For once in her life, Dolores couldn't hear anything. Her heart was beating so fast and the blood was rushing in her ears as she stood in front of casita. She turned and looked at Alex who gave her a concerned look. Antonio stood between them with his own worried expression. She looked down at him and gave him a small smile as she placed her hands on his face.
"Toni, when we get inside I want you to go upstairs. It might get loud, take your animal friends with you so you'll have company and when we are done talking I will come get you, okay?"
He gave her a nod as she looked back up and sighed as Alex grabbed her hand. "..let's go."
When they walked into Casita, their eyes were met with Pepa who was being held by Felix to help calm the storm. Camilo, Luisa, Isabela and Mirabel all stared at her with unease making her grip on Alex's hand tightened. She looked at Antonio who started back at her with big eyes before she nudged him to go up the stairs.
"I'll come get you later, I promise." Antonio spared both of his parents a passing glance before Mirabel grabbed onto his hand. Dolores gave her a thankful smile as she took him to his room.
When they were out of sight she took a deep breath and let go of Alex's hand as she glanced at the others before looking at her grandmother. Even if Dolores didn't hear the conversation that happened between her and Pepa, it was clear as day to see how upset she was with her.
She willed herself to keep her head up to look at the older woman. "Abuela... I ca-" The older woman held her hand up as she looked at Dolores with distaste. Her nostrils flared before she sighed and looked at the watch in her hands.
"...I need to go get the Guzman's for dinner. When they leave, you better have a good enough explanation as to what I just heard." Alma side eyed her granddaughter as well as Alex before she walked out the house. Dolores stood there and stared at where her Abuela had stood before she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
"So instead of a little brother, I have a nephew..." her eyes turned over to Camilo as he spoke. She looked away for only a second and glanced over to Alex before looking back at him. Her lips pressed into a thin line and she began playing with her fingers. "Yea, pretty much. I was going to tell you all once I had everything figured out. Antonio didn't even know for a while and I... I just... there was a lot going on and I didn't-."
Before she could start rambling Camilo walked up and wrapped his arms around her. "You don't need to explain anything to me, Lola. I'm sure you had your reasons." Dolores' eyes softened and she brought her arms up to return his hug. Soon the others joined in and tears filled all their eyes. Dolores looked at all of them as they gave her soft smiles when they let go. "I'm so sorry about this."
Isa tilted her head and grabbed at her hands. "Prima, you don't need to apologize. If anything, I should be the one saying sorry. When I first saw Antonio I knew that there was something more behind what was happening. I knew something was wrong and I never bothered to ask."
Pepa walked in from the kitchen and went to hug her daughter. "Mija, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to tell them." Dolores smiled and hugged her mother tighter. "I know mama. I'm not upset with you. I should've listened the first time when you told me to tell them, I was being stubborn."
Felix came over and gave her a smile as he placed a hand on her cheek. "You were being cautious and logical about the situation. You were looking out for Antonio, no one can fault you for doing what you thought was right. " todavĂa te amamos, Paloma. " Dolores' smile became brighter as she looked over her parents. "I love you, too. All of you."
The tall woman turned back to look at her boyfriend standing near the door and held her hand out for him to grab. He gave her a smile and grabbed at it before kissing her cheek. "I told you before, mi amor. I'm here to stay and I'm not leaving you again. It's us and Antonio against the world."
Everyone in the room smiled at his words. Julieta sighed and looked the slightest bit worried as she addressed everyone in the room. "Okay. This is going to be a very... busy night. Everyone needs to go get ready for dinner." They all nodded their heads in a silent agreement before running off to do their own things.
When dinner finally came around Dolores' nerves were back to an all time high. Alex had noticed and tried to calm her down but it didn't help much. There wasn't anything that was going to prepare her for the talk she was going to have with her Abuela. She knew it was going to end badly and was just waiting on the inevitable.
Dolores left Alex down stairs to help set the table as she went to go get Antonio from his room. As they were on their way back down she heard something that made her skin crawl even worse.
"We say nothing about abuela wants this night to be perfect.. until the Guzman's leave, you did not break into Bruno's tower, the magic is not dying, the house is not breaking, and Luisa's gift is not fading. No one will know. Just act perfectly normal, no one has to know." Dolores paused and squeaked before running off after the small boy who was already down the stairs.
When dinner started, everyone tried to ignore the tension at the table. Abuela had just made the end of her speech when she saw Alex sitting at the far end of the table on the other side of Antonio.
She glanced at the Guzman's before glancing at Dolores then to Alex. "I didn't realize we'd have another guest at the table tonight. Don't you have something else to do, I'm sure you are a very busy man?"
Alex blinked his eyes a few times before giving her a tight smile. " I am actually free for the next few days. I figured what better way to spend my time than with Dolores and her lovely family. So, here I am, right where I'm supposed to be."
The older woman's eye twitched slightly before she decided to ignore him and bring her attention back to Mariano and his mother. Speaking of Dolores, Alex saw that she seemed a bit more tense than earlier and was having some weird stare down with her younger cousin. He glanced between her and Mirabel before his attention was brought to a ferret that was standing between him and Antonio.
He gave his son a curious look before bending down to whisper to him. "Hombrecito, I thought your mama said no animals at the table tonight?" Antonio looked at him with wide eyes before giving a shy smile. "I know, but I didn't want them getting lonely, so mama said I could only bring them if they weren't going to be a distraction." Alex gave him a smile before nodding his head and going back to his plate.
By the time dinner was almost over it was complete chaos.
Camilo shifted in surprise by whatever Dolores had told him, catching the eyes of everyone else as his sister's attention went to Antonio, helping him fix his plate with Alex. Felix was calm for the most part until he choked on his water and spit it out at the Guzman's. Pepa's nerves were also everywhere by the time whatever had been said reached her ears and a thundercloud started forming very fast.
Alex glanced at Dolores and when her eyes met his, he gave her a questioning look that she only responded with widened eyes and a distressed and hopeless expression. Luisa was asked to get the piano and she was very dejected about it. Mirabel and her father were being equally as weird when they tried to hurry the proposal.
It ended as Luisa struggled to bring the piano into the dining room causing her to cry. Mirabel was jumping from one place to another as cracks began forming on the floor. Antonio's little ferret friend ran under the table and Mirabel must have seen them because she dove under the table.
It had gotten so loud Dolores had to cover her ears and as the thunder rang louder than last time it seemed to break whatever restraint she had left. "Mirabel found Bruno's vision. She's in it. She's going to destroy the magic, and now we are all doomed!"
By then the ferrets and Mirabel came up from under the table with a green slab of glass and knocked it all the way to the other side in front of their abuela. It was quiet for only a second before the cracks moved behind the teenage girl to the other wall.
Alex got up when he saw Dolores holding onto her ears and held her in his arms as Antonio turned in his seat to watch the cracks. Camilo started shifting uncontrollably, surprising both Alex and Felix when he had a baby's head and a fully grown mustache. Isabela ended up breaking Mariano's nose and then it began raining hard. To Alex, It seemed like no one was going to catch a break tonight, it was just one disaster after another.
And now they had to deal with Dolores' grandmother. How perfect.
