Chapter Text
The woman rested in her bed, but she felt herself floating, her heavy eyes prevented her from seeing the figures surrounding her bed, her ears were obstructed by small buzzing noises that muffled the voices of those close to her, but still, even on her deathbed, Alma remained fully aware of herself and what was about to happen.
Life was a cycle: you are born, you grow, you reproduce and you die. Of course there are many things in between each of these stages that make life a complex cycle and a totally different experience for every human being, but in essence, Alma Madrigal had fulfilled each of these stages so when she felt ready, she silently asked her beloved miracle to give her the eternal rest that, for her work in her community, she well deserved.
Of course, that strong, unchanging, highly respected figure was not one to take things lightly, for for three years she raised the one who would replace the family bedside when her time of descent came.
"Mirabel, where is my little miracle?" The woman in the bed asked in a lost voice, and she could see with misty eyes how a curly head of hair approached from the side.
"I'm here, Abuela." The woman took in her hands the wet cheeks of her granddaughter, who since she brought her beloved Casita back to life had become her protégée, her successor, her little miracle. She herself had been in charge of instructing her in the leadership of her community, introducing her to everyone as the one who would take her place when she left, and that moment had arrived.
"Mirabel, it is time for me to go," she said almost in a whisper and all the family members around her cried for the words of the one who had brought them to the world, "promise me that you will protect and love this community that we have raised with effort, swear to me that you will be a better leader than I was," she asked, the youngest only smiled and nodded slightly.
"I don't need to swear it Abuela, I love this house, I love my family and I love every inhabitant of this enchanted town... I promise you that I will follow your legacy as if I were an extension of you" A calm smile settled on Alma.
"No, Mirabel, you are not an extension of me, you are someone totally unique and I know you will do things your own way so I'm fine with that." The woman removed her hands from her granddaughter's face. "It's time to go, I loved you all with all my heart." She said goodbye at last, releasing one last tear in her wrinkled eyes with a magical sparkle in it. "Pedro?" Those were his last words before he breathed his last breath.
...
The funeral was as it should have been: respectful and full of people who loved its founder, but, above all, a happy funeral. At Alma's own request she did not want her funeral to be black, she wanted everyone present to wear white and to celebrate with her favorite music on the occasion, because for her death was no longer bad or painful, she had lived a full life watching her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up, so there was no reason to be sad. God had given her the opportunity to fulfill her mission in life.
After the act the Madrigals opened the now empty room of their late matriarch, each took something of significant value and as they left... the door vanished into thin air, lost in time, memories and wood. As it should have been.
But instead, where their door used to be, a totally different one appeared, with a round, bluish wood frame and a butterfly stamped in the middle, showing who was the owner of that new place.
The new matriarch.
Everyone embraced the young woman, now 18 years old, her features were no longer childish and her clothes were a little less childish but still retained their usual color. Mirabel smiled at her relatives who immediately recognized her importance in the family even if her kinship was of higher rank like that of her parents, aunts, uncles or older cousins. For from the moment the door appeared, they understood that they owed total respect to the young woman no matter what.
But Mirabel didn't know if she was ready for that responsibility.
Mirabel had accompanied her grandmother everywhere for three long years, learning from her the craft of being the one who made the important decisions, watching closely as that woman even with the most stressful of tasks attended to every errand with total stoicism... she didn't feel she was capable of doing the same.
She didn't need to have the gift of mind reading to know that everyone expected the same from her as they expected from Alma, they knew her personality was different and that was fine, maybe a newer vision of life could make significant changes in that not so small town, but they still expected from her a hint of her grandmother in her future decisions.
That was what was most terrifying.
Because in Mirabel's heart, she knew there were little secrets that kept her far away from the perfection that her late grandmother represented.
Because she was a sinner, her grandmother was not.
That night the anguish of undertaking this new position ate at her, her thousands of insecurities accumulated in her as the minutes passed, that strange new room made her feel a pressure in her chest that she recognized as an anxiety attack. She simply did not want to be there anymore, getting up suddenly in her thin nightgown and walking through the silent village to the other side, where she slipped behind the mountains, sitting down to cry in that river where some years ago she had made peace with the one she had lost so recently.
She could feel after a while the presence of someone along the same route where she arrived, she didn't need to turn to see to know who it was, feeling extremely relieved that this person was there for her at that moment, she needed a strong hug to be able to move on.
"Are you all right?" She couldn't help but lean on his shoulder.
"No" she answered without stopping her tears, the man caressed her shoulder affectionately.
"I miss her too, and it's only been a day," he said with a melancholic tone, "she wasn't the best mother, but she was my mother, I will always admire her for that."
"Tio Bruno, I don't know if I'll be able to follow in Abuela's footsteps, she and I are not the same in any way," she emptied her insecurities, settling herself in front of him. Bruno took her cheeks with affection.
"You don't need to be like her, you need to be you." But even though her words comforted him, the sorrows in her heart were still open.
"Do you think I can do it right?" She asked, with pleading eyes.
"I know you'll do well, I don't need to see into the future to know that," he replied with complete certainty.
But although anyone watching that scene would find it touching, a strange and different feeling was in the air, a strange tension that overwhelmed each other's bodies every time they connected their gazes.
They were both sinners.
Their lips met in a hungry, painful and expected kiss. Both forcefully took each other's bodies reaching with their mouths to places they hadn't explored for a long time, emptying for a few moments those hidden feelings that for so long had burned them, almost consuming them in a terrifying longing.
They looked at each other, the moon did not make things easier as its light made the eyes of each one shine, showing themselves in the pupil of the other, connecting their souls without needing to touch each other again, because without words they recognized in each other those deeply hidden feelings that they had rarely let out on nights similar to those.
"We promised we wouldn't do it again" Bruno remembered, trying to get up from the place, but the other woman wouldn't allow him to do it, "You know it's not right Mirabel, we both agreed on that."
"We agreed because we were afraid of grandma, she was watching me all the time, it was dangerous... not now" She reasoned, but her tio remained unconvinced.
"Ours can never be and you know it, just like the novel "He kept thinking, but Mirabel sat lightly on his lap.
"Tomorrow my life will be totally different, that's why I ask you to let me be impulsive for the last time tonight" She chastely kissed the man's lips "A couple of kisses won't hurt anyone "She finished, convincing her dear uncle at last.
They stood there, kissing with all they had to offer each other, loving each other as they wanted to, but couldn't, they felt like a strange analogy of Adam and Eve right under the tree of temptations, unafraid of the consequences of being expelled from paradise.
At first it really was kissing, but Bruno's hands inadvertently landed lower on her hips, calling them to a boundary they had never crossed, but which at that moment sounded good to them. They didn't need to be drunk to throw themselves into that overwhelming fleeting responsibility, taking off the few clothes they wore showing mother nature their naked bodies.
It hurt, of course it hurt, but for Mirabel that was the most liberating sensation she had ever felt, for she had finally united her body with that of her uncle whom she had loved since she was 15 years old. They both longed for each other, desired each other and loved each other, but they kept their cool during those long three years until demure was buried along with Alma.
That night they drew an entire map of each other's bodies, reaching ecstasy more than once, tasting that forbidden fruit that clouded their judgment with blinding, hot and pleasurable sensations. It was not until the first rays of dawn came that they saw each other's sweaty faces despite the cold, finally contemplating the sin they had committed with guilty eyes.
"We are sinners," said Bruno as he gripped his rosary tightly, almost breaking it with the force he exerted, "we shouldn't have done this Mirabel, if someday you get married and your husband finds out I...."
"Tio Bruno," she called him, who was just finishing pulling the thin cloth over her, still feeling the tingling between her legs. She wiped the blood running down her legs with the river water. "I'm never going to get married".
"Of course you're going to get married, someday you will, it's... the right thing to do," he tried to argue, feeling a little sad at that vision, but Mirabel didn't agree.
"I swear before God, that I will never get married, because if I cannot share my life with you under the sacred mantle of the church, then I prefer to remain an old maid." She professed kissing Bruno's half-open lips. "Because I love you and just as you never got married I won't either, I don't want to if it's not with you."
"You don't know what you're swearing," he tried to convince her, but his tone showed some emotion.
"From today I am your wife, and although I am aware that this can never be repeated, I will be happy with the memory of having fulfilled my greatest wish."
They both looked at each other, smiling sadly, because the warmth of the other's body was beginning to fade from their skins, they kissed one last time, treasuring that night with affection, encapsulating it in a shining lamp among their most beautiful memories.
Because of that night there would be nothing left but dream dust, wouldn't there?
...
"Mirabel" Isabela called to her sister, but the younger one did not see her, did not hear her, did not even seem to breathe. "Mirabel, you have to tell us the truth." She tried for the second time to ask, beginning to feel impatient because she could feel the answer.
"You have to tell us that it is not true," Luisa begged, kneeling down in front of her little sister, just thinking about the possibility made her heart grow small in her enormous chest. The tension was so great that even Dolores had arrived in the room, fully aware of the uncomfortable conversation.
"Please tell me that the silence is because you are remembering the last date," the newcomer asked almost in desperation. "Mirabel, when was the last time you had your period?"
But no matter how many times they repeated the question there was no good answer, Mirabel had been so busy during that time that she didn't even stop to think about how strange it was that she hadn't bled in over two months. It wasn't until that week where the dizziness, mood swings and constant fatigue caught her sisters' attention.
"Two months and 15 days," she answered almost in a whisper, the three women began to walk with total concern, this was a scandal of biblical magnitude.
"Tell me who he is, tell me and I swear I will make him answer," Luisa asked angrily as she threw a plant out of the room.
"How could you be so careless, Mirabel?" Isabela shouted, her head began to ache, just thinking about her mother and father's reaction made her panic.
"Mirabel, Abuela left you in charge for a reason, if she were still here...."
"But she's not," she said at last, coming out of shock, "I have to go." She finished that conversation running out of the room in spite of the calls of the other women, quickly arrived at her uncle's room, whose tower was no longer so far away, and with all the courage in the world she entered.
The young woman walked up the steps thinking about how she would tell him such devastating news, the only thing she knew was that if or if he had to be the first to find out by his own tongue. That's how she reached the great hallway and cautiously opened the huge stone door, organizing a little in her head the way she would say things.
But when he opened it, he did not expect to find his uncle, teary-eyed and with a vision in his hand.
"There are three of them." That was the first thing he said, leaving the youngest totally confused. Mirabel came closer to see the vision in her hand, noticing the young woman holding three little ones with tenderness.
"Oh my God," was the first thing she said, releasing the vision with force, which shattered in front of her feet, "this was never my intention, I didn't think that something like this would really happen, forgive me tio Bruno, I don't want you to think that this was planned," she began to panic thinking that the man would hate her, but instead she was hugged tightly.
"I know, I know, I know, I know you and I know that this was not intentional, neither of us thought of this possibility... although it was the most obvious one in fact" Both of them looked at each other, not knowing what else to say.
"We have to tell them" Mirabel said.
"We can't, this will destroy the whole family" the older man argued against it.
"Now I am the head of the family, I am sure they will forgive me and...."
"To you, yes, but not to me" Bruno finished saying and although Mirabel wanted to reply, the reality was that he was surely right "You are the one my mother left in charge of Encanto, but even so you are still 18 years old and I am 53, if everyone finds out I don't think this will end well for anyone, we even run the risk of them disowning the children."
"So what do you propose?" She asked with fear of the answer, Bruno only sighed.
"The best thing is that we keep this a secret, we can say that the father escaped, you know that for some time now some merchants from outside have been coming, so it won't be difficult."
"No, they must grow up with a father and that father is you," she tried to plead as her tears began to fall.
"And I can be, only not as a father but as... an uncle" He smiled sadly, with regret and pain "I grew up without a father, I don't want our children to suffer the same, but I can't expose them to such a great danger as discrimination either. "He kissed the younger one's forehead, "I'll be there, really, just not in the way we want."
Mirabel nodded, unfortunately she was right, her grandmother had left her the responsibility of keeping the family together and if that secret she had decided to bury in her memories had the capacity to destroy everything she loved... it was best to keep her dreams to protect her legacy.