„Happy birthday, mi vida." Pepa pulled her daughter in a tight bear hug, almost causing Dolores to fall over.
"I can't believe you are 22 already." A little tear dropped down the mother's face, not caring for the complaints of her husband, who shooed away the tiny raincloud hovering over their heads.
"Mamá, please…" Dolores begged, trying to loosen the grip. "I can't breathe."
Alma smiled at her second eldest granddaughter. Twenty-two years is a long time, and it was the first birthday with the whole family for almost ten years. Abuela knew that Dolores walked a hard and rocky road to get where she was, with a lot of tears when she wasn't able to cope with her gift in the first years. It was hard for the eldest Madrigal to see her oldest granddaughters all grown up: She wasn't quite ready to let them go after all that happened to their family, but it didn't change the fact that all she could feel right now was happiness and joy.
Then, she noticed her oldest daughter out of the corner of her eye, giving her a sign that the meal was finally ready.
"All right then." The room instantly got quiet when Alma clapped in her hands. "It seems like everyone is ready, so we should start."
She didn't need to say anything else to make the family sit down; only Pepa rushed out of the dining area to help her sister bring in the last dishes. Smiling, Abuela shook her head when the sisters placed the biggest plate with a variety of his favorite arepas in front of their brother. Since he came back, his family gave Bruno various hints to eat more. The youngest triplet always had been skinny, but ten years hiding between the walls almost made him look like a skeleton. Nevertheless, he didn't bother to complain as he was still busy chatting with his youngest niece beside him.
Everyone started filling their plates, Antonio sitting between his two siblings. Animals of all kinds surrounded him while he kept bouncing on his chair.
"Tonito, what is wrong with you?" Alma questioned, noticing that her youngest grandchild couldn't stay calm on his seat.
"I am so excited! I want to give Dolores my present, but I know I have to wait…. "
Dolores seemed honestly surprised. "You have a present for me? I didn't hear you prepare something."
Mirabel grinned when Bruno gave hr a telling look. But unfortunately, it wasn't as discreet as they thought because Camilo immediately jumped up.
"I knew it!" He shouted, pointing directly at Mirabel. "You showed him your secret while I begged you for years to tell me how you can hide secrets from Dolores!"
Abuela and his mother gave him a stern look, but the shapeshifter didn't care. It took Bruno great effort to hide his grin.
"Well, Antonio never tried to trick me by pretending to be someone else. Am I right, Mariano?" Mirabel mocked him. MAYBE she would have told him her secret if he didn't shapeshift into his sister's boyfriend last week, trying to question her about her secret. Camilo sank back into his seat, feeling defeated.
"Don't be sad." Antonio comforted him. "One day, Mirabel will show you the river and…."
Instantly, the boy held his hand over his mouth, regretting every word he said. Mirabel and Bruno facepalmed when they saw Camilo's triumphant grin. Antonio might be able to talk to animals, but he is just a five-year-old kid, after all.
"Antonio, you ARE the best sibling in the world!" He hugged his little brother, making Dolores roll her eyes. "You only have to tell me EXACTLY why you are going to the river and where."
The little boy shooked his head. "No way I will tell you. Besides, Mirabel told me that we shouldn't go back there because of the strange señorita…."
"Señorita?" Bruno raised an eyebrow. "Antonio, what did you see EXACTLY?"
"There was a woman with dark hair wandering at the shores. "Mirabel responded instead of her primo, not wanting him to say anything else.
"She was looking for something or someone, but I have never seen her before. So we left before she could see us." Mirabel tried to shrug it off; she didn't like the cold shiver running down her spine. However, her older cousin saw her uncomfortably shifting in her chair.
"Oh, la Llonora. "Camilo said with a mysterious voice, giving his prima a mischievous grin. Typically, he wasn't the one teasing her, but he was a fifteen-year-old teenager, and she just decided to share her biggest secret with his brother instead of him.
"Who is la Llonora? "Antonio questioned innocently, making Camilo shift into a corpse-like bride.
"La Llonora is a restless spirit who drowned her own children; now she is doomed to walk along the river to lore careless little children…."
"CAMILO! "Pepa, Abuela, and Bruno shouted simultaneously, making him turn back into his normal form. Julieta, on the other hand, tried to stay more focused.
"Can it be, Mamá? "she asked Abuela, giving her mother a concerned look. "I mean, nobody has seen her in six years…."
"Tía Julieta, are you saying La Llonora is real?" Antonio sank deep into his seat; his jaguar leaned his head on his lap to comfort him.
Camilo hugged his little brother, not wanting to scare him that much. "It is just a stupid story to keep kids away from water, don't worry."
Alma thought for a bit. "It is possible. Nobody else -except Bruno- went missing in the Encanto for so long, and I doubt that any outsiders could ever get over the mountains."
"Are you telling me she could be the woman that made me overthink all my life choices when I was pregnant with Antonio?" Pepa let her fork down, staring at her mother.
"Oh, you mean the woman that almost died during childbirth? I couldn't get her screams out of my head for YEARS, and I really hope Mariano isn't too excited to have five kids." Dolores shivered just of the thought about that fateful night.
"But who is she, Abuela? Is she dangerous?" Everyone starred at Alma, not knowing what the Madrigal women were talking about. Only the third triplet seemed to have a clue who that mysterious woman could be.
"Mamá, I think you shouldn't discuss this with the children." Bruno warned her, but his mother sighed.
"No, Bruno, they have to know. They will find out eventually, and before they listen to any rumors from the townspeople... The woman you saw at the river is very likely to be Elena Moreno."
"What?!" Isabella stood up in disbelief. "You are telling us SHE is the granddaughter of the only man who HATES us? The guy who threw the beautiful bouquet I made for his daughter-in-law's funeral right in MY FACE?!"
Nobody seemed to care for the meal anymore. Only Bruno grabbed more and more food as if his life depended on it. He knew Elena from his time before his disappearance, and at least the older members could guess that he had a slight crush on her. Probably, he heard from her disappearance while he was hiding.
"Hate is a strong word, but yes, she is Samuel Moreno's granddaughter." Abuela frowned, seeing into the incredulous eyes of her family.
"But why did she leave, Abuela? She seemed to be such a nice person..." Luisa shooked her head. She also had to face the hate coming from the Moreno's, but Elena was always friendly to her. From her point of view, it was unbelievable how such a sweet woman could be related to people like her grandfather.
"Well, her grandfather is by far not the nicest person. But my guess: She ran away because she became pregnant while unmarried." Pepa almost whispered, but it didn't hinder her youngest son from listening anyway.
"How could she get a baby while unmarried? " Antonio asked with all the innocent of his age, tilting his head.
Everyone turned bean red, except Camilo, who couldn't hide his laughter.
"Wait, please don't tell me you believed to have to be married to get children!" Camilo's laughter became even louder when his brother shooked his head.
"Oh, my sweet, innocent baby-brother. Do I really have to tell you how…"
"Camilo, don't you dare!" Félix gave his son a menacing look, but his eldest son just shrugged it off. Teasing his little brother was one thing; having that talk with him was a complete other.
"We Madrigals are the only people who know about her child, and I ask you not to tell anyone." Abuela gave everyone in her family a stern look, fully aware that every word that would leave that table would spread in the town like wildfire. Being forced to raise her triplets alone, she knew that the poor woman already had it hard enough.
Mirabel hesitated. "How are you the only one who knows about her child? And who is the father?"
Julieta sighed, suddenly sounding very sad and tired. "Six months after Dolores's fifteenth birthday, Elena mysteriously disappeared. She showed up at Casita in a night three months later, in the middle of giving birth. She and her daughter almost died, but I was able to save both of them. We gave them shelter for the night, but they were both gone before the break of dawn. She never told me who the father of her child is."
"Well, we probably know who the father is." Everyone stared at Abuela in surprise; even Bruno paused eating his empanada.
"It must be Pascal Perez." She continued. "He was the man Elena was supposed to marry."
"But mamá, it can't be." Julieta objected. "Elena always faked a smile when he tried to approach her. She obviously disliked him but didn't dare to tell it her father or grandfather." Julieta knew that Elena didn't just dislike him but hated him. At first glance, Pascal Perez seemed to be friendly and good-looking, but every woman with more than three working brain cells knew that he wanted to "conquer" every attractive girl in the Encanto, regardless of whether they were married or half his age. He was everything some people saw in Mariano at first but never turned out to be true.
"You have to admit that he is more likely to be the father than every other man in town." Pepa declared, giving her sister a knowing look. "Pascal drank way too much during Dolores Party; they found him between Osvaldo's donkeys the following day. The Morenos couldn't find Elena before noon, and she too looked like she didn't get enough sleep that night. And who was the last person he indicated he had seen that night: Right, Elena Moreno!" Pepa sat back in triumph, but her siblings rolled their eyes.
"But if she didn't like him, why should she ever…ohm..you know doing things with him." Luisa whispered to her aunt, not wanting to say anything inappropriate while Antonio was sitting right in front of her. She couldn't see how Bruno next to her cringed at her words.
"Well, people do dumb things sometimes. Or maybe she wanted to avoid Bruno's vision about her at all costs." The whole table stared back and forth between Pepa and Bruno, she noticing too late that her words might serve old prejudices.
"So, we are back to blaming Tío Bruno for everything?" Camilo frowned. "I thought we got over the whole Brunos-visions-are-causing-doom-and-misery nonsense."
His uncle took a deep breath, not wanting his family to hear that he was indeed upset. After all, it was supposed to be a happy family gathering, not another round of his sisters and mother gossiping.
"Yeah, but sometimes, the townspeople are right and my visions DO cause doom and misery." Bruno gave his nephew a sad smile. "A few days before Mirabel's ceremony and before I left, I gave Elena's family the vision that she couldn't officially be with the man who was meant for her for at least ten years. Her grandfather didn't take it too well."
Bruno stared back on his half-empty plate, visibly feeling more uncomfortable in the situation. Unlike Pepa and his mother, he didn't like to share every rumor and gossip going around in town. He knew how it felt to be the involuntary center of attention, and he never wanted to let anyone feel the same way he did.
"And she wasn't happy with the whole situation either. I remembered how she ran away that day: Not even she was able to hold back her tears." Julieta smiled sympathetically at her brother; she could see how he bit his tongue not to say anything. He did this whenever someone mentioned the downsides of his vision.
"Bruno, I am sorry." Pepa reached for her triplet's tensed hand; the white of his knuckles was already showing. "You didn't cause anything of what happened but only told her what she needed to know. Please, don't give you the fault for everything when it clearly isn't yours."
Bruno smiled, but she could still see the guilt reflecting in his eyes. He only had been back for four weeks, but she wished that he would learn to stop blaming himself.
"I hope her daughter is ok. "Antonio was nibbling on his arepa; he didn't want to make his uncle sad during his sister's birthday meal. "The birds told me that she couldn't find her yet. "
