Isabela/Alma & 3 sisters scene

2 days after the fall of the Casita

Isabela looked over the room that she and her 2 sisters would be sleeping in. It was a little larger than Madrigal's Nursery. There are 3 small beds and a couple of hard wooden chairs. There are a couple of boxes full of pieces of tile in one corner. She carried a couple of potted plants to the room, to give the room some color.

While many families offered rooms in their homes, Abuela would not accept it, she had one of the village storehouses partially emptied, the contents moved to the Madrigal House to help the rebuilding, and she moved her family into the storehouse.

Luisa and Mirabel are helping other family members clean and set up their rooms, so she is alone.

Isabela sat heavily on a bed. Her hands covered her face as tears fell. "I've never worked so hard in my life. I can see Luisa working all day, but Mirabel! And with a smile and a song all day.. Argh!"

A knock on the door. "Isabela, can I come in?" Abuela's voice asked.

"A minute!" Isabela replied. She pulled out a handkerchief and cleaned her face. She stood and straightened her dress, making it perfect, or rather the best she could. Then she opened the door, letting in Abuela.

Abuela started to sit on one of the plain wooden chairs. "No. Abuela. Sit on a bed, please. You have to be tried."

Abuela smiles. "If I sit on a soft bed, I might fall asleep. Just watching Luisa, Mirabel and you work today, tired me out." She does sit on a bed, though.

"I don't know how long I can keep it up." Isabela said as she collapsed on another bed. She grimaces. "And I wouldn't call these beds soft."

"I've slept on harder beds." Abuela said. "Although it's been over 50 years."

Abuela sighed, then took a deep breath. She said, "I came here to offer my apologies, Isabela. I treated you horribly. In its own way, as bad as I treated Mirabel or Bruno."

"Abuela" Isabel spoke shyly.

"I ignored Mirabel, but she found herself. She isn't everything I'd wanted, but I am proud of her. Bruno has used the last 10 years to finally become a man. Even if he still isn't the man I hoped my son would become." Abuela said as she stared into Isabela's eyes. "You, though, I shaped you into my version of perfection. You never had a choice. The few times, when you were still 5 or 6, that you tried to become yourself, I crushed."

Isabela swallows. "I… I was always your favorite, even before my door."

"And you followed my commands, and they were commands no matter how I phrased them." She sighed. "And the times Julieta tried to stop me from drowning you in my dreams, I brushed her aside."

"I helped." Isabela whispered.

"I know."

A pause

"You can refuse my apology. Curse me. I deserve it." Abuela whispered. "Instead of being your own person, I made you into my dream, my perfection. And that is unforgivable."

Isabela thought for a second, then moved and sat on the bed with Abuela. She hugged her Grandmother. "I forgive you." She whispered. "Whether or not it was your idea or not, does not matter. I wanted perfection, as well."

Abuela hugged Isabela. They both closed their eyes and cried.

Around them butterflies float around them.

Abuela opened her eyes, and after seeing the butterflies, breaks the embrace and points out the butterflies to Isabela "They appeared when I apologized to Mirabel. There must be some Magic left." She whispered, as they watched the butterflies float away.

Isabela gazed at the butterflies, then looked at her plants. No change. "A bare flicker of power." She whispered. "It's gone now." She shook herself.

"My dress? Other things." Isabela asked.

Abuela sighs. "You must be yourself, Isabela." She looked at her. "And I can live with the dress, just please do not cover yourself in pollen again. I asked this not because I liked or disliked the colors, but my eyes and nose are weak. And I will tear up and cough if you are spreading that much pollen around."

"I know. I always tried to direct the pollen away from you and Pepa, who has similar reactions."

Alma Madrigal spoke, "We will have the conversation again. I am a creature of habit, and you are too. We will make mistakes. Back-slide into old habits."

Isabel spoke, "I know. I've seen things like that before." She grins, "Not often, but I have."

They hug. "Correct me when I do."

"Let me walk you to your room." Isabela said, as she opened the door. Abuela nodded as she left.

Abuela as the only person sleeping alone. Her room is bare. Just a bed, the same as the one Isabela had. On the wall, the painting of Pedro Madrigal hangs, the frame is cracked, the painting has a couple of tears, but the painting is intact.

"Much was lost." Isabela said, upon seeing the room, as she remembers the clutter in Abuela's room from before and the hours she spent in it.

"Nothing that can not be replaced." Alma replies. "Your Door pictures are having the frames replaced. The craftsman said they would be delivered tomorrow. With Pedro and those pictures I will be happy. No matter what."

Isabela hugs her before she leaves.

When Isabela returned, Luisa and Mirabel were waiting for her. They ambushed and hugged her as she entered the room. "Isa, do you need…" Mirabel whispered.

Isabel shook her head, no. "The walls."

"Are too thin." Luisa said.

"We talked. We shared some things." She glared at both of them. "Private things."

They both nodded and turned to other things, like.

"Luisa, I think you need 2 beds." Mirabel said, after seeing Luisa lie down on one of the beds.

"Where will you sleep?" Luisa asked.

"On the floor." Mirabel shrugged.

"Sleep with me." Isabela said quickly.

Mirabel shook her head, no.

Luisa looked around the room. "Let's ignore the beds, take the mattresses and place them on the floor together."

Isabela and Mirabel share a look, shrug. "Let's do it."

Later

"I don't like this." Mirabel growled. She was stuck between her two sisters.

"You know, we've never done anything like this." Isabela said from one side.

"Never?" Luisa asked. "I remember"

"Mirabel was too young. You and I slept together a few times, then I got my door." Isabela spoke in a low voice. "Later Mirabel sneaked into my room a couple times and slept with me."

Mirabel sat up. "I don't remember that!"

"You were four and a half." Isabela snarks. "And you still loved me" She finished in a broken whisper.

Mirabel turned to look at her sister. Her mouth opened.

"Then your door vanished. And I threw away that love." Isabel hugged Mirabel. "Forgive me."

"And I was so busy helping others that I forgot it." Luisa whispered as she hugged Mirabel from the other side.

The three sisters, even tired from working all day, stayed awake for hours talking.

Sharing.

Becoming sisters in truth, rather than sisters in fact.