Show Me Chapter 17
Hello everyone! Hope you're doing okay! For those of you that were stuck on the book that Victoria was reading, here's a hint: it was made into a movie in the 1930s and is one of the most popular movies/book of all time! I hope you guys check it out and enjoy reading this chapter!
As early dawn began to creep into the Land of the Dead, the Rivera ancestors slowly woke up after a late night at the Arts District. Héctor's suggestion had been a good one and everyone had returned to the house in a very good mood, ready to face another day.
Even though it was technically a workday, both Héctor and Rosita decided to let Imelda sleep, knowing it had been a while since she was able to get a good night's rest. In the meantime, Rosita knew that Héctor had been hard at work, trying to locate Josefina. Dulce had come back empty-beaked, so they knew that the letter had reached its intended destination, especially as messenger alebrejes were extremely protective of the letters they carried.
"Do you think she got the latest letter?" Héctor whispered. "I've been trying to reach out for several weeks but haven't heard anything."
"Lo no se, Papá Héctor," Rosita whispered back. "But Mamá Imelda won't be happy if she finds out about this."
Héctor nodded somewhat guiltily. He knew that Imelda refused to talk to her mother ever since the night of de la Cruz's arrest. Héctor also knew that both of the twins had gone along with this, not wanting to upset their sister in any way.
"Josefina is the only one who may know what has happened to Jorge Rodriguez, Rosita," Héctor said. "And he deserves to have his story and his legacy told. Especially if he had children and a wife like I did."
Rosita nodded, understanding coming onto her face. No one deserved to go through something like this and Héctor also was aware of the fact that his family deserved to have the truth told. If the truth were only that simple.
Imelda came downstairs a short while later, dressed and ready to go for the day and if some could say, she had a certain "glow" on her face from certain activities the night before. Not wanting to ruin her day, Héctor wisely refrained from telling her about what he had been up to over the last couple weeks.
"Hola mí amor," Héctor said with a smile on his face as he greeted his wife. "Cómo estás?"
Imelda frowned, as if detecting a sense of falseness in Héctor's words, but realizing nothing, smiled and repeated the greeting back.
"Bien, mi amor," she replied. "Do you have any plans today?"
Nodding eagerly, Héctor replied, "Sí! I'm going to visit a friend in Shantytown today and then Vicita, Rosita and I are going to see whether or not Ceci needs my help with a show she and Frida are producing."
Rosita nodded in agreement; the project that Ceci had been working on had been ongoing for at least a month and she was excited to help in any way possible. Victoria had been helping too, but Héctor also knew that there was another reason why she had come along. While to the rest of the family, Victoria was a dark horse concerning her romantic life, Héctor, surprisingly was the only one that Victoria opened up to.
As Héctor had found out later, both Victoria and Ceci decided to keep things platonic; mostly due to the fact that they did not want to risk their friendship or the wrath of certain members of the community.
"That sounds muy misterioso, Héctor," Imelda pointed out. "Frida's been very quiet about what's happening in the show and you haven't said anything about it either. Que está pasando aqui?"
Gently kissing her on the forehead, Héctor simply said, "Don't worry, mi amor. Todo es bueno, we just need to work out a few minor details and that should be that."
As the three Riveras walked of the hacienda and towards the Arts District, Imelda watched with some level of trepidation. For the first several months after Hector had been accepted back into the family, watching him walk out the door, even just to go down to the Plaza de la Rivera to get a tamale, brought back painful memories for Imelda. Memories that Imelda liked to hide. After all, she reasoned at the time. I can't keep Héctor locked up at home all the time. He needs to be free.
With Julio out with the twins on a supply run, it was just Coco, Pepita and Imelda at the house. Dante had been in the Land of the Living for some time now, ready and willing in case Miguel had a message to deliver back to his ancestors.
Coco had been sewing in the workshop, working on a sampler that she was going to give to a friend the next week, worrying about her daughters all the while. Between Victoria's budding romantic relationship with Gustave and Elena's worry over Franco being injured, Coco had a lot of time to think.
"What do you think about Gustave, Mamá?" Coco asked, startling her mamá who nearly dropped a pair of shoes she had been working on.
"Lo no se, mija," Imelda said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Making jokes about your Papá's murder is not exactly something I'd want at my dinner table. Even if he did apologize."
Coco nodded, quietly sticking the needle back into the sampler as she prepared to get up from her chair. "Lo entiendo, Mamá, but let's take some time to get to know Gustave. He might not be all—"
Slipping on some papers left on the floor, Coco lost her balance and nearly fell, using a nearby chair with some papers on it as support. Imelda rushed forward, helping her daughter up.
"Mija! Estás bien? Anything broken?" Imelda asked frantically, maternal instinct taking over. "Ay, I should really tell your tíos to be more careful in—oye, what's this?"
Picking up a scrap of paper with Héctor's handwriting on it, Imelda quietly read it, fury taking over her features. Coco gasped, knowing that Imelda had found one of Héctor's rough drafts to Josefina. Mierde. Hector would know better than to leave that lying around— it must have been mixed in with bills or something.
"Socorro," Imelda said in a dangerously calm voice. "Go fetch your papá please."
Knowing that arguing would be no use, Coco signaled for Pepita and the two of them took off into the sky, leaving a very irate Imelda behind.
Coco reached her destination within minutes, out of breath as she banged on Ceci's window. Upon seeing her, Ceci opened the window and instantly realizing that something was very wrong, ran to go fetch Héctor and the others.
"Mamá needs to see you!" Coco said to Héctor, causing his happy face to fade.
No one spoke a word as they all clambered onboard Pepita and headed for the hacienda, leaving a perplexed Ceci and Frida behind.
"And what did you think would happen, Héctor?" Imelda screamed. "That I wouldn't find out about this? I told you that I didn't want that woman anywhere near mi familia!"
"No, Imelda!" Héctor said as he frantically tried to calm her down. "Your mamá misses you and wants to be in your life! She may be the only one who knows what may have happened to Jorge Rodriguez! And he deserves una oportunidad para la justiciar as well as your mamá!"
Silence ensued as Héctor quickly realized that was the wrong thing to say. Imelda gave him a cold stare. Pepita growled warningly, causing Héctor to rephrase his sentence.
"I know about justice, Héctor," Imelda said coldly. "When I watched that woman throw me out of the house and when those men was arrested in September. No te atrevas a asumir that what mi mamá deserves is justice."
Héctor attempted to answer back, but found no words escaping his lips as Imelda turned away, no emotion in her eyes.
"I'm just going to go for a walk," Héctor said shakily to the others. "Give Mamá Imelda a chance to calm down." Noticing Imelda sitting in a chair, Héctor slowly made his way out of the house, not wanting to see the twins' looks of sympathy. He blew it. Big time.
"I still love you, mi amor," Héctor said. "Lo siento mucho, I never meant to hurt you."
Several minutes later, Rosita tried to console Coco, who was shaken by everything she had witnessed. Imelda had retreated upstairs, claiming she wanted to be alone despite the twins' attempt to go see her. Victoria had left for the workshop, knowing it was probably best to stay out of the aftermath of the conflict for the moment.
Deciding to get started on a pair of huaraches for a valued client, Victoria had just begun to cut fabric when a familiar face appeared at the window and tapped.
"Frida sent me over to see if you were okay," Gustave said, uncharacteristically quiet for once. "You left in a bit of a hurry."
Shaking slightly, Victoria told him the whole story, not pausing to answer questions or even slow down. Gustave's eyes got bigger and bigger, until they fell out in shock. He hadn't felt like this in months, not since Victoria harshly scolded him for joking about Héctor's death in front of the entire orchestra.
When Victoria had finished the story, Gustave gently placed his hand on top of hers in silent reassurance. It wasn't the time for a grand romantic gesture or corny jokes; Victoria needed a friend, someone to listen to her. After gauging Victoria's emotions, Gustave sat her down on the couch and just hugged her, feeling drops of moisture on his shirt. The evening had worn Victoria out emotionally.
They were just like that when Rosita found them together a few hours later, asleep in each other's arms. Shutting the door to the living room, she quietly went back to the kitchen to get started on dinner. More than anything, she wished that scene she had walked in just now on was one for Héctor and Imelda, but she smiled softly anyway—her little Vicita was falling in love.
Something bright in the dark world.