Mirabel sat in the nursery resizing her sister's wedding dress for herself. Over and over she kept asking herself if she was making the correct decision. She had prayed to la Reina over and over but there had been no answer. Julietta and Augustin were trying to be happy for their daughter but it was obvious they were stressed. Isabela and Abuela refused to speak to Mirabel, her cousins would be talking in hushed voices that ceased when she entered a room, and Luisa would simply force a smile and go back to her chores. The only people whose demeanor toward her did not change were Tio Felix and Tia Pepa and she was relieved for it.
"Mirabel! Are you done with the alterations?" sang Tia Pepa coming into the nursery with a blast of sunshine. She'd been in a very good mood lately. "Oh! Que hermoso vestido, mi querida. You will be such a beautiful bride!" a small rain cloud formed above their heads as Tia Pepa let a few happy tears escape her eyes.
"Tia Pepa, do you think I'm making the right choice?" asked Mirabel quietly which caused Pepa's face to fall slightly.
"Mirabel, mi corazón, only you can answer that. In my opinion, this is the best way to solve everything, and I admit, I wanted a solution like this so I wouldn't lose any of you, but you must listen to your heart. Pray to el Dios and La Reina for guidance."
"I HAVE!" burst out Mirabel "I prayed until I've passed out from exhaustion, Tia, but I hear nothing! How am I supposed to know Heaven's will if Heaven is silent?"
Pepa sat on the bed beside Mirabel and pulled her sewing from her hands to take them. Mirabel looked at her aunt's uncharacteristically serene expression.
"Oh, Mirabel," she said. "It would be so nice if El Dios told us exactly what to do in every situation, however that is not the way life is. He wants us to choose to follow him. And he will show us the way. He will never make one path our only choice."
"How do you know, Tia?" Mirabel felt awful. She'd actually met the Queen of Heaven and still she was doubting her course, and her Tia who'd never met her as far as Mirabel knew, was absolute in her faith. Pepa smiled and picked up the Bible on Mirabel's bedside table and opened it to a verse in Proverbs
"In their hearts humans plan their course, BUT the lord establishes their steps" she read from it "el Dios has the overall pictures but each of us must choose the individual pieces of the picture he weaves, mi querida."
"I love my family, Tia, I love my God," said Mirabel looking at the floor, " but what if you were given a great destiny and you needed El Dios to guide you through?"
"Oh my angel, we are all given a great destiny. It may seem small in the eyes of the world but it all does to praise the king of Heaven." said Tia Pepa "a long time ago I worried that i was wasting my life and I was not living up to the gift that God himself had given me. My brother was a curse upon the village, my mother was stressed, and my sister was trying to find her own way. I was trying to figure out my own life. I prayed to God to show me the way and He was as silent as He is to you now. I didn't know what to do and then I met my Felix and I understood that he was the man God himself had intended for me. Mirabel, God does not use words to show our destiny. He uses actions."
Mirabel thought about everything that had happened thus far. God had allowed the casita to let her leave and had guided Mariano to her. She felt no romantic love to him yet he was willing to shackle himself into a loveless marriage to her to keep her safe. Did not la Reina say she had a choice with whether or not she wanted to save her family? She was beyond hurt with Abuela and Isabela for their words. Perhaps marriage to Mariano would give her the time and space she needed to forgive them.
"Think on this, mi vida," said Tia Pepa, "the lord never gives us a burden we cannot handle. Sometimes the physically weakest people are as strong or stronger than Luisa spiritually. Now get ready, Padre Julio will be here soon to get your last confession before marriage."
Tia Pepa kissed Mirabel's brow and left the room, a serene rainbow trailing behind her. Mirabel thought about everything her Tia had said. It was true that she trusted God beyond anything, but only if she could be certain of her future like-
"Tio Bruno!" gasped out Mirabel before covering her mouth with her hands. Her tio's name was forbidden in the Madrigal household. Her mother hardly ever spoke of him and even then she only referred to him as her brother, and the mere mention of him made Tia Pepa form a thundercloud above her head. Abuela was already angry. Bringing up her lost son would be sure to drive her into a frenzied rage. Who could she turn to to give her information? The answer was simple. The person who heard everything whether you wanted her to or not. Dolores.
Mirabel crept of of the nursery and whispered to casita "take me to Dolores," and followed the clacking tiles to the patio where her prima sat humming to herself.
"Hola, Mirabel," said Dolores without turning around, continuing her dancing practice, "you're here to ask about Tio Bruno? It's ok. Everyone is far enough away no one will hear us."
"Well, um, yes," said Mirabel, always a bit unnerved that dolores could hear everything, unwanted or not. "Do you know why Tio Bruno left the encanto?"
"Hmm, it was after your ceremony. Abuela wanted him to look into your future. He said that he wouldn't do it, but he told Tia Julietta that he did. He said he could never tell Abuela because she would try to throw you out. Abuela tricked me into telling her and she tried to pay tio Augustin to leave with you. Casita was very angry about that. But you already knew about that. He 'left' after that but he actually hid in the walls of Casita for a very long time. He must've left though. I haven't heard him in a very long time nor any of the rats he used as company."
Mirabel was taken aback by this onslaught of information that Dolores was giving her. She thought that she would have to cajole the information out of the elder Madrigal.
"If I were you, and I wanted to know what my future held, I would check Bruno's tower. no one else could ever find the vision but it would be attracted to the one it was about. But be warned, prima, it won't give you the answers you seek. You're already on the right path. Bruno's visions were never set in stone. People always just assumed they were. They were to warn you what would happen if you stayed on a particular path. He was not God, nor did he ever claim to be."
"Why are you telling me this?" asked Mirabel "aren't you worried abuela will be mad at you?"
Dolores finally looked over her shoulder and gave Mirabel a sly smile.
"Ever since the day Abuela tricked me into telling her what Tio Bruno told Tia Julietta, I've let Casita tell me what I should tell her. I'm not her pawn and I will not stand by as she destroys the family. If you think that you can fix us, I won't stop you." she said continuing to swirl around to music only she could hear. "Although, be warned, mi prima, if it goes south for you, I won't save your place in la familia either. I just won't let you be hurt or die. Do with that information what you will."
Unused to Dolores being so mysterious, Mirabel turned around and walked back toward the house without saying anything. It was almost like Dolores had become someone else during their exchange. Which was the true Dolores. It truly sent a chill up her spine to think she had gotten her first glimpse at the true nature of her prima mayor.
She looked toward the stairs leading to Bruno's tower, weighing Dolores' cryptic advice. What was the right choice.
"Mirabel!" sang her mother from the peldano. "Padre Julio is here to see you, mija!"
Mirabel looked at the tower one last time, deciding she would explore after her family went to sleep. As she walked down the stairs to speak to the priest she thought she heard a small voice whisper 'don't'. She shook it off. She needed answers and this would be the only way she would get them.
