Chapter 25: Abuelos

Despite Imelda's words of caution and Coco's own anticipation of it, a baby was not made on her and Julio's wedding night. Nor the month after that. Nor the year after that. When it was approaching their second wedding anniversary, Coco finally came to her parents in tears. She was desperate for a child and terrified that there was something wrong with her, or Julio, or both of them. It was time to ask her family for help. She would soon come to regret it, as now her parents, Rosita and Facundo had taken it upon themselves to aid them in their fertility, and it was driving them crazy!

"Drink Coco, drink!" Imelda said as she tipped the tea cup into her daughter's mouth, the poor girl nearly gagging on the tea inside. It wasn't that bad actually. The raspberry tea leaves were actually very pleasant and herbal, brewed a little strongly but the honey added a nice sweetness to it. However having consumed about three pots of it in one day Coco had gone way past her limit and was starting to retch at the thought of even one more drop touching her tongue.

"Mamá, I can't drink anymore!" Coco hiccupped. "My stomach hurts, this stuff is starting to taste terrible, and I've gone to the bathroom six times in two hours. Surely this is enough for now?"

"Alright Coco, no more tea. Just take a spoonful of this." Imelda said as she held up a spoon full of a mystery liquid. As Coco opened her mouth to question what it was Imelda shoved the spoon inside and then clamped a hand over her mouth as Coco thrashed around. "Swallow it, mija. It'll just be worse if you keep it in your mouth for too long." When Coco finally swallowed Imelda patted her on the back. "Good girl, Coco."

"What-*hack*… What was that?!" Coco cried as she wiped her tongue off with her sleeve.

"Fish oil." Imelda said matter-of-factly. "And don't give me that look, this stuff works miracles. You'll be taking a spoonful ever hour on the hour until you are pregnant."

"Mamá, this is insane!" Coco stood up and paced the room in agitation. "It shouldn't be this hard to have a baby! It was so easy for you and Papá, why isn't it for me?!"

"Oh Coco…" Imelda hugged her daughter close and kissed her forehead. "I know that you're frustrated and upset, but it is different for every couple when it comes to conceiving. It might happen tonight, years from now, or not at all. But I don't want you to think that your life will be incomplete just because you can't have children. You have the rest of your family here with you, and Julio who loves you with all his heart. You have plenty to be thankful for."

"I know, but… I'm just so ready to become a Mamá." Coco sniffled and leaned into her mother's hold. "I want a baby."

"Well if that's the case, all you and Julio can do is keep trying." Imelda said. "And take your fish oil as well."

As Coco groaned at the thought of that disgusting liquid, Rosita came in with a pot of boiling water and herbs. "Okay, Mamá Imelda. It's ready!"

"Ugh!" Coco recoiled at the stench and glared at Imelda. "Mamá, I am not going to drink that!"

"This isn't for drinking, mija." Imelda said. "Rosita place the pot on the floor please. Oh, with a placemat, I don't want it to leave a mark on the floor." Once Rosita had done that Imelda turned to her confused daughter. "Alright Coco, take off your underwear and stand over the pot. Let your dress form a tent and make sure that your skin doesn't touch the metal."

Coco stared at Imelda, then the pot, then Rosita, then Imelda again. "… What?"

"It's a steam bath for your… nether regions." Rosita said with nervous grin and a deep blush.

"The medicinal herbs will bathe your insides and make you more receptive to your husband. Now hurry up while it's still steaming!" Imelda smiled as Coco took off her underwear in complete humiliation and straddled the pot. Then she eyed the unfinished raspberry tea and helped herself to a cup. It would be a shame to let it go to waste, after all.

Julio panted with exertion as he kicked a fútbol around the obstacle course that Matty had set up for him in the Rivera courtyard. Being the most well read in science Matty informed the other men in the group that healthy exercise was important for a man in order to boost his natural potency. So for the last few days Julio had jogged around town with Matty, had gone swimming upstream at the creek, had climbed up the jagged rock formations in the woods, and played with fetch with Dante for hours. Now the poor dog laid collapsed in exhaustion, dully watching Julio kick the ball all over. Julio glared at the dog in envy. Why did he get to rest?

"Okay, stop!" Matty came over and handed Julio a huge glass of water. It was the only drink that Julio had consumed for days. How he had longed for a shot of tequila but Matty was adamant that he only drink water until his sister was pregnant. "Down this and we'll take a break. It's almost lunchtime anyway."

"Lunch?" Julio moaned. "But I'm still full from breakfast!"

Julio was partly grateful for the exercise that Matty was forcing him to partake in, because without it he was sure that he would look like a balloon from all the food he was being given by Héctor and Facundo. And not just any food: Meat. All different types of meat. Chicken, sausages, beef, pork, fish, even lobsters that Héctor had shipped in from the coast. Never did Julio wish for a simple vegetable or a spoonful of rice so badly in his life.

"Meat makes a man strong!" Facundo had told him when Julio was moaning over his third plate of chorizo that morning. "Not only in daily activities but in the bedroom as well! One time I was in a barbacoa eating contest, mijo, and I won after eating twelve servings of this stuff! I won fifty pesos and that blue ribbon that still hangs above our mantle with pride. And that night, your mother and I were so excited about the win that we celebrated long and hard into the night. Nine months later your baby sister was born!"

Julio gagged. "Please… don't talk about that while I'm eating."

Sure enough Héctor and Facundo came over to them with steaming hot plates of meat and placed it on the table in front of Julio. He moaned at all the greasy products before him until he spotted something he had never seen before. "Papá Héctor… are those rocks?"

"Ah, no Julio, these are oysters!" Héctor said excitedly as he picked one up. "These things are not only tasty mijo, but they are also known as the ultimate aphrodisiac! Mira." He took a knife and stuck it into the seam of the oyster, wiggling it until he was able to pry it open. Inside was what Julio could only describe as congealed mucus that had rotted into a deathly gray pallor. "Just spritz it a little with some lemon juice, and then…" He brought the shell to his lips and noisily slurped up the disgusting blob and then chewed and swirled it around his mouth. "Mmm. Delicioso! Okay, now you try it."

"No!" Julio jumped up from the table and backed away from his meddlesome family. "No, I draw the line at eating sea snot, Papá Héctor! Besides, I don't have any need of an aphrodisiac. I do fine on my own."

"Ah ah ah! Are you abstaining like we told you to, chamaco?" Héctor pointed at him with a glare. "You know you need to build up what you have, not waste every little bit on private times!"

"Think of yourself like a well, mijo." Facundo added. "The more storm water that comes in, the more you have to, uh… water your crops. Heh heh."

Julio's face reddened with embarrassment and he sagged in exhaustion. "Look I appreciate what you are all trying to do to help, but I am full to bursting and I feel like I need to go lie down for a year. So please can I take a little break?"

Thankfully Matty took sympathy on his brother-in-law. "Actually I think a nap is exactly what you need right now. Sleep is very important for the body when it comes to fertility." Julio sighed in relief, nodded his thanks and turned to leave. "But when you wake up we're going to do some uphill sprinting and then some more rock climbing!" Julio groaned and hung his head low as he made his way to the bedroom.

The three of them stayed at the table and decided to eat what Julio couldn't finish, with Matty tossing pieces of sausages to Dante as the dog flipped happily in the air to catch the treats. Héctor polished off the whole tray of oysters himself. After all, I paid for them, and it would be a shame to let them go to waste.

That night Coco and Julio marched into their bedroom and immediately started to take their clothes off with grim determination and desperation.

"This is it, mi amor!" Coco said as she ripped off her blouse and flung it across the room.

"We are going to make a baby tonight!" Julio said as his suspenders nearly snapped in two at his frenzied attempt to pull down his pants.

"It has to be tonight!" Coco shoved Julio onto the bed and crawled on top of him. "Because I can't take any more of this!"

Julio nodded. "I know they all mean well, but-" Coco smashed her lips against his, kissing long and hard to get their blood boiling. When they broke apart the cried out in unison:

"They are trying to kill us!"

It was another month and a half of enduring gallons of tea and meat, exhausting exercises and steam baths before one day Coco and Julio came running into the shoe workshop in euphoric elation.

"Mamá! Papá!" Coco yelled at the top of her lungs. Héctor jerked awake from his midday doze in the courtyard while Matty and Imelda looked up from their shoe orders. The entire work staff stopped to also look at the exuberant couple. "Mamá, it worked! It finally worked. All that disgusting tea and oil and meat finally worked! We just got back from the doctor's, and… I'm with child!"

"Eso!" Héctor ran into the room and grabbed Coco in tight hug, twirling her around as she laughed. "I'm so happy for you, mija!" Matty came over to hug his sister tightly as well, and the entire staff applauded at the happy couple. "I told you that all that stuff would work! This calls for a celebration! A celebratory feast to honor my new grandchild!"

"Gracias, Papá Héctor!" Julio said. "Just make sure that there's plenty of vegetables and tequila on the menu!"

Héctor laughed and patted Julio heartily on the back, and while he was already discussing refurbishing their house for a nursery, no one noticed Imelda standing against the back wall in a daze, trying valiantly to hold back tears.

"I'm glad that Coco and Julio are finally having a baby, but…" Héctor pondered while looking at himself in the bedroom mirror. "I think we're just too young to be grandparents."

Imelda looked up from the baby blanket she had been knitting while she sat in the bed. "Why do you think that?"

"Well, when I think of grandpas I think of hunched over viejos with knobby canes, who yell at children when they pass by them for being too loud, have gout and are just plain crabby. But look at us, we're in the prime of our lives!" Héctor ran a finger over his silver temples and then lifted up a few crow's feet to smooth them out. "Okay, yes, we are a little bit more wrinkled, and my knees hurt when it rains, so does your back. But I still think we're quite the catch."

Imelda sighed and put her knitting down, frowning deeply. "Héctor-"

"I guess we're going to have to start acting the parts though, eh diosa?" Héctor grinned. "We are not as young as we used to be, and it's only going to get worse from here on out. Heh, maybe I'll install a bar above the bathtub, and we can start eating high fiber breakfasts with prune juice. We can't even act young anymore, not with the baby coming. No, it's time we started to act like true, elderly patriarchs of the family. I will be lovable old grandpa who always gives those nasty hard candies out to the kiddies, and you'll be the stern, matronly grandma who is always baking pies and cakes for no reason. And we'll pass down all of our old stories from ancient times-"

It was at that moment when Imelda finally couldn't stand it anymore and she broke down into heart wrenching tears. She flung the knitting against the wall and collapsed onto her side as sobs wracked her body. Héctor whipped around and gaped at his wife as she cried like she hadn't done since their daughter died, and he jumped onto the bed and rubbed her shoulders soothingly.

"Imelda!" Héctor called out as he tried to pry her hands away from her face. "Imelda, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You are not old, Imelda!"

"Yes I am!" Imelda sobbed and collapsed against the bed again, burying her face into the sheets. "I'm too damn old!"

Héctor shook his head firmly. "No, you are not! You are still the vibrant, beautiful girl I fell in love with at the creek all those years- Uh, I mean a few years ago. Not long ago. Could have been yesterday, that's how long ago it feels! Imelda please stop crying…"

"Oh, Héctor! It's true! I am too old! Too old to be doing this!" Imelda cried.

Héctor was confused. "Too old to become a grandmother? That doesn't make any sense."

Imelda shook her head bitterly. "No, idiota! I've been trying to tell you for days but I've been too scared to tell you that… I'm pregnant!"

Héctor felt all of the air crush itself out of his lungs as he stumbled off the bed and tumbled to the floor. He lay there, simply staring at the ceiling for who knew how long. It must have been a while because he suddenly found himself sitting up with his back against the bed with Imelda lightly slapping at his face. His reflexes were still too slow and muddied to register that Imelda had grabbed a glass of water until he felt a splash of cold hit his face and tried to cough and sneeze droplets out of his nose. With a gasp he finally started to breathe normally and Imelda sighed with relief.

"Héctor, are you alright?" Imelda asked. "You scared me!"

"I s-s-scared you?!" Héctor choked out and brought a hand to his forehead. "What?! How?! When did this happen Imelda?! We've been so careful until now!"

Imelda sniffed and helped Héctor stand shakily to his feet. "It had to have been that last time over a month ago. You know, after we had set up the kids for their own date, and sort of… helped ourselves to their fertility treatments…"

Imelda sighed as she looked out the window to where Coco and Julio lived across the street. Now that Facundo had become mayor of Santa Cecilia, Julio had been left in charge of the carpenter shop and had taken Coco with him to his house. Of course Héctor had expanded upon it so that the two of them would have some luxury for themselves in their first home together, but it was still away from the shoe shop, and a part of Imelda was glad at that. Shoe making wasn't a passion for Coco like it was for Imelda, her brothers and Matty, and she was happy that Coco had the luxury of choosing her own path in life. Right now the first step in her chosen path was to become a mother, and Imelda hoped that all of their home remedies would end up doing the trick.

"You know you'd think I'd be exhausted from running in the woods all day with Matty and Julio, but I'm not." Héctor said as he sat on their bed. "I'm actually a little pumped up! All that exercise and fresh air really does a body good."

"Mmm." Imelda hummed as she sipped at more of the raspberry tea. This stuff was good, she didn't care what Coco said.

"I think I'm a little too wired though." Héctor said as he pulled off his shirt. "I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight." As he reached into his drawer for a pajama top he paused and let a blush creep across his cheeks when a thought crossed his mind. Then he let a slow, sultry smile cross his lips as he glanced over at Imelda standing by the window. "What to do, what to do…"

"Well, we should still have some sleeping tonic left in the bathroom. Or you should try this tea, it's very soothing. I can get you a cup-ah!" Imelda gasped as she felt strong warm arms wrap around her waist and a pointy chin coming to rest on her head. Then those big, callused hands collected the tea cup from her hands and placed it along the window sill. "What are you doing Héctor?"

"Oh nothing." Héctor said into her hair, inhaling the scent deeply. "Just giving my lovely wife a hug." He swayed with her in his arms and hummed against her ear. "Ay Imelda, you smell so good."

"C-Coco and I were trying out different fragrances at the marketplace today." Imelda said. "Ones that were supposed to heighten the mood in the bedroom. Mostly lavender, cinnamon and… vanilla."

"Well it's working on me, diosa…" Héctor gently turned her towards him and let her hungrily gaze at his bare chest. "You know, it's been a while since you and I had some alone time. And Matty is over at Barto's tonight for a study session…"

It wasn't that true. It had been only a week since Imelda and he had last made love, but the prospect of being totally alone in the house for once and both of them quickly getting into the mood was growing too much for either of them to bear. Without warning Imelda jumped up into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist, planting such a huge kiss on him that he reared back and fell onto the bed. Both of them giggled and felt like teenagers again, and spent the whole night filled with passionate ecstasy.

"Oooohhhh…." Héctor paled as he remembered that wonderful night. He sat down on the bed in a slump and stared out dazedly, absolutely dumbstruck about what was happening. He was going to be a Papá again. And a grandpa. At the same time. Ay Dios mio… Those damn oysters!

"Héctor, I'm scared." Imelda whimpered. The distress in his wife's voice broke him out of his own thoughts and he looked over at Imelda. "I'm thirty-nine years old, Héctor. When this baby is born I'll be forty. Women my age should not be having babies. What if something terrible happens to it? Dios, I already love it so much, Héctor. I can't… I can't lose another child. I just can't!" She brokenly wept into her hands at the thought, shuddering in fear and curling in on herself.

Héctor pulled her into his embrace and held her close as she sobbed. "It's okay, Imelda. It'll be alright. I won't let anything happen to you or the baby. Cálmese, mi amor. I'm here. Shhhh…"

He pressed a hand gently to Imelda's stomach and sighed deeply. When the shock had finally passed Héctor realized that he felt the same as Imelda. He already loved this baby with all of his heart and he would do all in his power to protect it from harm. He had to. He couldn't bear to lose another child either.