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It’s probably not a very nice thing for Pepa to think, considering she has 3 nieces and a nephew, but she and Félix have the cutest kids. Dolores and Camilo are way cuter than Julieta’s daughters or Bruno’s son. It’s not even a fair competition.
Although it definitely feels like a competition sometimes. Ever since she was a child, Pepa has been compared to her triplets and that sibling rivalry continued into adulthood.
First, Julieta beat her when it came to having the first child, then beat her again when it came to having the most. As if that wasn’t enough, Bruno beat her to having the first boy, adopting his son months before she got pregnant with Camilo, who otherwise would have been the first grandson.
The consensus around town seems to be that Julieta also won when it came to having the cutest kid, it’s clear already that Isabela will grow up to be a beautiful woman someday but personally, Pepa thinks Dolores is just a little bit prettier than Isabela.
And then, of course, there is her 6 month old son. Camilo is stunningly gorgeous in every way. His chubby cheeks, his freckles, his eyes, his caramel skin tone but his most striking feature is of course his bright red hair, the exact same color as Pepa’s.
The moment he was born and she saw his full head of red hair, her dream of no longer being the only redhead in the family had finally come true. Camilo’s curly red hair was Pepa’s pride and joy. She couldn’t wait to see it grow out long as he got older.
So of course she was always careful to take especially good care of her son’s hair, brushing it twice a day and washing it gently when she bathed her son.
Tonight before bed she was giving Camilo a bath like usual. She covered a wash cloth with shampoo and wiped it carefully across the top of his head, mindful not to drip into her baby’s eyes or pull too hard on his hair.
To her horror most of his hair came away with the washcloth in one big clump. She stared at her now mostly bald child in stunned disbelief, refusing to accept what she was seeing. She swiped a thumb across what little hair remained only to have it come off, stuck to her fingers.
He blinked innocently up at her, not knowing what just happened.
She screamed.
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Bruno was helping his son Valentine get into his pajamas, while nearby, Julieta changed Mirabel. Luisa and Camilo weren’t in the nursery but he knew Agustín and Pepa would be back with them soon.
It was a little chaotic, having 4 children under 5 at the same time but soon Luisa would get her Gift and move into her own room and then… things would still be chaotic.
As soon as Valentine was dressed he argued, “Don’t wants to go bed.”
Bruno gently informed him, “You have to, it’s bedtime.”
He pointed out, “Isa and Lores don’t got a bedtime.”
Bruno countered reasonably, “Isabela and Dolores do have a bedtime. It’s just later than yours. You and Luisa and Camilo and Mirabel go to bed now and they go to bed in an hour.”
He pouted and complained, “But Mira and Cami are babies…”
He asked, joking sarcastically, “And what do you think you are?”
He smirked, clearly thinking he had a winning argument, “Not a baby!”
Bruno answered flatly, “I hate to have to be the one to tell you this but you’re still a baby.”
He went back to pouting. Bruno promised, “When you turn 5 years old you can have a later bedtime.”
Valentine gasped in excitement and scrambled to get in bed before Bruno could change his mind. Bruno didn’t mention that 5 is just the age he decided to let his son stay up later regardless of if he is well behaved or not. He almost felt bad for tricking him.
Valentine’s little fingers fumbled trying to undo the leather straps that kept his prosthetic leg on. Bruno offered, “You need help?”
He shook his head and insisted, “I can do it.”
Bruno thought that was fair, it was technically part of his body. If his son needed the autonomy of taking it off or putting it on himself he could respect that.
After he got it off and set it on the floor he scooted backwards to the head of the bed, waiting for Bruno to tuck him in.
Before he could take a step towards his son, Félix burst in the door, he gasped out, “Julieta!” It was clear from his tone that someone was hurt.
She took one step towards the door, hesitated and glanced back at Mirabel, laying on the changing table. Bruno told her, “I’ve got her. Go.”
Julieta followed Félix out of the room while Bruno went over and started dressing her in a clean onesie. Valentine asked in concern, “Wha’s wrong Papá?”
With as much false confidence as he could manage he reassured, “I don’t know but Julieta’s taking care of it. Your Tía can fix anything.”
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Julieta didn’t let herself worry as Félix led her into Pepa’s room. She was all business, she would assess the situation and then fix it. She didn’t have time to second guess herself.
Julieta’s mother was fussing over Camilo, who was in Pepa’s arms. Other than both looking extremely worried Pepa and their mother seemed alright but she couldn’t see Camilo, he was wrapped in a towel.
She asked, “What happened?”
Pepa turned pleading eyes to her, “Look…” she moved the towel, uncovering his head, to reveal that his head was completely bald.
It looked like Pepa shaved his head. Except Pepa obviously wouldn’t be concerned if she did, so it must have fallen out. That couldn’t be true though, he had all his hair last time she saw him, there is no way it fell out that quickly.
Pepa continued, “I think he’s sick…”
He didn’t look sick at all, he had good color in his cheeks, he was looking around at them all curiously. Other than the fact he was suddenly bald he looked fine.
Julieta shook her head in disbelief, “He can’t be sick… he eats my cooking every day. That should keep him healthy…”
Pepa countered, “Your powers don’t heal everything.”
Julieta didn’t want to think about it but she was right. There are some things she can’t heal, conditions people are born with or diseases where a person’s own body turns against them.
Mamá asked, “Do you know how to help him?”
Julieta knows a little about real medicine, for situations her magic can’t heal, but this is beyond her. She shook her head, “You have to take him to the real doctor.”
Mamá looked even more grim, “That’s what I was afraid of.” Then she turned back to Pepa, “Get him dressed, I’m coming with you.”
Julieta agreed, “Me too.”
While Pepa and Félix got Camilo ready to go, Julieta went back to the nursery. Luisa was in her bed, Bruno was sitting on the end of Valentine’s bed with Mirabel in his lap as he told the three kids a bedtime story. Agustín was standing on the other side of the room, near the door, he was the only one who noticed her standing in the doorway so he stepped out into the hall to talk with her.
Agustín asked quietly, “Valentine told me Félix needed your help with something? Was someone hurt?”
She explained, “We’re going to take Camilo to the doctor…”
He looked even more concerned, “Right now? You need me to come with?”
She shook her head, “I’ll be going with Félix, Pepa and Mamá. So you and Bruno have the children until we get back.”
He nodded, determined, and reassured, “We can handle getting the other kids in bed. You focus on our nephew.”
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Alma’s daughter was so worried about her baby that they could all see their breath on the walk to the doctor’s house. Little Camilo, in his father’s arms, was bundled up warmly against the drop in temperature, his nose and cheeks had become a bit flushed by the cold air but other then that and his abrupt hair loss he still seemed fine, looking around in confusion about this late night trip into town.
Beside Alma, Julieta had an arm around her sister, trying to comfort her and keep her calm while Pepa was playing with her braid, muttering to herself. Alma was just as worried but she didn’t let it show, keeping up an act of false confidence in order to keep her family as calm as possible.
As she knocked on the doctor’s door she wondered to herself if this should have waited until the morning, Camilo really did seem mostly fine, there is a chance they are all overreacting but she quickly pushed away her guilt at waking the doctor up at this late hour, he lives next door to his clinic for exactly these kinds of emergencies and even if Camilo does turn out to be find she can’t regret being overly cautious.
After a long moment he finally answered the door, looking between them all in concern, clearly trying to figure out which one of them needed his help and why. He started walking to the next building over, gesturing for them to follow him.
It wasn’t until the 6 of them were all crammed into the exam room that he asked, “What seems to be the problem?”
Julieta was the one to answer, “Camilo’s hair suddenly fell out, other than that he seems healthy but I’ve never seen anything like this before.” At the same time Félix uncovered Camilo’s head.
The doctor was quiet for a long moment before he burst out laughing, “So many children between you and none of you knew this was a possibility?”
Alma was annoyed now, “What are you talking about?”
He continued, pointing at Alma, “You had three children…” then he pointed at Pepa, “This is your second and you live with your siblings who have children and none of you have had a baby lose their hair like this?”
Alma demanded, “Stop laughing at us and just explain what’s wrong with Camilo!”
He shook his head in amusement and finally explained, “It’s normal, sometimes when babies are born with hair it falls out when they are around 4 to 6 months old. It will probably be a different color or texture when it grows back but it should start growing right away. There is nothing to be concerned about.”
The temperature rose in the room as Pepa sighed in relief, “Oh, thank God! Nothing’s wrong with my baby!”
Camilo, who still clearly didn’t understand what was going on, lit up at his mother’s sudden mood shift. He smiled happily and tried to squirm out of his father’s grasp, reaching out for Pepa.
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Pepa was sitting at the breakfast table, Camilo in his highchair next to her. She reached out and stroked his hair, dejected. It had been a couple weeks since it fell out and as it grew back it was no longer red, it was the same color as Dolores’ hair now.
Pepa was glad Camilo wasn’t sick and of course she still thinks he’s the most beautiful baby in the world, it goes without saying she doesn't love him any less just because he no longer has the same hair color as her. She will miss his red hair though, she kind of wishes it hadn't changed.
She sighed and muttered to herself, “Still the only redhead in the family…”
Her husband suggested hopefully, “Maybe our next child will have your hair. Dolores and Camilo are beautiful, of course, but I wouldn't mind a little mini Pepa running around.”
Across the table from Pepa, Bruno was cutting his son’s food into little pieces for him. Her brother informed her, “These things tend to skip a generation. Even if none of your kids have red hair, at least some of your grandkids probably will.”
She sat up and looked at him in surprise, he rolled his eyes at her and corrected, “That’s not a prophecy, I haven't looked that far in the future. I’m just saying, it’s obvious. Like how neither of our parents have green eyes but you and me were both born with green eyes.”
Mamá corrected, “Well, actually Bruno, you were born with brown eyes.”
They all looked at her, confused. She explained, “Have I not mentioned this? They slowly changed to green over the first few months…” then she seemed to realize something, “Now that I think about it… I remember someone explained to me at the time that it’s normal for a baby’s appearance to change. I was told it could happen with hair color too, it just slipped my mind because it never happened to any of you…”
Pepa complained, “What a thing to forget…”
Mamá defended, “It was a long time ago.”