Later, Oscar and Felipe had sneaked out of the house. They traveled to the cantina. Lucky for them, it was only twenty minutes away from their house.
When they got there, they remembered that children were not allowed inside the cantina. Thus they went around the back and peeked through the windows to see inside.
"Is this the right cantina ?" Oscar asked his twin.
"Obviously," Felipe answered. "It's the only cantina in town!"
"Do you see Héctor?"
Felipe scanned the crowd for his brother-in-law. "Why yes, there he is, onstage!"
The twins spotted him tuning his guitar, while getting ready to perform.
They noticed that the man was slumped down and looked a bit crestfallen.
"The poor soul!" Felipe observed.
"Let's go and talk to him." Oscar agreed.
He was about to go over when his brother pulled him on his shirt.
"Have you forgotten something? We are not 18 years old yet! We can't go on there!"
"If anyone stops us, we'll just say we know Héctor!"
Just then, the two boys saw two pretty young girls sashayed over to the cantina.
"Hola Enfermera!" The twins shouted, running toward the women. "Would you ladies like an escort?"
"Yes, senors!" The two women giggled. They allowed the two teenage boys to walk with them arm in arm into the cantina.
Héctor carried his guitar to the stage. He mustered as much energy as he could, despite still feeling downhearted. "Are you ready for música?"
"Yes!" cheered the crowd.
He played a few chords and began to sing slowly and tenderly.
"De la Sierra Morena,
"Cielito lindo, vienen bajando,
"Un par de ojitos negros,
"Cielito lindo, de contrabando."
The songwriter inhaled and sang the chorus. The other musicians beside him tooted their trumpets.
"Ay, ay, ay, ay,
"Canta y no llores,
"Porque cantando se alegran,
"Cielito lindo, los corazones."
When the other musicians finished playing their trumpets, Héctor strummed his guitar. He sang another verse.
"Ese lunar que tienes,
"Cielito lindo, junto a la boca,
"No se lo des a nadie,
"Cielito lindo, que a mí me toca."
The musician's eyes were on the audience. He saw a woman who looked similar to Imelda. He almost did a double take because he thought he saw his wife. Actually, he wasn't sure whether to call her his wife or not.
"Pájaro que abandona,
"Cielito lindo, su primer nido,
"Vuelve y lo halla ocupado
"Cielito lindo, bien merecido."
Hector wondered why Imelda was avoiding him. Where did her outburst come from?
"Una flecha en el aire,
"Cielito lindo, lanzó Cupido,
"y como fue jugando,
"Cielito lindo, yo fui el herido."
The musician liked to come back home and talk to her but at the same time, he's apprehensive. He's afraid that she'll shut him out.
"De tu casa a la mía,
"Cielito lindo, no hay más que un paso,
"Antes que venga tu madre,
"Cielito lindo, dame un abrazo."
The audience cheered and clapped for Hector. It cheered him up completely. The songwriter put his guitar down to take a break. As he descended downstairs, the songwriter was thinking of what drink to get, when the owner of the cantina tapped him on the shoulder.
"Yes, Ceaser, what is it?" Hector asked turning around.
"There are two boys looking for you," the bartender said. He directed him to two teenage boys who were sitting at a table, enjoying themselves some drinks at a little table.
Hector thanked the man and quickly strode over to the boys. He took their drinks away so they wouldn't get drunk, much to their annoyance.
"What are you two doing here?"
"Looking for you, of course!" Oscar replied.
"Will you come home?" Felipe asked.
Hector was about to respond when he quickly remembered that they were in public. "Let's go somewhere private!" He whispered to them.
They exited out of the cantina and went behind the outhouse.
"Let's whisper," he instructed them. "This small town functions on gossip! So, what are you two trying to say?"
"We want to talk to you about you and our sister," Oscar answered. "We couldn't help but notice tension between you two."
Hector's eyes widened at that.
"Oh chamacos," he said almost apologetically. "Imelda and I had a big fight and I don't think she loves me anymore."
"Imelda does love you, she's afraid that you don't love her anymore!" Felipe said.
"Actually she's afraid that you wouldn't love her anymore if you marry her." Oscar clarified.
"What is she talking about? I love her!" Hector responded. "She is the love of my life! Why in the world would she think otherwise?"
"Well, that is what happened when she-" Oscar started.
"Married Ernesto." Felipe finished.
"He was nice to her-"
"But after getting married, he turned mean."
"I find that hard to believe! No one decides to switch from mind to mean like that!" Hector said as he snapped his fingers, at the last word. "I knew Ernesto was a jerk to Imelda but I don't think he-"
"Stopped loving her," the twins finished.
"Has she told her about her stillborn baby?" Oscar asked Hector.
The musician nodded.
"Well, when the baby didn't cry, Ernesto blamed it on Imelda."
"His reason for staying married to her no longer existed," Felipe added.
"That's why he was seeing other women," Oscar finished.
"But what made her think that I would be like Ernesto?" Hector asked. "What brought this all up?"
"She's been having nightmares of you being mean to her!" Felipe exclaimed.
"Just like Ernesto!" Oscar piped up. "If you two get married!"
"What, I would never act like Ernesto!" Hector gasped. "Nunca!" Then the young man thought back to his conversation with Imelda the other day. He recalled her reaction when he suggested getting a marriage license. Although the musician was hurt, it all began making sense to him. He sighed. No wonder she reacted that. "Well, if it's any consolation for her, I too, had nightmares regarding Ernesto. I too, was afraid of marrying her because I thought I'd be betraying him. But after having a talk with my uncle, I realized that I have to do the honorable thing. What should I do? I don't want to force Imelda into doing something she doesn't want to do!"
The brothers smiled comfortingly at him.
"Just tell her that those nightmares are not real-" Oscar began.
"-and you'll be the best husband she'll ever have!" Felipe finished.
Hector thought for a moment and smiled. "All right, chamacos. Let's go home."