Moonflower

4 | Dinner with the Madrigals

“The Guzmáns and the Madrigals together will be so good for the Encanto.” Abuela Alma started and smiled at my mother, my brother, Isabela, and me. I was trying to smile back at Abuela, but my eyes kept on drifting towards Dolores who was staring intently at Mirabel and I.

“Yes. Then, let's hope tonight is not a horrible disaster.” My mother agreed and laughed with Abuela. “To a perfect night! Salud!” Abuela toasted and raised her wine glass. All of the others followed with a “Salud!”. Except for me, Mirabel, and Dolores.

I sat between Isabela and Mirabel at the dining table. I was getting my own share of food, still staring intently at Dolores to see if she would say what she heard to someone.

“Now that Isabela and Mariano will get married, what are your plans, Luciana?” Abuela stated casually and I choked on the avocado I'm eating. I laughed and looked at my mother after drinking water.

“I would also like to look for someone for Luciana since she's in the age to marry.” I choked again and drank water. “What?” I rasped out. “But it would seem that I couldn't find any candidates for my daughter.”

“Then what about Dolores?” Abuela suggested. I heard Isabela lightly scoff at my side and I looked at Dolores in shock as she squeaked. I saw a cloud above Señora Pepa's head already and Señor Félix was trying to calm her down.

“Surely you were just joking, Abuela.” I said in a high pitched voice and she chuckled. “Of course, I was only joking.” I let out a forced laugh and tried to smile. I diverted my attention back to Dolores to see if she was gonna try to tell anyone what she heard. She stared back at me awkwardly, lightly tapping the stem of her wine glass.

Mariano passed down the avocado shortly after. “Avocado?” The bowl obstructed my view of Dolores, so I pushed it slightly to the side with a gasp, only to see her whispering something to Camilo.

He shapeshifted into Mirabel, then Bruno before turning back to himself with a distorted face as he kept on coughing. I saw my mother turn to us, so I did my best to muster up a smile.

“Camilo, fix your face.” Señor Félix said. Camilo shook his head and he turned back to normal. Isabela suddenly passed down the water to Mirabel, getting in the way of our view of Camilo. Once Isabela let go, we saw Camilo already whispering to Señor Félix, who suddenly spat out the water he was drinking.

I heard Mariano let out a small gasp as Abuela and Mamá stared at Félix. I tried to kick Camilo's leg, but ended up kicking Isabela's leg instead. She instantly looked at me with her eyebrows furrowed. “What is wrong with you?” She asked as she glowered at me. “I don't have time to argue with you right now.” I grumbled and she raised an eyebrow at me.

“Mirabel.” Abuela Alma called out. Mirabel turned to Abuela with a hum. Isabela looked at me with a side glance as she propped her elbow on the table and rolled her eyes. “The cream, please?”

Mirabel turned to her father as she showed a nervous smile. “Pá, the cream?” Señor Agustin was stiff and was wearing a forced smile when he handed over the cream to Mirabel. She passed it to me and I passed it onto Isabela who raised her eyebrow again when she looked at me before passing it onto my brother.

Mirabel nudged my side and I looked at her questioningly. I saw her staring across the table, so I followed her line of sight and saw Félix whispering something to Pepa. I let out a nervous laugh when I heard that he mentioned about Bruno's vision.

“Pepa, the cloud.” Abuela pointed above her, worry was evident on her face. A large cloud was starting to form above the table. Señora Pepa started to caress her hair, muttering “clear skies” in an attempt to calm herself down.