Chapter 16
Distress
Abel had waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Until he realized something was wrong.
Miguel hadn't shown up in the plaza. There was no certainty that his cousin would come back there, and he had trusted Rosa to search for him in the cemetery, reassuring himself with the fact that she'd be with Enrique and Luisa. So he kept his promise and watched out for any sign of a red hoodie.
That was, until an hour passed.
There was no news about Miguel, which caused Abel's heart to begin squirming with concern and his mind to make up all kinds of distressing scenarios.
But even worse, Rosa hadn't returned to him. It wasn't in her nature to leave someone hanging, especially when they were family like the given circumstances and things called for her responsible side to act.
He left the plaza, convinced that his runaway primo wouldn't step foot in it, before starting searching the graveyard for his cousin and sister. Perhaps his tío, tía and hermanita had missed something, a clue about where Miguel could've been, so he was going to find it.
At first, he'd expected to find Rosa there, but when he didn't, when he asked around about her and found out that no one had seen her, nor Miguel, that was the moment his heart started racing.
By this time, the family had also picked up on Rosa's absence. Berto's worried "Where's your sister?" crushed Abel's soul like a wrecking ball. The news of the girl's disappearance spread like wildfire amongst the Riveras, whose frenzy intensified.
It was as if the world was suddenly too big.
Abel was racking his brains trying to figure out how on earth his sister and cousin had vanished without a trace.
He'd never felt so much contrition. It was entirely his fault that Rosa was gone. He was to blame for allowing her to venture into the graveyard on her own. If something happened to her, he'd never forgive himself.
Picking himself up, he gathered his feelings, tightened an optimistic grip on his worries and continued to search.
Berto knew his daughter. His lovely Rosita was dutiful and sensible, always ready to lend a hand to whoever was in need of it. She wasn't the type of person to do something reckless and worry the family.
She'd wanted to search for her cousin, and he'd allowed her to with the condition that Abel would keep an eye on her. But when his oldest son came rushing to him with the news that his sister was gone and was impossible to find, Berto's world crumbled even more than it already had because of Miguel's disappearance.
Rosa wouldn't take Miguel's side, he kept telling himself. True, she'd had a few incidents regarding music, but nothing too significant. From the way he knew her, she wasn't interested in music.
Maybe he didn't actually know his one and only daughter as well as he believed he did.
No.
No, no, no, no, no!
Berto was certain that Rosa wanted to follow in his mother's footsteps and become a great shoemaker and family matriarch. Elena - or anyone else for that matter - would never approve of a music-loving family ruler. And…
No! Rosa Rivera would never disappoint her family in such a disgraceful way. He and Carmen had raised her the right way. She'd come back home. Eventually. Along with Miguel, whom she'd have managed to redirect on the right path.
He tried being strong for his wife, but she was inconsolable.
As the night was coming to a close, Berto was growing more and more anxious.
Luisa had always known that her son loved music. As a young child, there had seldom been a day when he hadn't been scolded for tapping a rhythm with his foot or whistling quietly.
She still loved music just as much as she had before marrying Enrique, but she loved her family far more, therefore it had never been an extremely difficult task to go about her day without listening to a sweet tune or hearing an instrument play somewhere in the street.
She's used to chastise Miguel for not obeying the rules of the family, but she'd gradually lessened her upbraiding sessions to just a few warnings here and there, especially when Elena was around, but otherwise, she sometimes allowed her cheerful boy to hum when he thought that no one could hear him.
Miguel truly loved music, she'd realized a couple of years ago, and prohibiting it from him was continuously hurting him. Luisa had been terrified to notice that he'd become somewhat withdrawn from the rest of the family as the years had passed, including from her. He'd begun to refuse to talk about his problems, and he'd stopped arguing about the righteousness of the ban with a few small exceptions.
Luisa had known that something had been up with him in the last years, but she hadn't been able to put her finger on what exactly that had been. But she would have never dreamt that he'd been stowing away a guitar, musical merchandise and a record player.
The anguish on his face when his instrument had been shattered had roped her heart with strings of woe, while his sudden runaway had been the perfect proof of his silent, constantly growing affliction which had overflowed at last.
Looking back, Luisa blamed herself for not being more lenient with him, for not standing up to her mother-in-law, for deliberately letting her push her darling little boy to the brim of his tolerance. Elena might have been the matriarch, but it was her, Luisa, who had given birth to Miguel. He was her son, first and foremost, not Elena's, and she'd never forget the suffering he'd been put through, she'd never be able to forgive herself for not being there for him when he'd needed his mother.
Luisa sighed at the empty dinner table, the food already cold. Owing to her advanced pregnancy, she'd had to stop searching for her son and leave the rest of the family to do the job, while she was waiting in the unusually silent courtyard in case Miguel would come back home. She felt that she had so many things to tell him, but her mind was plagued by concern and prevented her from thinking clearly.
She checked on Mamá Coco, who wanted to know where Miguel was, and replied that he was alright, but she missed the miserable, disbelieving gleam in Coco's eyes…
She went to her and Enrique's bedroom to pray…
Elena couldn't wrap her mind around her fact that she'd just hurt one of her grandchildren. Hurting her loved ones was the thing she feared most besides a relative abandoning the familia.
All she'd ever intended was to protect her family, and now, that very burning desire had driven Miguel away from them. She'd never thought she'd think this way about a musical instrument, but she actually regretted destroying her nieto's guitar. She'd been too rough on him, and she'd put Enrique and Luisa through the pain she'd hoped to spare them from, the pain of their son leaving them behind for music.
Though she still felt furious towards her grandson for leaving, her wrath was tempered by immense remorse. She kept telling herself that she'd only wanted what was best for Miguel, but that wasn't an excuse… Enrique was more than mad at her for chasing away his only son.
Then, Rosa disappeared as well.
Elena had no idea what to believe about that, for Rosa was a good girl. Responsible, mature for her age and mostly obedient, something serious must have happened to deter her from returning to her family. Or she could just be too invested in her search for Miguel that she'd forgotten about letting her family know.
An odd, nagging feeling told Elena that it wasn't the case.
As she scoured the streets, she was praying to her grandmother that she look after her grandchildren.
Enrique was exhausted. The rage garnered towards his mamá, the developing worry for his son and niece and the overall situation with the music ban becoming more important than the well-being of his family had quickly worn him out.
He'd already searched and asked around a lot about Miguel and Rosa, and the night, despite the joyful celebrations it was filled with, seemed darker than usual. Some people began journeying through the town to aid in the search, but all efforts were fruitless.
Enrique had never thought that the rule which was meant to protect his family would be the very thing that would tear them apart, and the fact that he hadn't tried harder to stop Elena from smashing Miguel's guitar was eating away at him. If he were to choose between his boy and the rules, he'd waste no time to answer.
They'd all been taught that family was the most important thing, but none of them had listened to Miguel, and the blame doubled when it came to Enrique, as Miguel's father. He'd been striving to be an example to his son and protect him, but he hadn't really dared to defy his mother at the crucial moment.
When Miguel would be back home, safe, he'd gather the whole family for a solemn talk.
Until then, he would grapple the last bits of hope.
A/N:
Thank you for reading!
I know this chapter was much shorter than most of the previous ones, but I tried my best to depict some of the living Riveras' feelings in as many words as possible.
I think that, since Luisa is at home, she wouldn't be aware of Rosa's disappearance until early morning, when some of the Riveras return to the house.