[This will be going somewhat in an out of Hector's point of view. Again very little Spanish knowledge, so there will be little to no Spanish in this story. Also I don't know much about what small towns in Mexico were like in the early 1900s so forgive me if some things I say are not historically accurate.]

"It's not all that much of an interesting story really." I said as I see my family scatter around me closing the windows and locking any other door around and moving more chairs to the table they just moved in front of me. Felipe and Oscar push me down on the chair and they practically throw off all the shoes and shoe tools off the table. I jumped in my seat hearing those heavy shoes make an impact on the ground.

"Shouldn't you be more careful with those shoes" I ask. Victoria scoffs at my question and smirks at me. It's quite a rare sight to see her crack a smile.

"Papa Hector, shoes are what we excel at. Let us worry about them" Victoria says. Everyone takes a seat. Rosita is on my left and Felipe and Oscar squeeze on my right leaning into my personal space. Victoria was on the left corner near Rosita while Julio was on the right corner near the twins. Now everyone else leaned in my direction waiting for me to speak. I was never much for this kind of attention but since they went through this much trouble, I couldn't disappoint them. I took a deep breath and let it out.

"Well like I said before, I knew who Imelda was before we actually met. It was about a year before we met to be exact." I said explaining. Actually saying the words out loud, I was remembering exactly how that day went. I was probably looking out into space now with a dumb grin on my face but I couldn't contain it.

"Oh yes, do I ever remember that day." I said with a sigh holding my chin in my hand leaning that elbow on the table.

"It was a warm summer day. I wasn't much older than 16. I was on my way to work at one of the few inns in Santa Cecilia. Senor Sanchez, the old man who owned the place offered me work at his place with decent pay. Even let me stay in one of the cheaper rooms. I was saving up for a new guitar. I gotta tell ya, the way that guy worked me you thought I was the only worker he had. He had 3 other guys but that old pen….." I started to go off and get angry until I heard a cough.

"Umm Papa Hector, you're drifting off topic" Victoria said. I look at her and feel embarrassed for getting off course. I chuckle nervously.

"Sorry, anyway while I was walking I heard something. Something…beautiful." I said dreamily….

[This part of the story is me being the narrator for the scene]

Hector stopped in his tracks as he heard a beautiful voice. He couldn't make out all the lyrics but he knew this song. He pushed passed the people walking the other direction he was going a turned a corner following the sound. The louder the voice got, the faster he moved.

'Y aunque la vida me cueste llorona
No dejaré de quererte '

Hector rushed passed a couple of homes careful not to run into anyone. He turned one more corner and followed the voice to a small house. He approached the house but as he noticed the sound wasn't coming from inside the house but outside. It was coming from the back. He was about to rush over and see who was the owner of such a lovely voice, but stopped to think for a second. He didn't want to startle this person by surprising them out of nowhere. Besides, who knows if they were such a kind person. He had to be careful. So he took slow steps, tiptoeing his way to the back. He peeked out around the corner slowly and nearly blew his cover when he gasped.

Standing there hanging laundry out to dry was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. She worn her wavy black hair in a long braid over her shoulder. Her face bare of any makeup and yet she still was far more beautiful than any painted lady he'd ever seen. She wore a beautiful purple dress with a long skirt that stopped at her ankles. She seemed to have quite a taste for footwear because she wore a pair lovely boots that complimented her dress. What a lovely figure she had. Hector couldn't believe that this woman was not only blessed with outer beauty but a voice equally as beautiful. And yet there she was singing happily in a daze as she picked a shirt from her laundry basket and hung it on the old wire with the rest of the laundry.

'Ay de mí llorona, llorona
Llorona de azul celeste
Ay de mí llorona, llorona
Llorona de azul celeste'

Hector sighed dreamily as he continued to stare at her. He felt content to spend the rest of his days just staring at this woman. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to notice the twig that was under his foot. He accidentally stepped forward enough to snap the twig and then the woman stopped singing. Hector panicked and ran as fast as he could. He could hear her angry voice call out. Luckily he was able to hide around a corner before she could see him.

"Who's there?! Whoever you were, if you know what's good for you, you'll keep away from me!" She shouted. He peeked a little and noticed the woman wore quite an angry face.

"I couldn't believe it, but she was even more beautiful when she was angry" I said remembering her cross expression as Imelda's looked around for whoever was spying on her. Sure enough she held one boot in her hand and raised it like a weapon.

"You were spying on her, oh how romantic" Victoria commented dryly.

"Eh, you've seen what you're Mama Imelda is like! She would have killed me if she knew I was watching her!" I tried to explain.

"It's okay Papa Hector, we understand, now continue" Rosita said with a giddy grin and held both fists under her chin waiting for me to continue.

"Well after that, I would come by her house every now and then to see her. But it got harder and harder. I think she started to notice someone was coming by to see her, so she would spend as little time outside her house as possible. When that happened, I stopped coming over. It would be too risky to hang around while she could be in the house looking for me. So, I did the next best thing. I tried to find her walking the streets around town and try to 'accidentally' run into her. But every time I got close, I got scared and ran. And then whenever I got my nerve back, there would always be something or someone getting in my way." I explained.

"Ernesto was the only friend I had so naturally I would ask him advice on what I should do. I should've known that was a bad idea" I said remembering the bitter memory of his former friend's blunt 'advice'.

"Ay amigo! You fell for Imelda? Save yourself the pain and move on." Ernesto said to Hector with a shrug and wave of his hand.

Hector and Ernesto were sitting on the steps of the Plaza in the center of the town. He came to Ernesto for advice not to hear this.

"Why should I? You never know, she could love me." Hector said with a smirk puffing out his chest. "I mean obviously she loves music. You don't sing the way she did without feeling a real passion for it. I'm a musician, and I can play songs for her. I can write songs for her. We have something in common." Hector said excited as he hopped to his feet and threw his arms in the air in glee.

"Uh huh….so if you feel this strongly, how come you still haven't even spoken to her yet?" Ernesto asked with a quirked eyebrow and arms crossed. Hector's uplifted arms staggered in the air and his happy face fell to a frown as he sighed and plopped back down to the ground.

"I just don't know the exact words to tell her how I feel. When I figure them out in my head, they vanish when I see her face and I turn tail and run." Hector said slumping forward holding his head in his hands. Ernesto sighs and pats his friend's back trying to comfort him.

"Hector, this woman will drive you loco if you worry so much about it. Imelda has quite the reputation around town." Ernesto explains.

"Another thing how do you know her name?" Hector asked popping his head up and staring at his friend suspiciously.

"Oh no, don't worry amigo. I have no interest in her. From what I hear she's one tough woman to please." Ernesto explains crossing his arms behind his head seeming to stretch.

"What do you mean?" Hector asked curious.

"You think you're the only man in Santa Cecilia with his eyes on Imelda. Almost every man in town as approached her and she turns everyone down. I hear she's got quite the temper." Ernesto said with a chuckle.

"I hear that" Hector replied.

"Plus, she's turned down some of the wealthiest eligible bachelors in town. If she refused them, she obviously has a higher taste. And no offense amigo, but you hardly have any wealth to speak of and aren't that popular with the women in town. So, honestly, what chance do you think you have of winning Imelda's heart if she turned them down?" Ernesto asked with a smirk. Hector felt like he got punched in the gut.

"I was convinced Ernesto was right, what chance did I have with Imelda if she turned all those other men down who had more money and charm than I could ever hope to have?" I explained remembering how hopeless I felt when I believed Imelda was above me and I could never hope to even catch her eye.

"Some friend" Felipe commented.

"I don't know why or how you became friends with that man." Julio commented in disbelief.

"Well back then Ernesto and I were all each other had. Both of our families thought we were bums when we wanted to become musicians. Ernesto left his home with no regrets and bragged about how he got rid of the ball and chains that were holding him back. I tried to make my family understand my pursuit of music but they threw me out. My father said 'no son of mine is going to be some good for nothing musician.' And that was it, his mind was made up. Ernesto and I both worked at Senor Sanchez's inn but because money was tight we had to share a room." I said rubbing the back of my neck remembering those long nights.

I look up and notice everyone staring at me as if I had two heads. "What?" Then I remember what I just said and chuckled.

"I'd rather not get into those details, luckily Senor Sanchez eventually allowed us to bring in another bed into the room so it put and end to that awkward situation." I explained.

"We're going off topic again Papa Hector. Get to the point when you and Mama Imelda met." Victoria requested with an annoyed tone.

"Ah, well, that's actually the simple part. You see Imelda and I finally spoke after I accidentally bumped into her and I wasn't even trying to" I explained with a light laugh. There really wasn't much to that part. I couldn't believe I finally achieved my goal of approaching Imelda by accident.

"That's it?" Oscar asked unimpressed.

"Not as interesting as I thought" Felipe said rather disappointed.

"Well wait! That's just when we first met eye to eye. It's not like we married right then. I still didn't know what to say to her or how to act around her." I explained. Honestly these guys may have been adults but they were as impatient as children.

"Well don't leave us in suspense what happened next" Rosita begged. She seemed eager still.

I was about to speak when a loud banging scared me quiet.

"AY! WHO LOCKED THIS DOOR?! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL TO NEVER LOCK THE DOOR DURING THE DAY?! AND WHY ARE THE WINDOWS SHUT?!" Shouted a familiar angry female voice.

"IMELDA!" I screamed and everyone panicked.