As per Abuela's instruction, the whole family gathered in the courtyard as she waved for Casita to open the doors to welcome the Guzman family. As Mariano and his mother walked in with warm smiles just at the same time, Isabela and Dolores crept down the stairs timidly, holding tightly onto each other. Everyone's eyes went to the two lovely young women who were coming down the last few steps. Dolores wished it was not her imagination as she thought Mariano's gaze lingered on her before sparing a glance for Isabela as well. His heart was beating fast, and she wondered if it was from nerves or from being in the presence of someone, he deemed beautiful. His warm soulful eyes met hers and her lips parted as she wet them with her tongue. Not her, not you; Dolores scolded herself for even daring to allow the errant wish as she forced herself to break their gaze and look down to her feet instead. One hand fisted in her skirt while the other reached across her body to grip her forearm tightly, a nervous stance she'd never truly grown out of.

The flower crowns adorning the grandchildren did not go unnoticed by Abuela. She had been surprised when she saw Luisa wore them but seeing all four of her granddaughters wearing them, she narrowed her eyes. There was a language and even purpose for flowers and she had insisted Isabela learn it well. The gladiolus worn by Luisa was a symbol of strength. The jasmine and lavender on Mirabel were supposed to help calm with their aromas as well as lavender representing silence and calmness. Dolores was wearing lilies, which were for both purity and devotion. And Isabela? She wore purple hyacinth flowers; the gorgeous blooms were for sorrow. This was a rebellion; she could see it. Isabela was not going according to their plan. She was presenting them all as equals, giving them each a symbol of themselves that was impossible to miss.

Abuela forced herself to smile fondly in front of their guests, though there was ire laced in it, at Isabela as Julieta and Pepa both stepped forward to fetch their daughters. Each offered their arm to their own firstborn. "Shall we." Abuela gestured towards the patio they had set up in preparation for tonight. "Julieta has prepared a wondrous meal for us to share."

A crack appeared underneath Mirabel's foot and she tried not to yip in surprise. She was successful in hiding it from everyone but her father, who was watching her closely upon her mother's lamenting of not knowing what was wrong. He was the only one to notice Mirabel, but Mariano, Camilo, and Antonio all noticed when Dolores flinched harshly at the sound the cracking house made. "Are you okay?" Antonio's sweet voice asked quietly as he rode his tiger to stand next to her, reaching up to gently grab her arm. "I'm fine." she whispered, "Um, it was just an unpleasant cracking sound." she gripped her skirt tighter, "Something must have broken, but nobody is hurt. So, it is alright." she assured her little brothers who were both looking at her in confused worry. So focussed on her brothers she didn't notice Mariano had been checking on her as well, so she missed his look of confusion when she gave Camilo a look that said, "I'll tell you later."

As Abuela had dictated, Mariano found himself sitting beside Isabela, the one he was expected to propose to tonight, and across from Dolores, the other girl with whom he was close in age to.

The sky was perfect, stars twinkling brightly above. So, clear they could see it even past the lanterns decorating the beautiful patio. It was clear Isabela did much of the decorating, vines and flowers were everywhere. As he looked at each one, Mariano could see a pattern. Begonia for the need for deep thinking, candy-fruit for indifference, yellow carnations were a rejection, butterfly weed flowers to mean leave me, cyclamen to symbolize separation. Even the purple hyacinth Isabela wore was a message, one that was sharing her sorrow. Each of these all related back to the event that was to take place tonight. As his gaze traveled through each of the female grandchildren, he could see that they each had meanings to represent themselves in some manner, and when he looked at the woman across from him he realized her flowers meant purity and devotion.

Turning to Isabela he swallowed thickly, realizing she had been watching him closely as he assessed her messages. "Devotion?" he asked quietly, even as he knew the woman wearing the lilies would hear him. "Oh yes, Dolores is quite devoted and loyal." she smiled, giving him a look that he knew was her way of giving him a nudge, a little bit louder she continued, catching more people's attention. "You know, if I hadn't put jasmine on Mirabel, then I would have put them on Dolores instead."

He knew the bait was set, and he willingly took it. "Why is that?"

I gave them to Mirabel because jasmine has a calming scent, and she just needed some extra calm today. But the meaning would be much better fit for Dolores, I think, with the messages I wanted to send." She raised an eyebrow at him, "A hopeless romantic as yourself, surely you know the languages and meaning behind certain flowers?" At his nod, she continued, "Then tell me, what might my hyacinth symbolize? What might jasmine symbolize? When you can answer that question, you will know why I would have wanted to put it in her crown."

His eyes flicked over to meet hers. The second Mariano met Dolores's eyes, she froze, wide eyed before turning her gaze immediately down to her lap, blindingly lifting her wine glass to hide behind. He could see how nervous she was, even just listening to the conversation from across the table. He licked his lips, as he thought about how to best answer Isabela. "Hyacinth," he started, "Means you're sad about something. But jasmine, jasmine can mean beauty, love, sensuality." He kept his eyes solely on Dolores and watched her shrink in on herself, making herself as small as possible. She tensed, but when he stressed his final three words, she glanced up through her eyelashes at him, and he saw the puzzle pieces he had been missing all this time as they fit together with ease.

In the moment Dolores finally met his eyes again, Mariano wished he was more of a selfish man, thinking about all the clear signals Isabela had given him tonight. She did not want to marry him, her Abuela Madrigal wanted her to marry him. But someone else here did want that, and they wanted it of their own free will, just as he had always hoped. What he wanted was a real connection, not the strained one his mother and Alma Madrigal saw fit to orchestrate.

Both Alma and Senora Guzman seemed to twitch, and the whole table held their breaths, Isabela straightened her back and kept looking determinedly into Alma's eyes. "Your cousin has confused you." Alma decided sourly, giving a sharp look to the side at Dolores who was once more steadfastly focusing on her lap. "Dolores, go." she ordered, and Dolores hummed and nodded, "Yes Abuela." With a fluid motion she stood from her chair, still refusing to look at anyone and fled the room. "Isabela, put those silly thoughts out of your head."

"Abuela." she tried to speak but was met with a sharp look. She looked tempted to try once more but instead shut back down, dejected as she looked away.

Pepa's eyes twitched, and an ominous cloud began to form above her head. Felix reached up to bat it away for her as she murmured, "Clear skies. Clear skies. Clear skies." But even then, he seemed bothered too. Camilo shifted nervously in his seat, caught between wanting to help his mother and wanting to go after his sister, both of which would be unacceptable for him to do under Abuela's hawk-like gaze. So, he did nothing, sitting on his hands to keep himself from reaching to offer help or comfort, grinding his teeth to dull the urge.

Mirabel twitched watching her family as they all seemed to wring their hands, wishing to stand up but not having the courage to do so. Her eyes flickered between each one. Her mama, tired and worn, almost asleep in her exhaustion, but she peered at Isabela with a worried look in her eyes. Agustin's hands holding hers, he too was uncomfortable, but he was at a loss for what to say. Pepa began to flash, and she watched her Tio be the only one allowed to try and calm her, her cousins trying to hide their fretting for their mama. Isa who had just tried to go a calm and quiet route but was still denied. Mariano who was still staring after Dolores, who was long gone. Her thoughts flickered back to this morning and to last night, the thread and the pain, but the amount of love Dolores had shown her when she came to her aid, the amount of gentleness her sisters and primo had offered her. The way Mama had gently pushed, but not forced her to admit the things that were dreadfully wrong, wrong, wrong with their lives.

Mustering all the courage she could, Mirabel was just about to stand when the cracks returned in full force, throwing them backwards in Casita's attempt to keep them from harm. It settled moments later, and Alma's eyes zeroed in on her as she threw herself up to her feet. She had meant to be up in arms for the sake of her sister, but the cracks pushed that away for a moment. "This is what I was warning you about, Abuela! The magic is in danger! Casita is in danger!" Her anger at Casita's hurt, the cracks jarring and destructive to see the rest looked on in horror, all in varying stages of knowing. Just as quickly as the cracks had appeared they too had disappeared, leaving the Guzman's and even others within the Madrigal families baffled and wondering at what had just happened.

If Abuela was upset before, she was just bleeding with anger now. "Mirabel!" she seethed in a low voice. "For the last time: The house is fine. The magic is fine. We are fine. You are the one with a problem. Now go." she harshly ordered the second Madrigal grandchild to leave with solid finality. With a regretful look she flinched back at the tone, before accepting the order, Mirabel was reminded once more that she wasn't special, she was just burdening her family. She owed it to them to go back to the shadows, allowing them to thrive without her burdening them with her unnecessary interruption. As she slunk out of the room, she did not see her parents gazing at her with worried looks being shared, but she did hear Abuela say one last thing before she was out of earshot. "Luisa, the table."