed gift ceremony.

Julieta's hand snapped out, snagging the man's poncho in a deathly grip, pulling him forward so that their foreheads touched, "Last I checked, you don't have a gift either," she growled, "And I can arrange the 'can't walk' part myself if I ever, ever hear you talking bad about mi hija again. I promise you, it will be the last thing you do."

"What are you going to do? Make me an Arepa?" the man asked, uncaring on how threatening Julieta was at the moment.

Julieta's free hand snapped forward, curling into a fist as it went, before connecting with the man's nose with a loud crunching sound, "Don't tempt me," Julieta snarled, shoving him away from her before turning on her heels.

The fire immediately died in her eyes when she saw her mother standing behind her, "Mama…" she began.

"I heard everything," Abuela informed her, "And while I can't say that I approve of you going around punching people in the nose. I can say that he deserved it." She then turned to the man who was now nursing a broken nose, "If I ever hear you talking bad about a member of mi familia again, I will kick you out of the Encanto."

"Come on, even you have to admit that she's useless."

"Did you enjoy the Nativity play the ninos put on for Navidad last year? Mirabel wrote it completely alone. She even wrote one of the songs, directed it and did all the costumes. She was only fourteen. Tell me, what did you do at fourteen? Play futbol like other nino your age? Maybe even play hooky from school? Mirabel's already graduated from school and has a full ride scholarship to school of fashion. She has a bright future ahead of her, and I pray that this past week doesn't ruin it for her."

"Mama, Mama," Luisa's voice called out as the tall teenager came running towards them. She slowed to a stop when she saw her mother and Abuela talking, before glancing at the man who was still huddled into himself, trying to get his nose to stop bleeding, "Tough luck Senor Gracia," she said, "Mama's gift gone, she can't do anything about that bloody nose."

Senor Garcia gave Luisa a dirty look, before storming off in the opposite direction from where Luisa had come from, "What's up with him?" Luisa asked, "He's usually really nice to me," she shrugged, "Mama, Mirabel fell back to sleep!"

Julieta let out a chuckle, "She fell back to sleep? That's perfectly fine and normal, expected even, healing naturally is tiring. Mirabel is going to need lots more sleep than normal."

"So I probably should tell Camilo and Antonio not to wake her up?" Luisa asked.

"Please, let her sleep, at this point, her body knows better what she needs to heal than I do."