The next few days flowed by without much of an issue. She did all her normal chores and met up with Alex like they planned and no one suspected anything.
Felix did however invite Alex's father over for dinner one time. It wasn't too eventful but she was glad that her Papi was having fun while her and Alex shared glances. Camilo most likely saw the way they stared at one another and transformed into Alex the other day to tease his sister. She threw a book at him and huffed as he laughed.
Before she knew it, almost 3 weeks had passed and she had spent everyday meeting up with her boyfriend at their usual spot or even in town. As each day passed it became more difficult to leave each other. Dolores didn't want him to leave and Alejandro didn't want to leave her. When the day finally came Dolores' emotions were totally wrecked. She had stayed in her room almost 2 hours longer than what she usually did and almost refused to leave her bed, but she had to see him off.
She sighed and changed into her usual white shirt, light orange skirt and matching orange bow in her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror and squinted. Wearing the color orange was a family coordination thing that Dolores had been a part of since she was born. Pepa and Felix matched wearing more yellow with only a hint of orange. She wore a slightly darker orange than her parents and Camilo wore mainly orange with hints of yellow.
Her mind ran over how that was the only color she ever wore before flowing back to the reason why she was getting dressed. Alejandro had a habit of wearing red. It was a daring color and brought out his eyes in a way that Dolores couldn't resist. She realized she really liked the color because of her boyfriend.
She imagined herself in the color. Her hair in it's usual bun, a red bow, a red skirt, maybe the slightest hints of orange here and there to keep up with family tradition. She would be representing her connection to her family as well as her love for Alejandro. She liked that idea, maybe she would bring it up to her Tio Augustin later and ask if he could change the color of her clothes.
She gave herself a nod before walking out the room and heading downstairs.
When she had made it to the river, Alex was already there waiting for her. He smiled at her with a soft smile and she gave him one in return as he hugged her. They didn't say anything, just stood there in each other's arms. Eventually Dolores backed away and looked into his eyes. "Promise me you will at least try to come back." Alex saw the tears in her eyes and sighed as he cupped her face and gave her a kiss.
"I promise, princesa. It will take a while, but I will try my hardest.." Dolores nodded her head and sat down in the grass. The curly haired boy sat beside her and grabbed his guitar before looking over to her with a hopeful smile. "One more song before I leave?" She gave him a smile and nodded her head for him to play.
As he played, Dolores thought about everything they have been through together and smiled. He was her best friend, the person she trusted the most in the world, her lover. Even Though it hasn't been too long Dolores wouldn't have changed anything that happened. She was glad she got to meet him.
As he continued to play it sounded like a beat was following with the strings he played and it made her feel warm inside. Once his song was coming to a stop he set his guitar to the side and wrapped his arms around her. Dolores turned her head to kiss his cheek and laid against his chest. "Just as beautiful as the first time, mi principe. I'm going to miss hearing you play." Alex nudged his head against her hair with a smile. "And I will miss playing for you, Princesa."
They laid there together for a while before Dolores' ears twitched and she tilted her head to listen better. "Mi amor, have you seen Alex? It's almost time to go and he has been gone since this morning." the smile on her face faltered as she turned to face his questioning look. "It's time to go, your father is calling for you.."
Alex sighed as he stood up and placed his guitar on his back, he grabbed Dolores hands to help her up and kissed them as he stared into her eyes. "Well then, it's best I should go. Until we meet again, Mi Vida." He squeezed her hands before letting go but before he could step away Dolores grabbed at his face and closed the distance between them. When they broke the kiss she looked into his eyes. "Until we meet again, Carino. "
When Dolores came back to Casita she wasn't smiling like she usually was. She was a bit more gloomy and didn't make eye contact with anyone. When dinner came around she picked at her food a little before every time she took a bite.
For some reason she's been really queasy and couldn't hold too much down so she only ate about half what she usually would. Pepa gave Julieta a concerned look and her sister looked back at her. Julieta then glanced at Isabela who sat beside Dolores and received a shrug from her eldest daughter.
Isa glanced at her cousin before softly nudging her. Dolores almost jumped at the sudden movement and looked back at her as she whispered. "Are you okay, prima? You've been acting kind of weird."
Dolores shook her head and glanced towards her mother to see her staring before she started picking at the food on her plate again. "I'm fine, just a light stomach ache." Isa stared at her before letting it go and looked back to her aunt and Tia mouthing 'A stomach ache.'
Julieta looked at her niece before looking at her sister who had a cloud above her head. Abuela looked at Pepa Questioningly. "Pepa, the cloud." Pepa ran her hands through her hair and Felix rubbed at her back.
It was more of the same the next few weeks. Dolores started hiding how she felt, in concern for her mother. If she openly showed she was upset, Pepa would be upset, and when Pepa was upset there would thunder. And if it began to thunder Abuela would be upset and then no one would be happy.
So now everything would be okay, or at least it was supposed to be. The stomach ache Dolores felt never really went away, in fact it felt like it was becoming worse and Julieta's cooking wasn't helping. She had got up from the dinner table and ran to the bathroom to throw up a few times. Certain smells made her nauseous and when she wasn't gagging over what had been made she stayed in her room and slept. Dolores didn't know what was going on until she heard it from the confines of her own room.
She was taking a nap right after dinner when all of a sudden she jolted awake. She looked at her room a little disoriented trying to figure out what it could've been to wake her up. At first all she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat and the squeaking of the rats that seemed to find a way into her room. Then she heard a light beating following after the rhythm of her own heart.
She stared down at her body and placed her hand on her lower abdomen, that's where the beating was coming from. Her heart felt like it dropped to her stomach, and her breathing became irregular. It worked, it really worked, Dolores was pregnant.
Her eyes widened. Holy crap she was actually pregnant. Alex was long gone and she was pregnant with his child. Tears brimmed in her eyes and her hands began to shake. She took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. "Okay...okay"
Dolores shook her head, getting rid of any roaming bad thoughts. This was a good thing, she was pregnant, now her mother didn't have to worry about trying for another child. This kid would grow up with Pepa as it's mother and Abuela would be happy. The miracle would be saved, everything will be fine.
Right now she just needed to go find her mother.
Dolores nodded her affirmation to her way of thinking and got up to go look for Pepa. It didn't take long to find her, she was in the kitchen with Julieta having tea. Dolores stood in the doorway of the kitchen suddenly stricken with fear.
This was definitely scarier than what she imagined, her mind began to conjure up the worst possible outcomes. How was she supposed to tell her, what was she supposed to say? Pepa would be upset, she'd start screaming, and yelling. There would be a hurricane.
While Dolores was stuck in her own head, she forgot that the doors in the kitchen were not fully doors. Pepa could see her feet from where she stood in the kitchen with julieta. She paused the conversation she was having with her older sister and twitched her eyebrows lightly as she placed her cup down.
"Dolores?"
The girl in question gasped and squeaked as Casita opened the door to reveal her standing there. She mentally cursed at the magical house as she looked at her mother and saw her staring back concerned. "Mi hija...is something wrong?" Dolores glanced at her aunt who stood next to her mother with an equally concerned face.
She scrunched her eyes close before shaking her head and looking back at her mother. "Mama, I need to tell you something." Pepa stared at the fearful look on her daughter's face and a small cloud appeared above her head as she began to worry. Whatever it was she wanted to say was something important
She looked at Julieta who looked back before she stared at the cloud above her. Pepa looked up and groaned when she saw it and waved it away before looking back to Dolores with her hands clasped in front of her and sighed. "Okay."
Dolores stared at the floor and nodded her head before walking to her mothers room knowing that her father was in the living room. Pepa and Julieta shared another look before she went and followed her daughter.
