First of all, English isn't my first language but I tried my best. If there's a mistake let me know and I'll correct it. Thank you!
Pepa yawned and rubbed her eyes.
There was a cloud above her.
Again.
She had lost count of the days when she woke up with a huge cloud above her. It wasn't even drizzling or snowing, it was just there, watching and accompanying her as if it was a shadow.
"Aghhhh" she growled, turning to Felix's side. "Again! That stupid clo-."
It was empty.
"What?". Pepa asked to herself. She furrowed an eyebrow and sat up immediately, looking around her gigantic room for any trace of her husband. Felix never got up before her, especially on weekends. Dozens of thoughts flew through her mind: Had she caused a hurricane in her sleep and swept him away? Was there an emergency and he had to run from the Encanto forever? Had he run off with another woman?
The cloud turned gray and began to multiply.
A tapping at her left snapped her out of her paranoid thoughts, dispelling the clouds entirely. The boards of the nightstand were moving arrhythmically to make the small clock above it jump.
12:06 p.m.
Oh no.
It was Sunday, so Pepa didn't have any pending tasks in town, but she must have missed part of the family breakfast and her mother wasn't going to be happy at all. After putting on her waterproof yellow dress and weaving her red-haired braid, she left her room so fast that she spun the wooden weather vanes she had on the furniture.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry". She greeted, entering the dining room and catching all eyes. The Madrigals were at the table already and her chair was the only one that was empty.
"Pepa, you're late." Alma pointed out, with a disapproving look.
"I know. Perdón". She gestured without making a sound. Her mother just ignored the answer and took a sip of the broth from her spoon.
"What's wrong with you? Why didn't you wake me up?". She whispered to Félix quite annoyed as she took her seat and a small cloud formed above her.
Félix didn't say a word, he just smiled slightly and moved his head indicating the deep plate in front of her, so that Pepa could eat before the soup cooled. He had noticed her too tired in the last few days, so he preferred to let her sleep a couple more hours even knowing that he would recieve a complaint.
Pepa rolled her eyes and began to eat. Ajiaco was one of Julieta's specialties and also one of her favorite dishes. It always reminded her of her childhood, because it had exactly the same flavor that her mother prepared. She was enjoying it until she noticed her stomach churning more with each spoonful she ate.
That didn't make sense. Julieta's food should soothe any discomfort, not cause it. She preferred to put the plate aside and take an empanada from the central plate, on which a mountain of them was piled. They looked quite crispy and appetizing.
"Today I was in charge of the empanadas." Agustín mentioned, with a proud smile. Everyone had loved them, he only needed one more approval to consider them a success. He fixed his gaze on Pepa, to detect any reaction.
But as soon as she took a bite, she felt nauseated.
"So..?"
Pepa suddenly pushed the table so that her chair moved backwards and ran out, covering her mouth with her hand. Agustín's enthusiastic smile turned into a forced, feigned one.
Dolores made a disgusted face and dropped the empanada that she had been enjoying just a few seconds ago. That was one of the moments where she would rather have received a different gift.
"I think mami's sick."
Felix immediately got up from his chair and went after his wife.
In the other hand, Bruno and Julieta exchanged glances, which visibly contained concern and confusion.
Pepa finished brushing her teeth for the fifth time and went out the door. She knew that she couldn't spend too much time in the bathroom, since it was the only one Casita had.
"You feeling better, mi vida?" Felix asked, putting a hand on her back.
"I never want to eat an empanada again in my life. Never again."
Félix looked carefully at Pepa. She didn't look too good. Of course she looked beautiful like any other day, but there was something different. She had more dark circles under her eyes and looked very tired. He had noticed how much stress his wife had been under in the last few weeks. It was summer, and droughts threatened the Encanto. Causing the rains on the crops was taking all the energy out of her and causing a lot of emotional problems. Perhaps all that pressure was reflecting on her health.
"Let's go with Juli. I'm sure she can prepare something for you. After that, we'll go to your room so you can rest, Pepi."
Pepa showed him a weak smile as a sign of confirmation. On their way to the kitchen, they saw her little Dolores against a wall, covering her eyes and counting out loud to 30.
To play hide and seek in the Madrigal house there was only one rule, and it was not to hide in her own rooms or in those of others. Each room was a world (literally) and it could take hours before finding all the players.
Hide and seek was Dolores' favorite game for obvious reasons: with such a sensitive ear she was always the best at finding others, even without making the slightest effort. It was funny how everyone tried to outsmart her by inhaling and holding the air inside them when Dolores got close, but she had no problem with that. She was guided by their heartbeat, not by their breathing.
"Are you okay?". Julieta asked when she saw her sister enter the kitchen. She was wiping the plates that the family had used for lunch with a rag. It was originally Agustín's job, but after two plates shattered as they slipped from his hands, Julieta decided to take it on herself. "Félix, can you bring me some herbs that are over there, please?"
Félix agreed, leaving the Madrigal sisters alone.
"I'm fine. Next time tell your esposo not to use the whole jar of salt in one empanada." Pepa said, leaning on the kitchen bar.
Julieta narrowed her eyes, surveying her from head to foot.
"I don't know. You've been weird lately."
"Weird. You know how much I hate that nickname." A thunder rumbled above her head.
"No, that's not what I meant. It's just... The nausea, being so tired, your bags under your eyes. You won't be... you know?" She asked her cautiously, looking at her stomach.
Pepa turned pale. Not that she disliked the idea, she just hadn't thought of that possibility yet.
"Here you go". Félix said, handing the herbs into Julieta's hand. Apparently he hadn't heard a single word of their conversation.
"I'll make you some tea."
Félix put a hand around the waist of his wife, who looked more nervous than moments before.
"Ready or not, here I come!" Dolores' voice sounded from the central courtyard of Casita. Immediately her footsteps were heard approaching them, and her silhouette soon appeared at the entrance. "1, 2, 3 for Tía Julieta, mom and dad!
"Oh no!". Felix complained dramatically making exaggerated gestures and faces, causing the sisters to chuckle. "You found us!"
The little girl laughed with a hand covering her smile. She tilted her head, concentrating on a single sound. Her smile faded and she made her characteristic squeak.
"What's wrong, mija?".
Dolores ignored her father's question and began looking everywhere for something: under the table, inside some cabinets and also behind the pictures on the wall.
Her ear never lied.
In that space were four different beat rhythms.
But it didn't make sense. She had heard Isabela and little Luisa go up the stairs, Tío Agustín had immediately lost the game because he had slipped in his attempt to hide behind the plants, and Tío Bruno had apologized with her, since this time he wouldn't be able to play. Fortunately, he promised to make it up to her with two full seasons of romantic rat telenovelas.
Dolores tried to concentrate to find the origin of the fourth heartbeat, one that had a different rhythm than the others. The sound waves guided her towards her mother. Once in front of her, she tilted her head again, this time putting her hand on her ear.
"Uh..." Pepa pronounced, with a nervous laugh. Her kid was making her a little uncomfortable. "Dolores?"
"Mami, you have two heartbeats."
Pepa's green eyes and her mouth opened as a response. She immediately looked for a reaction in Félix's eyes, who had the same expression of surprise, but which gradually changed into one of happiness.
"I knew it". Julieta murmured in such a low tone that surely not even Dolores could hear her, with a tender smile and a hand on her heart.
The triplets had an inexplicable connection with each other. They knew when something strange happened with one of them, and the other two had sensed it with Pepa for some time.
"PEPA, I HAD A VISION!" Bruno yelled from the second floor, running as fast as his short legs would allow. The sole of one of his sandals caught on the stairs, sending him rolling down the last few steps. He did his best not to break the emerald crystal he was holding in his hands.
Julieta and Bruno agreed that he should inquire a little about the future of his sister. Just enough to rule out any danger or to help her if she needed it. Instead of the bad prophesies he was used to seeing, in his vision was Félix, Dolores, and Pepa, with a baby in her arms.
When Bruno finally reached the kitchen, Pepa and Félix were in the middle of a hug. She resting her head on his chest, while he caressed her back. It was such an intimate moment for both of them that they even forgot that Dolores was still next to them, jumping up and down with emotion.
"But apparently you already knew." Bruno said a little disappointed and throwing the green glass out the window. Julieta put her arm around him, and they both looked happily at the scene in front of them.
"I'm pregnant". Pepa muttered.
"We will have another child." Felix assimilated, breaking away from the embrace and taking her wife's hands in his, looking directly into her bright green eyes.
Pepa nodded at him, while a smile grew on her lips and her eyes were filled with tears. A rainbow sprang up over her head, and in a few minutes it spread across Encanto.
"We will have another child!" Felix repeated, this time yelling it out and making sure all Encanto heard the new news. Isabela, Luisa and Agustín didn't take long to come running when they heard the excited cry. They all arrived to congratulate them, not without being scolded by Félix if they hugged Pepa too tightly.
When abuela returned to the Casita from her walk, she would be the happiest in the town. The miracle would continue to grow, and who knows what magical gift would be waiting for the new member of the family.
This time, Dolores had been the one to saw the future, even faster than Bruno. Not technically, but she somehow did without even trying. It wouldn't take more than two months for the same thing to happen, this time with tía Julieta.