Out of Nowhere
CH. 3
Mirabel was easily, and quickly, proven wrong after the night of Isabella's proposal dinner. Here she was, sitting next to her new husband at a wedding reception dinner, watching the attendees enjoy themselves and having the time of their lives. She sat with her mind in a haze at what happened during the past week.
"No, it was a week and a half, right?", she questioned herself, unsure of how much time had actually passed since her whole life took a drastic turn.
She thought back to the night everything changed, when Dolores revealed the existence of Bruno's last vision and told the familia what was in it. After the fallout of the failed dinner, Abuela immediately locked her in the nursery where she stayed until her parents came to see her later that night. They explained that during her small stint of house arrest, her abuela wanted to discuss what to do with her. Abuela had suggested having her removed from Casita in order to hopefully prevent what was shown in Bruno's vision; but her parents were vehemently against it. They pointed out that it was wrong to just abandon a fifteen year-old child on the street, with no place to go, while said child still had family hat could take care of them. Not only that, but people would begin to ask questions as to why Mirabel was no longer living within Casita with the rest of the Madrigal family. They made this point, hoping it would be enough to convince her abuela to reconsider.
Abuela already had a response prepared for that argument, simply stating, "That is why we will accept the Velasquez boy's proposal."
Her parents were stunned at the solution given by Alma. Giving their daughter to someone who amounted to a stranger to them was not a pleasant thought. In fact it was a dangerous idea, which is something they voiced to Alma.
"It is our only and best option.", she curtly replied.
"You are right to point out that it would be wrong, and do us no good, to just kick her out of Casita." Alma conceded. "She is far too young to live on her own, and the villagers would begin questioning why we would do such a thing to one of our own." Alma looked to her daughter and son-in-law and saw that she had their attention, listening to hear what point she could possibly make to convince them otherwise.
"Unfortunately, we cannot just let her stay. If Bruno's vision is correct, then Mirabel is somehow going to destroy the magic. If that is her future, then having her stay here where she has the most access to it, is dangerous." Alma said, noting the parents looks of displeasure at the sound bit of logic. It was something that they couldn't deny. "Having her marry Emilio Velasquez can solve all three of those problems. If she marries him she can live with him and his family, instead of living in Casita, with another family to take care of her and without anyone questioning why she no longer lives with us. It can also keep her away form the miracle, at least until we know how to save it."
Julieta and Augustin didn't like how the conversation was going. Every argument they had made was counteracted with something they couldn't logically refute. But that didn't mean they had no cards to play.
"All of that sounds good mama," Julieta started, "but you want her to marry this boy immediately when we have no time to start preparing for another wedding, while Isabella is already on her way to marrying Mariano. It would be very difficult to have one wedding in such a short period of time, let alone two."
"And what if this marriage puts Mirabel in harms way; at the mercy of an unscrupulous individual?" Augustin asked. He was clearly concerned for his daughters well-being, as her father, questioning his mother-in-law about what they would do should Emilio ever harm his youngest.
Sadly for them, Alma had a response; "We do not have to hold a religious ceremony and can forgo the traditions. This would be a civil marriage, where they would be married by law." She said this to Julieta; then turned to tell Augustin, "And we can have Dolores keep an ear out for them. Should he ever lay a hand on Mirabel, we can immediately put a stop to it. The marriage only needs to last until we find a way to save the magic. Once that is done or if Mirabel is in danger we can immediately petition for an annulment of the marriage, as long as no other issues occur."
Alma saw the looks on their faces and knew that she had won the argument, but they were still unwilling to fully back down. Whether it was out of parental love or lack of certainty in her solution, she wasn't sure. She would have to put her foot down and reassure them of this plan.
"But–" Julieta was interrupted by her mother. "This is the only option we have to save our home and the miracle; therefore we will accept the marriage proposal." Alma spoke with a tone of finality. "Mirabel can come home if the marriage turns bad or when we save the miracle."
With those final words Alma walked away leaving the worried parents to wonder how they were going to tell their daughter that she was going to get married. Mirabel was left speechless when she was told the news. So speechless that she did not respond to her parents and laid on her bed with an unfocused stare. Her parents, unsure of what to do, decided to stay with her to reassure her that everything would be okay; until she fell asleep. When she woke up the next morning her abuela dragged her, along with her hermana mayor Isabella, to the Guzman's home in an attempt to try and salvage the relationship between Isabella and Mariano. Alma was happy to hear that Mariano still wanted to marry Isabella. In fact, she was so happy that she asked if it would be possible to have the wedding within a week. Everyone who heard this was shocked at the suggestion except for Mariano who, true to his word, happily replied with, "I would marry your granddaughter even if I only had three days."
Filled with relief, that last nights catastrophe hadn't ruined the relationship, Alma left with her granddaughters towards the Velasquez home where she notified them of the acceptance of the marriage proposal and asked if they would be fine with the marriage being a civil one and Mirabel moving in with them.
Mirabel saw the looks on Emilio and Juancho's parents. Their father, Pedro Velasquez, was a man of average height and medium build. His caramel skin and laid back hair would give him the look of a friend you meet at a get-together after a long days work; if his features had not been marred by a look of scrutiny, in his dark brown eyes. His surprise had immediately left his face when he heard her abuela wanted to have a civil marriage and for her youngest nieta to live with them. Their mother was a different picture. Amilia Velasquez was noticeably taller than her husband, to the point that she could contend with the rest of the villagers for the second or third tallest person in the Encanto (Luisa had already beat everyone in height, let alone just shear size). Her thin frame, umber skin, and bright blue eyes portrayed a look of worry and precariousness at the requests. She was about to give her abuela a reply but was interrupted by her son.
"That would be fine with us Señora Madrigal." He said with a straightforward face. Alma seemed displeased with the interruption but brushed it aside. Mirabel assumed that she wanted to move the conversation forward and be done with it, a sentiment that she shared with her. As quickly as she had those thoughts, Emilio spoke once more asking, "Although, it does seem a little unusual for anyone to get married so quickly without a legitimate reason; why is that exactly?"
Alma had expected this question and simply responded, "In order to offset any rumors about this marriage; we decided to have Isabella and Mariano marry within the week." The Velasquez family was surprised to hear this, but some did not show it. Alma continued, "Because we will already be hard at work preparing for one wedding ceremony, it would be best to have yours' be a civil marriage."
You could feel the discomfort from many of the rooms occupants, as this was said. A persons wedding was an important moment in their life. A moment that deserved as much celebration as one could give to those getting married, yet here Alma was, giving the whole thing far too much business treatment.
"What about her granddaughter's? How does Isabella feel about having everything move so fast? Is she not worried about Mirabel?" They all thought, but chose not to bring it up at this time.
Pedro cleared his throat and said, "If that is the case, then we are fine with it. We should have everything ready for her to move in within the week." Alma nodded, effectively ending the conversation, and left the home with her nietas.
After that the days blended together, for Mirabel, in a mesh of Isabella's wedding preparations, legal documents and moving her things out of Casita. All of her clothes and personal items and sewing materials were finally moved to the Velasquez home yesterday; leaving the last thing to do, before Isabella's wedding, is getting married. Mirabel honestly found the whole thing rather anti-climactic. Early this morning, right before Isabella had her wedding, Mirabel had gone with her parents to the courthouse. Emilio and his parents seemed to be waiting for them, and she could not decide whether she was happy that they also wanted to get this over with or not. Either way, she proceeded with the ceremony; signing the papers, saying her "I do's" and ignoring most of whatever was being said until the officiant finally said, "You may now kiss the bride."
This really freaked her out, as her thoughts were running wild.
"I have to kiss him?!"
"Yep."
"I can't kiss him!"
"You have to."
"I don't even know him!"
"That's not true."
"Fine, I barely know him. That doesn't make it better."
"It doesn't change the situation either."
"No, it makes it worse! I have to kiss him in front of my parents."
"And his parents."
"Even worse!"
"Why can't you just get it over with?"
"I've never even gone on a date with a boy, and now I am expected to lock lips with this one?!"
Her mental argument with herself ended when she felt something soft pressing against her forehead. Bringing herself back to realty, she realized that Emilio had kissed her on her forehead while she was distracted. She stared in confusion at the six foot tall boy, two ears her senior, wondering what he thinking kissing her were he did.
He obviously saw the question on her face because he chose ot reply with, "He said I may kiss the bride. He never specified where." He spoke with a slight intonation and a small smirk at the corner of his lips, showing that he found her little meltdown slightly entertaining. Mirabel was miffed and so embarrassed at being kissed on the top of her head and being treated like a child, that she couldn't utter a single word. He didn't seem to notice or care how she felt about that comment, because he immediately followed with, "Now that everything is official, I believe we all have another wedding to attend?" Mirabel saw that his comment did not seem to earn him any points with his new in-laws, and even gained some disapproval from his own parents, for how brusque it sounded. Nevertheless, everyone left the courthouse and began their preparations to attend Isabella's wedding.
Hours later, here was Mirabel, sitting at a table in the middle of her sister's wedding reception just waiting for the day to be over. She peered out at the party guests and saw her oldest sister with Mariano. The two of them were talking and mingling with villagers, too busy to pay any attention to her; a happy occurrence in her opinion. Ever since Abuela had accepted Emilio's proposal, Isabella had been more hostile than usual. A pompous smirk her way and hair whip to the face had turned into harsh glares and a near complete refusal to be in any room with her present. Admittedly, Mirabel had little problem with her sister's avoidance; it just confused her.
"She should be happy," Mirabel thought, "she gets to marry her big dumb boyfriend much sooner than she expected."
Mirabel moved her focus from her sister to someone else that was standing a little ways away from the newlywed couple. Dolores, who was also avoiding Mirabel, seemed to have a look of sadness as she stared at Isabella and Mariano. Dolores was another person that seemed to have been avoiding her, as shown when Dolores had realized that Mirabel had caught her staring and quickly turned away to get out of her line of sight.
"I hope you feel guilty." Mirabel tried to telepathically send to her prima. She was still upset that Dolores had put her in this position because she couldn't seem to hold a secret.
Mirabel sensed movement to her right, hearing the chair as it moved away from the table. She turned to see that the place where Emilio had been sitting was now taken by her mother. She would say that she was surprised to see that he had left without her noticing, but she kept going in and out of her own head so often these days that it has almost become her new norm.
"How are you feeling mi vida?" her mother asked, looking at her with as much motherly love and concern as she had shown her when she was but a little girl, crying over a scraped knee or some other injury that felt much worse than it was.
Mirabel looked back with a mixture of upset, incredulity, and sad resignation. "How do I feel?" She started, "I've been married off to some boy, I never said yes to, and kicked out of my own home in a week! How do you think I feel?" She immediately felt some guilt at her biting words. After all, her parents tried to defend her; they argued on her behalf to keep her at home and refuse the proposal. They may have failed, but at least they tried. Mirabel looked down in shame, observing the dress tha tshe wore. Ignoring the golden butterflies embroidered throughout, the overall blue coloring of the dress and the black ruffles on the skirt were the perfect colors to reflect her mental state. Battered and bruised, black and blue, from the constant whiplash of surprises and events that she had no control over.
"I know that you're scared Mirabel." Her mother said, as she reached and held her right hand in both of hers. "You have been put in a difficult situation, against your will." She looked up and saw her mothers eyes. They held a silent message of love and reassurance, which only bolstered her next words, "But this is not the end of the world, you can get through this."
From anyone else, these words may have sounded like hollow platitudes, but from her theywere the words of someone she knew; someone she regarded highly; and someone that she wanted to have faith in her.
Because of this, all Mirabel said in return was, "Thank you, mamá."
"You're welcome." her mother said. "Besides, this marriage only has to last until things calm down," The phrase "calm down" had been made the family code for finding out what is happening to the magic. "or if things with Emilio turn "unfavorable", then we can ge the marriage annulled and everything goes right back to normal." She spoke with a confidence that said, "You can get out of this easily."
Mirabel gave her mother a small smile and took a deep breath before saying, "At least with Isabella's wedding done, I don't think I'm gonna be hit with anymore surprises or unwanted situations."
*Author's Note: Here is chapter 3, like I promised. This chapter would have been a little longer, but I was having a hard time figuring out how to organically move to the next part making it seem too rushed or like I skipped over some things. In fact, I feel like I rushed through a lot of things in this story where I could have (and maybe should have) had more descriptions of what was happening or the environment. The thing is, I don't know a lot of the terms and customs for things like fashion and Columbian weddings. Therefore, I have to look things up with my limited knowledge of said things (heck, I don't even know what everything that goes into Western weddings in the United States; and I live here). The story was, more or less, inspired by another fanfic author on this site. The story is called "the Miracle of Mirabel" by wraithcatcher, and it follows a similar story line as this one; but with a much crazier twist. I honestly wish the author would write more to the story. You can find it in my favorites section (I put stories with interesting premises or ones that I find entertaining or well written there).Check it out and, if you like it, give it some love. Maybe the author will start adding more chapters again.