El Viaje de Coquita
 El Capítulo Veinticinco

Héctor marched up to her daughter to give her a piece of his mind. "What's gotten into you?!"

Socorro inched toward Imelda, who was still strewn out on the rocks. "M-Mamá Imelda?"

Coco broke down completely. "I don't even know my own family anymore!"

Imelda couldn't hold back her tears either. "I just wanted to build a strong family."

"It was fully uncalled for to talk to your mother like that!"

"I'm sorry." Socorro helped Imelda to her feet. "I never meant for any of this to happen. All I wanted was to know what happened to Papá Héctor."

"She still could've tried to find out the truth about you."

"You couldn't have known the truth before tonight. I just wish I could've turned back before it was too late."

"That still doesn't make it okay to hurt her this way."

"What do you mean?"

"She came this close to murdering you a second time!"

"I wanted to forget my husband. I wanted Coco to forget him, too. But I had no idea how much it hurt her to forget him. Héctor was the only one I could turn to for support; when he left, I had no one to help me in raising the family. And by the time I had the courage to look for him, the family had grown too much and were too deep rooted in hating everything that reminded me of Héctor for me to follow after him."

"There was no way she could've known what she was doing."

"It's not too late to turn things around. There's still a way to reveal the truth to the world and to our family. You just need to be able to confront your fears instead of running away from them. You have your family to guide you, and they'll be by your side no matter what. Even if you and everyone else has to admit to being wrong about everything they've believed for all these years."

"She still could've let me tell my side of the story to our family."

Imelda started walking to the edge of the water. "I can only hope that you're right."

Héctor saw his wife and tataranieta approaching. "Go apologize to your mamá, Coco."

Socorro sat Imelda down on the soggy rocks before joining them.

Coco gazed at her reflection in the water without saying a word.

"Well?" Héctor beckoned. "Apologize."

Socorro tried to talk to her. "Mamá Coco?"

Coco buried her face in her arms.

Socorro began singing a gentle tune.

"Recuérdame... hoy me tengo que ir, amor;
Recuérdame... no llores, por favor;"

Héctor joined in the singing.

"Te llevo en mi corazón y cerca me tendrás;
A solas yo te cantaré soñando en regresar...
Recuérdame... aunque tengo que emigrar;"

Imelda started singing along with them.

"Recuérdame... si mi guitarra oyes llorar;"

Coco finally gave in to the music.

"Ella con su triste canto te acompañará...
Hasta que en mis brazos tú estés,...
Recuérdame."

Coco slumped back on the rocks. "He stole your guitar,... he stole your songs,... and he stole your life when you were Miguel's age! All for a little bit of fame! You should be the one the world remembers, not Tio Nesto!"

"I didn't write 'Remember Me' for the world; I wrote it for you." Héctor took off his hat. "I've been a lousy padre to you, and a lousy patriarca to our familia."

"¡No digas eso!" Coco stood up. "The simple fact that you're sitting here talking to me means you're a great padre to me! Would I have held onto your letters and your foto if I thought you weren't worth being remembered? Would I have tried sculpting Miguel into someone like you from the moment he was born if I thought you didn't care about your family? Would I have trusted Miguel with everything that held your legacy if he didn't see the same goodness in you that I did? Would he have allowed your legacy to be shared, even though it went against the entire family's belief of you, if he thought that Mamá was right about you the whole time? I'm proud that we're family!" She looked up at the entrance to the cenote. "I'm proud that we're family!"

She let a grito pierce the air and reverberate throughout the cenote.

Héctor soon found himself repeating his daughter's sentiment. "I'm proud that we're family!"

The two exchanged gritos before finally calming down and rejoining the other two occupants of the cenote.

Coco looked to her mother. "Disculpa, Mamá. For everything I said to you."

Socorro picked up her newly dry sombrero. "Look, we've all said and done a lot of things that we've come to regret." She put it back on her head. "But I think it's time to put our differences behind us. For our family, and for justice."

Imelda held Socorro's hand. "Bueno, since you went through all the trouble of bringing us here, you must really want these wrongs undone. I do, too."

"There's just one small thing we need to take care of first." Héctor looked up to the visible sky. "Do you think Pepita would be able to hear us from in here?"

"Hay sólo uno forma averiguar." Imelda puts her fingers in her mouth and whistled.

A dog bark sounded from above the cenote.

Socorro recognized the bark. "Dante?"

The xolo alebrije appeared at the edge of the cenote.

Socorro gasped. "It's Dante!"

Dante continued barking until Pepita landed on the rocks and let out a mighty roar.

Water shook itself from the stalactites and rained down on the four souls within.

Imelda locked eyes with her spirit guide. "¡Ándale!"

Soon, they were all on Pepita's back and riding off to meet back up with the rest of the family. Dante was trailing behind them, flying with his own wings.