Héctor looks both more and less ragged than usual, and at first Rosita can't quite put her finger on why that is.
He's coming from Imelda's office; the twins had directed him there when he came in a few hours ago, and Rosita has been hearing singing for a good portion of the day. Mainly Héctor himself, but she could swear she's been hearing Imelda too, and it's a fresh shock every time. Rosita is too curious (nosey, her brother and half the rest of the family would say) to let this lie, and so when Héctor emerges she's standing only a few feet away.
(She's glad it's him and only him; asking Héctor about it is worlds less daunting than asking Imelda.)
"Oh, hello, Héctor," she says, as if she just happened to be standing there rather than lying in wait; Héctor, preoccupied, jumps at the greeting, blinking wide eyes at her before smiling.
"Ah - Rosita!" He's warm and cheerful with a current of hopeful nervousness just under it; she's seen that a few times, an impression that he's waiting for the other shoe to drop and hoping against desperate hope it never will. She presses forward in hopes of distracting him from such thoughts.
"I heard you two singing!" she says brightly. Héctor looks a touch guilty at this announcement, shoulders tucking in, and Rosita pats his arm lightly to reassure him as she continues. "It was - well I'm not used to it of course, but it sounded very interesting, and I have to ask - what was it?"
"Oh, it's - well, there was a new thing, and also a song from… a long time ago. You've probably heard... a version of it." He frowns, glancing aside, and then smiles. "But originally it was - well, it's a fun story, but… eh, maybe we'll tell you later."
He reaches up, fidgeting with something at his shoulder as he glances toward the office door, and Rosita finally realizes what's different: he's removed that trailing sleeve, and seems to have tucked the loose threads under what's left of the seam. A good effort all things considered, but a few threads have worked themselves free and Héctor is plucking fretfully at them; Rosita sighs as she sees more stitches beginning to work free, and she shakes her head as she steps close.
"Don't do that." She pulls his hand from the threads as she scolds, tugging him down so she could better look at the problem; Héctor leans down obediently, giving her an uncertain smile. "You're going to end up unraveling the whole thing, and then what?"
He mulls that over, a touch of mischief flitting across his features as he answers.
"Well, it would solve the 'loose thread' problem, wouldn't it?"
Rosita giggles at that, nodding as she looks up at him.
"Well, that's true! But what do you call a solution that's actually it's own problem?"
"An unforeseen complication."
"Very nice," Rosita says, grinning. "But now we've foreseen it, so we'd better do something about it." She leads him off into the living room, looking around a moment before giving a short, trilling whistle. "Panchita! Where's the sewing kit? I want… a purple, on the blue side."
An answering chirp rings from somewhere overhead; a moment later Rosita's parrotlet alebrije drops down from one of the higher shelves with needle and thread clutched in her strong little claws, and Rosita holds her hand out so the bird can drop the requested supplies into her palm.
"Thank you. Sit down, Héctor."
He drops into a chair with an abrupt strings-cut motion, hands on his knees as he blinks at her. Rosita recognizes the expression; after all, she'd seen it on her sister-in-law time and time again when Imelda started fussing over some matter or another and Coco was trying to decide whether she was in trouble. It's striking, really; she pauses to study him, looking for more familiarity, and they're both only distracted when the parrotlet perches on the brim of his hat. Panchita leans to peer at him upside down, and he laughs at the bird's questioning chirp.
"Not much like Pepita," he remarks. He holds up a hand, and Panchita obligingly hops down onto his fingers, her long mot-mot tail trailing down his hat to sweep over his face before settling.
"Oh my goodness no! Can you imagine if we all had something like that prowling around?" Rosita giggles, shaking her head. "Pepita is lovely of course, but what a disaster! Anyway. Panchita is suited to me, and Pepita to Mamá Imelda. Neither pair is much like the other, but we all manage."
"So I see." He's reaching up with his free hand to gently scratch at the nape of Panchita's neck; the alebrije trills and stretches, eyes closing contentedly, and Rosita watches a moment before lightly prodding Héctor's humerus.
"Hold still."
He immediately freezes, unmoving even when Panchita nips at his fingers for more scratches. Rosita pauses, trying to decide if he's teasing her by exaggeration or just afraid of putting a foot too far wrong, and ultimately settles for prodding him again.
"Not like that, you silly thing! Panchita, why don't you sit on his shoulder instead? No, the other one."
Héctor relaxes with a nervous chuckle and a quick, apologetic grin, and once Panchita settles Rosita leans in to carefully stitch the broken seam and secure the loose threads.
"There - that should do it." She peers at her handiwork a moment; for all its flaws, the jacket isn't in immediate danger of coming further apart than it already has. Rosita nods to herself, satisfied, and smiles as she clucks chidingly at Héctor. "You really have no idea how to look after yourself, do you?"
"I do so!" He turns to look at her, affronted. "I can… you know, sew buttons, and… hem, and… you know, all of those things."
"Well," Rosita says, hands on hips, "why on earth don't you?"
"I just… I don't know , I…."
He trails off, spine curving in on itself, and Rosita frowns as she really takes in how tired he looks just now, how frail. In the light of day the years of neglect are terribly clear - she can see taping holding one tibia and one ulna together (and the broken tibia looks especially bad, leaving her to wonder apprehensively what could have damaged such a strong bone so deeply). Something in his posture suggest further damage mostly hidden under his jacket. Smaller fractures web over his bones here and there, giving him the brittle look of a window cracked but not fully broken, and even the markings swooping across his face look a bit dull to her eyes - but for all that, it's that deep tiredness that's most striking.
"Could it be," Rosita asks, pitching her voice to something gentler, "you've just fallen out of the habit of looking after yourself?"
He looks away, embarrassed, shoulders slumping further.
"I… guess I just… you know." He shrugs, posture folding even more. "After… a while… it started seeming like a lot of effort. And awhile after that, the effort didn't seem like… there was a point."
"But now it's worth making the effort?" Rosita asks carefully, watching his face.
"Yes." He gives her a small, tired smile. "But you're right, Rosita. It's not a habit anymore, so… I'm not doing a great job, I guess."
Rosita considers that a moment and then steps back, looking him over critically, and Héctor sits up a bit straighter as he stares apprehensively back at her. He's quite a bit taller than she initially took him for; if he'd stop folding in on himself, straighten out his back and hold his head up, he might be something near Óscar and Felipe's height - and he'll probably look bigger still when he's seized with those bursts of energy she's seen when he's with the twins, with Miguel, even with Imelda when his confidence is high.
She should pay closer to that energy - it seems more natural than this cracked-mirror weariness, more what he should be, and she'd like to see more of it.
Aside from that, well - who is she to judge if he needs a little help putting himself back together in more material ways? She taps her chin, already planning. The repaired seam is a start, and the jacket could probably be salvaged with a few patches until they find something else he likes. The bandanna seems fine too, though a few extras never go amiss. The pants… a lost cause, she decides, though there's some mending that can be done until they get him something better. The hat is trickier: she's learned that men can be funny about their hats, however old and worn they might be. Even so, surely one with… well… fewer holes would suit him better?
"Well," she says at last, "no one can blame you for needing a little help getting back into the habit." She smiles, clasping her hands. "There's merit enough in trying, isn't there? Now - give me a day or so to gather a few things, and we'll see what we can do, all right? Some of this we can probably fix with patching, you know? Although, for instance, that hat…"
She reaches for it as she speaks; Héctor immediately leans back, looking alarmed.
"I like my hat!" He seizes the brim in both hands, tugging the ragged straw weave tight over his skull in what can only be a long-habitual nervous gesture, and leans back further when she doesn't immediately desist; Rosita steps back, frowning slightly, and sighs.
Funny about the hat. Of course.
"It's… nice," Rosita says, striving for diplomacy and coming out utterly unconvincing. "But… well, you know… we could find you one like that, couldn't we?"
"Yes, but…." He still hasn't let go of the brim, but now he's rubbing his fingers gently over the straw. "I don't know, it's… someone gave it to me, but… he's not here anymore, so…." A sigh, and he finally lets go of the hat, posture drooping again. "I mean I know it will… fall apart eventually, but…."
"Ah." Rosita can't really keep up the argument after that, and she nods slowly. "That's… all right, then, Héctor. A truce on the hat. But we're going to fix the rest of this up!" She reaches out to lay a hand on his shoulder, resting over the fresh stitching. "Don't you worry about anything falling apart, Héctor. We'll take care of it."
He looks up at her, blinking; after a moment Panchita sidesteps along his shoulder to start preening at his hair, and he laughs softly as he reaches up to scratch the bird's neck again.
"All right - I believe you. Both of you."
He actually does know how to sew.
Héctor's clothes are no more mended than before when he returns, but once he's looked over the patches Rosita presents (he chooses a yellow floral print; it makes her laugh, and his quick grin tells her that's exactly what he intended) he insists on stitching it on himself. It takes a few false starts, but he waves off her attempts to intervene and within a few minutes settles into a proper rhythm. Once he's finished it's very nearly as neat as she could make it, and Rosita nods approvingly as she hands the jacket back to him.
"You know, I'm actually starting to believe you've done this before!"
"Imelda taught me," he says proudly, shrugging back into the jacket; it's still threadbare, wearing dangerously thin in places, but at least there are no more actual holes. "I'd never thought about it before, but… you know, after Coco was born, there was… well, there was suddenly a lot more to do. I couldn't actually help with everything, but what I could? I tried to learn."
"Oh?" Rosita smiles fondly, remembering her own weeks of instruction under Imelda's stern, watchful eye. "Well - Mamá Imelda is a very good teacher."
"She had to be. I tried to surprise her before I actually learned anything." He grimaced. "It was… well, it could've gone better."
Rosita giggles, shaking her head.
"Oh dear... well, at least you're not the type who stops trying after a little setback." She picks up the patches again, spreading them out. "Well, that makes things less awkward as far as fixing those pants - I can trust you to patch them up yourself without sewing your hand to them."
He holds up his hands, bones clicking.
"How do you think I would manage that ?"
"I don't know, but I've learned that you should never underestimate people."
He laughs at that, and Rosita grins back at him. It could be her imagination, a bit of wishful thinking, but his markings seem just a bit brighter and clearer today, his bearing more energetic; it's not quite the bursts of energy she's seen now and again, but it's closer, and she likes to think this effort is helping as much as the frequent visits and warm welcomes he's been getting of late.
"That's fair," he says, nodding. "I'm sure I could manage something at least that stupid. All right, I'll see what I can do about patching tonight."
"Good. Take all the patches and surprise me with what you decide! Temporary until we actually get something a little more… lasting for you, but you might as well have fun. Now." She holds a hand out. "The hat."
Héctor blinks and straightens up, pulling the hat tight.
"Ah, no, didn't we already discuss this?" His tone wavers between teasing and wheedling as he bobs up on tiptoe to avoid her reach. "I'm not budging on this - be reasonable , Rosita!"
"I'm going to give it back !" She walks around him with quick, pattering steps, tugging at the back of his jacket as she reaches up. He laughs at the attempt, straining further up on his toes, and just like that it's a game: he spins out of her grasp, dancing nimbly away with that burst of playful energy she's been looking for, and soon enough she's laughing too as she pursues.
"Oh, no - that's how it starts! 'Of course I'm not going to throw it out'! And then there's suddenly a new one and it's…." He pauses a moment, then shrugs. "...well, it's generally perfectly fine actually, but there's a principle to uphold here!" He dodges Rosita and an end table, only clipping the latter slightly, and calls out to Julio as he sees him coming in from the kitchen. " You agree with me, right?"
Julio stares at them a moment, wide-eyed, before he - wise man that he is - turns around and walks back into the kitchen. Héctor and Rosita both chuckle at that, and Héctor waves a hand toward where Julio had been standing.
"You see? He agrees far too much to come to his sister's aid!"
"Oh? How do you know he doesn't agree with me too much to come and save Papá Héctor?"
She hadn't been planning to call him that, but it comes as naturally as daylight. He gapes at her, freezing in place; Rosita stares back a moment and then steels herself, lunging to snatch the hat with a triumphant shout. Probably cheating, but - well, the name had been sincere, and it was for a good cause, so that was fine, wasn't it?
"Ay, Rositita - that's - that's not fair play, you know?" he complains as he reaches for the hat; Rosita hesitates, second guessing herself, and he nearly manages to retrieve it before she realizes he's smiling and sweeps it behind her back.
"Well! Neither are those stork legs of yours, you great gangling monstrosity! Why can't you be a reasonable size, like Julio?"
" I'm a monstrosity? You are a savage and merciless woman." He's trying to get around her, though only half-heartedly; she only has to turn slightly to keep him at bay, and she does so deftly as she giggles at the admonition.
"And how could I call myself a Rivera if I wasn't a 'merciless woman'?"
"Ah. Well." He taps his chin, humming under his breath, and shrugs. "You know, actually, I don't have an argument for that."
"It's our charm," she tells him; he nods at that, smiling, and Rosita shifts her grip on the hat. "Now. Don't you worry, Papá Héctor." Having called him that once already, it feels even more natural to continue, and Rosita returns his smile as she reaches up to pat his cheek. "I'll take care of this. I know men can be a bit funny about hats - do you know, when Julio was a boy he spent a solid hour chasing his in a pond? And there was a great big snapping turtle there too!"
"That sounds like a story worth telling when he's brave enough to come out of the kitchen," Héctor says. He lays a hand on her shoulder, resting lightly a moment before withdrawing with a gentle parting pat. "All right - you win this one. But don't think I'm not keeping score!"
"Oh, do keep me updated!" she retorts, and they're both grinning as she sees him out.
"Well?" Rosita asks anxiously. "Can you fix it?"
As soon as Héctor had left she'd hurried off to the markets; a few questions had led her to a stall selling woven straw wares, and the weaver himself - a round-faced skeleton with markings the same soft yellows and browns as his wares swirling around his cheeks and chin - is examining Héctor's hat with a skeptical eye.
"No - at least, not easily." Rosita slumps with disappointment at this verdict, but she smiles weakly as he continues talking. "These holes in the crown, see? It's technically possible to weave fresh straw in, but… well, it's awkward to do, and really more trouble than it's worth." He waves a hand toward his wares. "But one of these would do well enough, wouldn't they?"
"Thank you but no - it has to be this hat." She shakes her head, shrugging. "It's important to him. A… memory, you know?"
"Ah." The weaver nods, handling the hat a bit more gently as he examines it again. "Well, señora… the brim, I'll do for you. A minute's work, really. The crown… as I said, reweaving would be awkward at best. But it's not the only way to fix it."
With no other customers waiting, he starts repairs on the brim immediately; Rosita watches, leaning forward attentively as he describes how to patch the holes in the crown as unobtrusively as possible. The repairs he can do really are just a moment's work, and once he's handed the hat back to her they spend a few moments poring over the materials she'll need.
"And how much for the repair, señor?" she asks, once they're both satisfied with the hue and weave of the straw mat she'll be sacrificing for this. He waves her off, smiling.
"Just the mat. It wasn't a moment. Just bring him here if he decides he wants a new one after all."
"Of course!" Rosita beams, hugging the mat to her chest, and scurries back to the shop.
Those last repairs to the hat's crown can't be started right away - she still has work to do filling orders and straightening the books so Imelda can go over the week's totals - and it's nightfall by the time she gets all of that settled. Still, it leaves plenty of time to work on the hat. She doesn't need to sleep, after all; a bit of rest goes a long way, especially for one well-remembered, and a long night won't leave her fuzzy-headed and irritable the way it once had.
She wonders how well-rested Héctor is feeling tonight. He does seem better the more time he spends here, welcomed and well-regarded and with Coco and their little Miguelito no doubt talking about him as no one has in decades. She hopes this little bit of mending will help too as she clips the straw mat and dabs clear lacquer onto ragged edges to keep them from fraying and lines up the weave for the most even match possible before beginning her tiny meticulous whip stitches. The smaller the stitch, the stronger the seam; the stronger the seam, the longer the repairs will last; and maybe - just maybe - having this well-worn old hat to hold onto, having the worry over it falling apart relieved, will help soothe any worries he has over anything else falling apart.
The weaver was right: once she's finished, the hat looks whole again, the patching only truly noticeable if she bothers to look for it. Rosita smiles as she picks a bit of clipped thread from the straw, and the hat is set neatly aside to wait for its owner.
Héctor arrives late in the afternoon the next day, and for a moment Rosita thinks he's gotten new pants somewhere rather than mending the old. Instead of the sharp contrast of the yellow patch he placed on the jacket, the patching on the pants is well matched in tone and only slightly off in pattern, and the hemming is neat and even.
She's pleasantly surprised - she'd though it a lost cause. But then… Héctor himself has probably been labeled 'lost cause' by more than one person; a silly comparison, maybe, but it's hard not to make the parallel.
" Effort ," he announces proudly when she points out the careful mending. "After all - Imelda did teach me. No point in halfway, right?"
"You have me there," Rosita agrees, laughing. "And now, Papá Héctor - I have a little bit of effort to show myself." She scurries to retrieve the hat from where she's stowed it on a shelf near the back of the room, sweeping it from its place with a flourish. "I did promise, didn't I?"
She holds it out to him and he takes it gently, turning it over in his hands to rub careful fingers over fresh weave and tiny stitches, his smile going soft as he looks up at her again.
"Rosita, this is… amazing." He looks at the hat again, smoothing a hand carefully over the crown, and Rosita nods.
"Good… it isn't much, but, you know - you don't have to worry about it falling apart, see?"
"I see." He hesitates only briefly before stepping forward to pull her into a hug, and Rosita leans into it to hold tight a moment. "Thank you, Rositita."
"You're very welcome, Papá Héctor." She raises a hand, shaking a finger at him. "Now if you need help fixing anything else, you let me know before you sew your hand to something, all right?"
"All right, Rosita, I will." He laughs, nodding. "And thank you, again."
His arm is still taped, and she's sure his leg must be too - but he's standing up straighter, and a few of those small spider-webbing cracks have begun to heal in a shade lighter than the surrounding bone, and there's cheerful energy in his smile and movement as he settles his hat on his head.
It's a start - more than a start - and Rosita couldn't be more pleased.
