Your Heartbreak Matches Mine

Those Who Hurt

            It had been weeks since Dolores had last left her room. What was once almost a sanctuary of privacy once upon a time, now felt like nothing more than a claustrophobic prison. She couldn't bear the thought of sleeping in her plush bed, huddled in the spot where Mariano had so passionately kissed her and made the world around hush in her ears. Instead, she grabbed a blanket and a pillow and crammed herself into a corner of her room. Each night taking them to the corner, each morning returning them to her bed before any of her family stopped to see her.

Although she needn't have bothered as much as she did, not when barely any family was allowed to see her due to Abuela's anger. She hadn't even seen her little brother's Camillo or Antonio since the candle ceremony. That thought alone was enough to make her want to weep. And her parents were only allowed in under Abuela's watchful eyes. No matter how much she just wanted a hug from her parents, a whisper that everything would be okay, it wouldn't come, not with Abuela hovering.

But today would be different, or at least, she clung to the desperate hope that it would be. She fiercely held on to what she knew could and would happen today, for last night she had heard Mariano speak to his mother about her. He bared his heart to his mother, and she wanted to try and help them, if they could just get Alma Madrigal on their side.

Sitting tall in her vanity for the first time in weeks, Dolores began to check herself over. Today it would not do to look as tired and trapped as she felt, as she had been allowing herself to look. She didn't want to look withered and pitiful when they arrived. With the precision Isabela had taught her, she painted her lips and applied eyeliner to her waterline. Briefly she wondered if anyone else who saw her would notice.

The door creaked in warning, and she turned to face it, feeling braver than she had in a while. Instantly she was bowing her head to appear submissive and disguising her brave hope just in time for Abuela to appear menacingly in the doorway. "Dolores." she greeted thinly. "Anything to share?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, Senora Madrigal." she gulped, "Senora Guzman will be coming to the house today." Dolores tried not to stumble over her words as she spoke softly to the older woman, gripping her skirts tightly in hand. "I believe she is planning to bring her son, Mariano, with her." she tried not to squeak as she informed her Abuela of this. Dolores hated telling her that Mariano was coming too, but she knew she would no longer be able to hide much of anything from her, not when she scrutinized her every miniscule twitch now. The hopefulness inside would be too much to hide, but she could conceal just enough by providing the small tidbit of information.

"Good. He shall propose to Isabela immediately after dinner tonight" she huffed decidedly. Her heart hammered in her chest painfully at the thought that Abuela's decision may very well become reality. "Is that all?"

"Yes Senora." She felt relief for the briefest of moments as her Abuela stepped into the doorway to leave.

"Oh, and Dolores?" she turned to look over her shoulder. "You shall, of course, be staying here tonight. Wouldn't want you to throw yourself at your cousin's fiancé in the middle of dinner, now, would we?" her sneer was cruel and Dolores snapped her head up to look at her.

"What? But I-" she tried to speak, "They will think it odd I'm not there." Her excuse felt feeble and flimsy, even to her own ears. She tensed, staring into Abuela's glaring eyes.

"They will be told you are feeling nauseous and refusing Julieta's healing food." she says decidedly, "Not a one of them will question it. And if for some reason you are asked, that is what you will say. Are we clear?" The excuse was ridiculous at best, she knew it and she hoped they would know it as well.

"Yes Senora." She squeezed her eyes shut as the door slammed, the tears she'd been blinking back finally making their way down her cheeks in thin trailing lines. Fingers gripped the vanity chair arms tightly. Her hope dashed, in one conversation. She couldn't be there, but surely that wouldn't stop Mariano and his mother from succeeding in their goal when they approached Alma Madrigal about the marriage contract they were crafting? If anything, she hoped her absence would only help them in their goal since Abuela didn't barely even want to acknowledge her presence right now to begin with. The quote, "absence makes the heart grow fonder" popped into her mind as she thought about Mariano being downstairs at dinner without her. She wondered if he missed her as fiercely as she did him.

For a moment after, fear gripped her that there was a chance he truly would propose to Isabela tonight if they could not win the battle against her Abuela. No matter the outcome, for now she was stuck in a prison, unable to break the chains that separated her from Mariano. Right now, he was on his own.