A couple days following the dinner with the Rojas, Julio got a letter about a playdate. Gloria stayed true to her word and told Julio she would take him. I could see it in his eye he was very nervous about Gloria coming with him, but after we both pulled him to the side and told him the plan, this worry quickly went away and he was back to his excited little self. While I was giving Julio a quick bath, papa woke up and soon left for Samuel's house where they planned to test Carlos and Jhon's building knowledge further. Mama left to take care of an ill friend of hers a few minutes after papa left. This gave Gloria the perfect opportunity to leave the house and take Julio to meet Antonio and Mirabel. While I usually leave out the front door (which I am now mentally slapping myself for), Gloria left out the back door and through the garden into the heavily wooded area behind our house. I realized quickly how easily this concealed them and kept them out of view of the very busy town outside our front door. "Note made." I thought as I heard Gloria tell Julio they were going on a jungle adventure.
After they left, I found myself sitting on the couch experiencing something that was very rare in this house. Silence. Julio wasn't running around, Gloria wasn't following mama or complaining about her chore of the day, papa's nap-time snores weren't filling the house, and mama wasn't rushing around trying to get everything done before the end of the day. The house was completely quiet. I tried to sit down and read a book or two, but for some reason the silence made it harder to concentrate. While I read, I found myself expecting some type of noise that would inevitably distract me from my book and preparing myself to react to it, making me lose focus from what was on the page and having to restart it all over again.
"Well, this is something new." I thought out loud after putting my book down. I went into the kitchen and started looking through the drawers and pantry in search of something to eat. But even though the kitchen was well stocked, it wasn't stocked with anything I wanted at the time and everything I wanted had to made (which I didn't really feel like doing). I even glanced multiple times at the chore list on the wall in hopes I'd find something to do, but mama had us do everything yesterday since she knew she and papa would be gone today and wouldn't be able to make sure her kids did everything properly (AKA her way).
I went back to the couch and laid down on it. While I looked up at the ceiling, I closed my eyes and tried to allow my mind to go blank in hopes I could take a nap to pass the time. But the same issue I had before with reading also came up while I tried to nap. Various thoughts crossed my mind and anticipation for a noise that would wake me up made being tired enough for a nap practically impossible. It also crossed my mind how very little time I've ever had to myself that wasn't filled by doing something with Julio or chores. "Am I bored?" I asked myself. "Is this what boredom feels like?"
I sat up straight on the couch again and looked out the window. I could see clouds starting to form and slowly creeping towards the town. "Looks like rain's coming. I hope Julio and-"
Seeing the clouds suddenly brought a new thought to my mind. Papa only told me his side of the story about what happened between him and the Madrigals. And knowing him, I started to doubt whether he told me the whole story. With this thought fresh on my mind, I quickly grabbed my coat and ran out back through the garden and through the trees toward the Madrigal house.
When I reached their house, I quickly knocked on their door and was soon greeted by Julieta.
"Rosa! Well this is an unexpected visit. Come in, please!" Julieta smiled and I gave her a quick one back followed by a "Thank you." When I took off my coat, the tiles under me moved and I was taken to a wall where it seemed all the Madrigals kept theirs. When I placed it on the hook in front of me, this hook moved so my coat was now in line with all the others.
"If you're looking for Bruno," Julieta said as she started leading me further into the house "I believe I last saw him go in his room."
"No, I'm actually looking for someone else. Is Alma home?"
Asking for her mother seemed to be a rare inquiry for Julieta since she seemed a little taken back by the question. "Oh, she is actually. Do you have something for her or-"
"Well," I interrupted "I was wondering if she could tell me what happened 10 years ago when my papa came here looking for Bruno." I'd be lying if I said I felt bad when I interrupted Julieta, but I was getting more and more eager to know Alma's side of the story and if everything my papa said from his side was true.
Julieta only nodded her head and sat me down on their couch. "Would you like anything to drink before I get her? Or anything to eat? It's getting closer to lunch and I have some leftovers from a hospital delivery."
"Oh no, I ate at my house. But thank you, Julieta!" I lied in hopes this would let her get to her mother faster. I sat on their couch and listened to all the sounds happening around me, appreciating this change compared to the silence my house held for the day. From the water running by itself in the kitchen to hearing Luisa upstairs running in place as the floor under her moved by itself and everything in between. The Madrigal household seemed to be much livelier than mine today.
While I was admiring the sounds around me, I hadn't noticed Julieta had returned with her mother until they called my name. At this, I automatically stood up from the couch and almost started looking around for what was going to be asked of me, something I've come to expect when I was sitting down at my house, before remembering I was at the Madrigals.
"Rosa, I heard you were asking for me?" Alma asked and I quickly nodded my head with a "I was." Before sitting back down and asking her to sit beside me. "I was wondering if you could tell me what happened the night my papa came here and was asking about Bruno?"
It seemed to take Alma a minute to process this question before she asked me one herself. "How much do you already know?"
"Nothing." I lied. "I just know about when my papa came home fuming. He didn't tell me anything that was said." I didn't want Alma to know papa also told me his side of the story since I wanted to hear her thoughts. I also didn't want her to know what papa told me in case she tried to use that story to better her own.
"Well," Alma started. "Bruno left late at night while everyone was asleep. When we noticed he was missing, everyone started looking for him throughout the casita. Well, except for me. I thought it best to keep this news from the kids since they were so young, I didn't think they would understand. I stayed with them when I could while everyone else searched. But even once night fell and the kids were in bed, we still hadn't found Bruno. I could tell Pepa was the most on edge. Every time I saw her during the day it seemed the cloud above her head was growing larger and larger. I heard her mumbling about this was Bruno's night and they were going to be late if we couldn't find him all throughout the day. Felix even started carrying a bucket around because we all thought it would start raining any second."
I started slightly remembering that day. I kept thinking I was hearing thunder and worried the Madrigals wouldn't show if it rained too much, but mama always laughed, saying it was going to be fine and it wasn't supposed to rain at all that day.
"But," Alma continued "Night came and we still hadn't found Bruno. After we put the kids to bed, I sat my daughters and their husbands down to try and figure out what happened. But it wasn't no sooner we sat down did we hear someone at our door. Before any one of us could react or get up to answer the door, we saw your father open the door by himself and come into our house."
"Yeah…that sounds more like him." I thought.
"Of course," Alma chuckled "None of us were expecting him to just barge into our house so you can imagine the shock we had. He started asking about Bruno, but none of us had an answer since we didn't know where he was ourselves. Despite me trying to tell him this, he kept insisting we did and I could see he was starting to let his temper get the better of him. Well, Pepa had reached her breaking point and before I could stop her the cloud above her head grew almost to the size of the room. Thunder clapped and the whole house went black. I was praying the children were still asleep because I knew if any of them saw this they would be scared beyond what their little hearts could handle. But your father wouldn't back down and kept pushing for answers. Luckily, Felix was able to calm her down before anything came of the cloud. I tried once again to talk to him, but now even our house was starting to get tired of him. It started pushing him out, all the while he shouted and cursed our name even after the doors shut on him. And that was the end of that. Julieta and Agustin went to make sure the kids were still asleep and Felix stayed to calm Pepa down more. The next day, I saw your father in town but he turned himself and his wife away from me and we have never spoken since."
Like with my father after he told me his side, there was silence between Alma and I after she finished telling me what happened. All I did was let out a tiny "Hm." And looked down at my hands.
"Your father is very protective of you, Rosa." Julietta said, filling the silence. I almost jumped since I forgot she was there at all. "He just let his temper override his love that day."
I let out another tiny "Hm." And stood up. "Well, I can't thank you enough for telling me that. And my papa is a great man-"
"He's a very proud man." Julieta interrupted. "But let's not dwell on that. It might be hard to believe, but I don't think this silly feud between our families is going to last much longer. If it was, I don't think I'd be seeing you here on your own accord."
I couldn't help but smile as Julieta pulled me in for a hug. "Now," she smiled. "Something tells me you have some room in your stomach for a little bit of lunch if you would like to join us for a small one."
She was far from wrong since almost on cue I could feel my stomach start to growl. I shrugged a little before saying "Maybe a quick lunch wouldn't hurt."
