Chapter Three
Luisa, Isabela and Mama exchanged looks, that type of look that adults share when they talk have a secret they don't want children to know about.
"Well," I demanded, "What's going on here? First, Isa and Luisa were actually hanging out with me. Then I had an asthma attacked Then Luisa actually said no to someone. I didn't think she was allowed to say no. And then, then Abuela smiled at me, and called me Mariposa. She never, ever, ever, does that, ever, not since my gift ceremony."
Luisa sniffed, as if she was trying to stop herself from crying. Sure she cried in her room where no one but Dolores could hear her, but we were in public, in the middle of town.
"Luisa?" I asked, reaching out and touching her elbow, mainly because I couldn't reach her shoulder.
"I'm fine, it's just, sometimes I forget how bad your relationship with Abuela was."
"What do you mean 'was'? 'Was' implies that it got better."
"I think we need to tell her, Mama," Isa insisted, "You know how much she hates secrets, and she's going to notice the front door."
"What's wrong with the front door?" I demanded.
Mama sighed, "Mira, Mija, when you hit your head, it… well… I don't know how to say this, but it affected your memory. From what I can tell, you're missing at least five years of memories."
"What!" I exclaimed, how could I be missing five years of memories, although that did explain a lot.
"You're missing at least five years of memory," Isabela repeated, "You obviously don't remember anything that happened after Antonio's gift ceremony."
Tonito's gift ceremony? Gift ceremonies happen when you're five, and I'm ten years older than him. Plus five years more of missing memory and that makes me… "Twenty, I'm twenty!"
"Yes, yes you are," Isa said with a little bit of a laugh.
"Ugg. I'm old," the words were out of my mouth before I knew what I was thinking. Isa, Luisa, and Mama all gave each other amused looks. As if they found my statement hilarious but didn't want to laugh at me.
"If you're old, what does that make me?" Mama asked.
"Ancient," I announced, sticking my tongue into my cheek as I smiled at her.
"I'm glad that your head injury didn't affect your sense of humor," Isa announced, slinging an arm around my shoulder. I shrugged it off, giving Isa a cautious look, the only reason she ever got touchy feely with me was when she was about to blame me for something she did. That was not a good thing.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her eyes narrowed as she scuntinzied me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I snapped, "What you did this time?"
"What?"
"Come on, the only time you're all chummy, chummy like that is when you've done something wrong and pin it on me."
"Isabela Maria Rojas Madrigal, you did not use your hermanita as a scapegoat," Mama exclaimed, turning around to face Isa, who flushed.
"That was years ago," she insisted, "I haven't done that in like six years," she flipped her hand as if to dismiss it.
Mama looked like she was going to protest but I really didn't care, so I insisted, "Look, if she says it's been years, it probably been years, she's probably already been chewed out for it and apologized for it, so let's just drop it. Sorry I brought it up."
"Are you sure?" Mama asked, giving Isa a hard look.
"Hey, you're the one who told me that Mirabel's missing over five years of memories," she pointed out, "She's going to bring up stuff that are five years irrelevant."
"I guess," Mama said, giving Isabela a look, the same look she always gives me when I say that I'm fine, as if she didn't quite believe that Isabela had stopped or something.
We all fell into an awkward silence as Mama lead us further up the path towards Casita as I tried to process what I had learned. Somehow I was twenty years old and was missing over five years of memory. I know this because, according to Mama, it's obvious that I can't remember anything that happened after Tonito's gift ceremony. But what was his gift, and what was it that had happened after it that had changed everyone so much that they were acting so weird around me?
I glanced at Mama and my sisters, wondering if it would be safe to ask them a question. Most of the time when I ask a question they brush me off, telling me that they're busy and go ask someone else. "Can I ask you something," I finally asked.
Isa chuckled, "You just did," she pointed out, smiling brightly.
"Of course you can," Mama said, nudging Isa slightly, "What is it?"
"Well, I was wondering," I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, "How did you know that I didn't remember Tonito's gift ceremony? What is his gift anyway?"
Isa and Luisa glanced at Mama, before glancing at me.
"Well," Mama said, "He can talk to animals," she started, "As for how I knew that you didn't remember his ceremony, well… It's kind of a long story," she paused for a second, "Let me figure out the best way to explain this."
"The day after Antonio's gift ceremony," Luisa offered, "You had a huge argument with Abuela."
"So?" I asked, "I have an argument with her almost every single time I see her."
Mama gave me a look, but I brushed it off, it wasn't like I started any of the fights, Abuela did, I was just defending myself.
"You nearly died because of that argument," Isa deadpanned, as if that was common knowledge. I stared up at her in disbelief, how could an argument nearly kill me?
Mama gave Isa a look, "You ran away afterwards," Mama turned her attention to me, causing me to squirm, I wasn't use to all this attention," We couldn't find you. We searched for you all night," there was tears in her eyes as she cupped my cheek, "You got so sick…" she trailed off, a haunted look in her eyes.
I shuddered, I didn't like that look in Mama's eyes, they looked so full of grief and pain, "Hey," I said, smiling at Mama, "I obviously got better, I mean, I'm standing right in front of you, right?"
Isa snorted which caused Luisa to shake her head at her.
"What?" I demanded.
"Why do you think you suddenly have asthma?" Isa asked, "Your lungs have never been the same since."
"You had a very severe case of pneumonia," Mama explained, "Like Isabela said, you never fully recovered."
My head spun, I couldn't believe what I was hearing, that was why they assumed that I couldn't remember anything after Antonio's gift ceremony, because I didn't know about my asthma. Asthma that I developed after a severe bout of pneumonia, sever enough that Mama's food couldn't help it, severe enough that I nearly died.
"I know that this is a lot to take in," Mama said, placing a comforting hand on my back, "You'll feel better at Casita."
"Shouldn't we warn her about Casita, she's going to notice the front door."
"What happened to Casita?" I demanded, glaring at my hermanas and Mama, why wouldn't they just tell me straight out what was going on?
"There was an… earthquake a… few years ago, Casita was badly damaged, but we rebuilt it, The front door is different now. You'll see it when we get back to Casita."
…
I nodded, that makes sense, if there was an earthquake, Casita could easily have been damaged, she was a house after all, "Is there anything else that I need to know about?" I finally asked, "Like, do I have a boyfriend or anything like that?"
Luisa and Isa both looked at each other and chuckled.
"What, if a random guy that I might or might not know is going to randomly come up to me and kiss me, I want to know."
Isa and Luisa giggled, both of them exchanging a look, "No," Isa finally sighed, "At least you've never mentioned anyone to us before."
"Not that we can blame you," Luisa added, "What with Antonio's jaguar trying to eat your last boyfriend."
"Who turned out to be a huge jerk," Isa added.
I shrugged, "Story of my life," I confessed, "Honestly the very fact that he was interested in me in the first place either meant he felt sorry for me or he was just using me to get close to the family, Especially Isabela," I didn't mean to, but I couldn't help the snarl that entered my voice. I mean Isabela ruined my friendship with Marcel, who had been my best friend since I was three, at least until last year, when Isabela got involved.
"Mira?" Isa called out.
I snapped my eyes up at her, she was looking at me with concern in her eyes. I glanced over at Luisa and Mama, they had the same look on their faces, great, now they were pitying me.
"It's fine guys, I'm use to being alone," I insisted.
"Why is this information new to me," Mama demanded, "Why haven't you told me this?"
"You're always busy, I'm lucky if you even notice that I'm there," I confessed, before stepping forward with an extra spring in my step, "Come on, I thought we were on our way back to Casita."
…
I stopped in front of Casita, staring at the front door, what in the world was going on? The front door was different, like very different, as in it was golden like a bedroom door. It was a family portrait, complete with Tio Bruno, and… "Is that Mariano Guzman holding a toddler?" I asked.
"Yeah," Luisa said, "It was really cool, after the wedding, we headed back here to Casita, and you suddenly stopped and insisted that Mariano touch the doorknob and it glowed and there he was in the portrait. How did you know that if he touched the knob that his picture would be added? You did the same thing with Pedro when he was born. It's weird that you know so much about how the miracle works."
"Wait," I said, turning to Isa, Mariano had been obsessed with her last I checked, "You're married?"
Luisa snorted, "Nope, she's in a on again off again relationship with someone from the city, names Bubo."
"We broke up," Isa insisted.
"That's the tenth time they broke up in the past two years."
"Then why is Mariano in the family portrait?"
"Dolores," Isa insisted, "He married Dolores. He wasn't my type."
"She's more into the geeky city kids type," Luisa confessed.
"Lulu," Isa exclaimed, alarmed as I snickered. I never thought that Isabela, Ms. Perfect would be into nerds.
Mama rolled her eyes as Casita threw open the front door, and out ran a tall man in a green rauna, "Mirabel, thank goodness, are you okay? Dolores told me that you hit your head, thank goodness your sisters were there. I should have had a vision before you left, just so you could have had a warning," the man pulled me into a hug, which was super weird because I was sure I knew who this man was, and I haven't seen him in years. Yet no one was surprised to see him.
"Tio Bruno?" I asked.
"Tio?" Isa and Luisa repeated, but they weren't looking at Tio Bruno, no they were looking at me.
Tio Bruno let me go, confusion on his face, "Did you just call me Tio?"