AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamorasky/pseuds/Tamorasky
July 17, 1917
Imelda carefully removed the stems and seeds from the peppers sitting in front of her in a bowl. Josefina sits across from her; peeling leaves from radishes.
“Mija will you go get water from the well?” Josefina asks.
“Of course.” Imelda replies, placing the seedless and stemless poblano pepper on the table. The young woman stands from the table and grabs the two water jugs by the door as she leaves the kitchen. She smiles as she sees a familiar lanky figure standing at the well.
“Buenas tardes Héctor.” She greets politely, attempting to suppress the grin threatening to form on her lips.
“Hola, ‘Melda.” He responds, not holding back his grin. Imelda feels a blush across her chest at his informality, something they never dropped when they were around her parents.
“Would you help me with the water?” Imelda asks, attempting to get him to stay longer.
“Ah-ha. About that, I really can’t.” The young man responds, Imelda raises an eyebrow at him. “Your brothers hit me over the shoulders the rank handle today.”
“Which one? How?” Imelda demands
“I-I don’t know.”
“That’s fair, they were basically the same person. Esas pequeñas.” Imelda curses, Héctor tsks and shakes his head at her.
“Your mamá should wash your mouth out with soap.”
“She’s tried. It didn’t work.” Imelda smiles up at him as she casts the bucket into the well.
“Of course, she did.” Héctor chuckles, crossing his arms as he leans against the well to watch Imelda pull up the water. The young woman transfers the water into one of the water jugs.
“Shouldn’t you be getting back to work?” Imelda asks, casting the bucket back into the well.
“Nah, your papá told me to take a break while he dealt with the twins.”
“Because they hit you with a rake?”
“Well…yes. But also because one of then hit me in the shin with a hoe and the other hit me with a rock.
“Please tell me your kidding.” Imelda sighs, resting the bucket on the edge of the well.
“…Sí. I am…kidding.”
“No mientas Héctor.”
“Okay, yeah they did.”
“Esos hijos de puta!” Imelda yells. Héctor laughs at her cursing, stepping away from the well as Imelda fills the second jug.
“I’m going to go back to work before you get me into trouble.” He teases as Imelda straightens up. Héctor quickly looks around them before pressing a chaste kiss to Imelda’s cheek.
“I’ll see you tomorrow mi amor.” He winks before wandering back to the fields. Imelda smirks as she watches him walk away. She picks up the two water jugs and goes back into the house. Josefina sits at the table, glaring at her daughter. Imelda’s heart rate picks up; did she see the kiss?
“You really shouldn’t swear around men. It’s very un-ladylike.” Josefina simply says, going back to her task. Imelda sighs in relief, placing the jugs down by the door.
Imelda walks over to the stove, lifting the pot lid to make sure the tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic were cooking well; as well to check on pumpkin seeds were roasting. She removes the seeds from the stove as they turned golden, placing them in a small bowl next to the stove. She adds the sesame seeds into the same pan and quickly covers the cooking vessel, to avoid the seeds from jumping.
Imelda looks over to see her mother blending up the poblano peppers and the cilantro at the table. She removes the sesame seeds from the heat and puts them into the same bowl as the pumpkin seeds.
“Mija, the onions should be ready by now.” Josefina announces. Imelda nods, placing the bowls with the seeds on to the table near her mother. She goes back to the stove and takes the pot off of the heat.
Imelda places the clay casserole dish on the stove and adds oil to the vessel. Imelda grabs a water jug while she waits for the oil to heat and pours some water into a basin in order to prepare for dishwashing.
Josefina’s knee had been bothering her all day, nearly making the middle-aged women unable to walk. So, Imelda was taking on most of the heavy work for that day.
Imelda grabs the blended poblano peppers from her mother and adds the mixture to the casserole dish while Josefina blends the seeds, lettuce, and cilantro. With much difficulty, she stands, walking over to her daughter with the new mixture. She hands Imelda the bowl with the mixture, who then adds it to the casserole dish.
Imelda stirs the mixture and tastes it to see if it needs more salt. This mole verde was her favourite dish as a small child and even as an adult it was one of her favourites. It was also one of the first dishes she learned to cook as a pre-teen. She adds more salt, as she often has in the past. When the dish begins to boil Imelda grabs the pot sitting on the counter, which held the chicken they had cooked slightly earlier in the afternoon.
She walks away from the dish to let it come to a boil, sitting at the table with her mamá.
“So, I heard an interesting conversation with Señora Ortiz today.” Josefina says, placing the radishes in a bowl for tomorrow’s supper.
“Did you?” Imelda asks, putting away the remaining seeds.
“Yes, apparently Joaquín is no longer engaged.”
“How horrible. I hope they parted on good terms.” Imelda responds dryly.
“It’s fine. Apparently, she wasn’t willing to leave the city and of course, he’s set to inherit his father’s business.”
“Mamá, que estas diciendo?”
“Nada. I just thought it would be good for you to know when he returns.” Josefina shrugs. Imelda sighs, her mother had never been one for subtly.
“Se lo que estas haciendo.” Imelda raises an eyebrow at her.
“No estoy haciendo nada. It’s just….”
“It’s just what?”
“Well…you’re going to be 18 this October mija.”
“And? What does that have to do with anything?” Imelda questions as she stands up to check on the chicken. Seeing it was near to the point on boiling she places the pot which held the red rice onto the stove to re-heat it.
“I know all your amigas were married young, starting with Lucia’s well predicament at the time and of course that dreadful Carmen couldn’t let Lucia be the only one to marry.” Josefina says, Imelda chuckles at her comment; she always knew her mamá didn’t like Carmen, neither really did Imelda if she had to be honest.
Josefina was right though, if Carmen had her way, she would’ve been the first to marry and have children; but instead shy Lucia had beaten her to both. Nearly 2 months after Lucia married Francisco, Carmen was engaged to a man she hardly knew and was married 4 months later. Margarita always was quick to do whatever Carmen did and married Pablo 6 months after Carmen’s marriage. Both Gloria and Imelda didn’t care about marriage or children until Gloria’s engagement over a year ago.
Of course, it had changed for Imelda as well.
“I think it’s time for you to find a serious suitor. Your aunts agree, your Tia Yolanda still has everything from Carla’s wedding.” Josefina sighs at Imelda’s disinterest. “Joaquín would make a good match for you. He’s a capable young man.”
“Capable? Is that all?”
“Well I’m sure he has other good qualities; I don’t know him well. His mamá is a pleasant enough woman and his papá is a hard worker, no doubt he has the same quality and would provide for you are your children.” Josefina says, Imelda cringes when the older woman discusses children.
“Mamá I’m not marrying Joaquín.” Imelda says, turning away from the stove.
“Lo sé… I’m just saying it’s time to consider suitors.” Josefina says. “a serious one.” Imelda turns away from her mamá in order to hide the blush spreading across her face, she chews her lips trying to decide if Josefina knew about Héctor and her. No, she couldn’t possibly know, Héctor and her were always so careful and she’d be much madder. Imelda couldn’t even imagine how Josefina would react once she learned what they had done together…multiple times now. No Josefina could never know that Imelda had given up her “virtue” to Héctor Rivera.
She takes the mole verde off of the stove as it comes to a boil, taking the rice off of the stove as well. Josefina stands from the table, grabbing serving dishes from the cupboard as she comes to stand next to her daughter. Imelda serves the rice onto the clay serving platter her mamá was holding out to her.
“I’ll put everything on the table. Go get the boys. I expect that Arturo, Mateo and Héctor will be staying for supper.” Josefina says, placing down the serving dish on the counter as she takes over Imelda’s spot. The younger woman wipes her hands on her apron, nodding at Josefina’s request.
As Imelda leaves the house, she hears laughter coming from the barn; which was obviously the men. She walks over to the large structure, pushing open the cumbersome doors to find her papá, Arturo, Mateo and Héctor sitting on the ground, sharing a bottle of tequila between the four of them while Oscar and Felipe were back in the corner, no doubt tinkering with one of the inventions. Imelda puts her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at the men.
“Parce que hemos sido.” Raúl chuckles at the sight of his daughter.
“Imelda!” Arturo calls. “Come have a drink with us.”
“I think not.” Imelda retorts. “Supper is ready.”
“Gracias a Dios, que me muero de hambre.” Mateo exclaims as he struggles to pick himself up from a haybale. Imelda takes notices of where Raúl hides the bottle of alcohol, a rather poor spot between the stables and the doors.
“Don’t tell your mamá.” Raúl says, squeezing her shoulder as he follows Arturo and Mateo. Imelda keeps in mind her brothers’ presence as Héctor lingers.
“I should go.” He says, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Solo quédate. I think Ernesto could manage without you for one evening.” She jokes. the young man chuckles at that, nodding in agreement
“He probably could.”
“Then it’s settled, you’ll stay for dinner. You can head back into town with Mateo and Arturo.” Imelda says, subtly brushing his fingers with hers. Héctor smiles at her and nods in agreement. She watches him leave the barn for supper with a smile. She grabs the twins by their shirts as they try to make their way past her. She spins their bodies around and blocks their way to the door.
“What do you two know?” Imelda narrows her eyes, her hands going to her hips again. The twins share a look between the two of them before looking back to their elder sister.
“Know what?” Felipe questions back, Oscar nodding in agreement.
“Escucha ustedes pequeñas mierdas.” Imelda bends over, shoving a finger in their faces. “I will tell mamá that you two have been skipping school for weeks now.”
“Well then we’ll tell mamá you’ve been seeing Héctor behind her back!” Oscar exclaims, flustered from Imelda’s confrontation. She straightens up, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Dios, ustedes dos son idiotas.” She sighs. “Okay, stop hitting Héctor with assorted items. Mamá and papá cannot know about him, so keep your mouths shut and mamá won’t know about your school records.”
“Deal.” Both the twins’ nod in agreement. Imelda nods in response, stepping aside to allowing the two of them to leave the barn. She follows after them, closing the doors behind her. She walks into the house and goes to the dining room, once again suppressing her smile as she sees Héctor sitting next to her usual spot.
“There she is. Raúl would you lead us in prayer.”
As everyone around the table closes their eyes and folds their hands, Héctor grabs Imelda’s hand under the table. This had become a common occurrence between the young couple during prayer. Imelda never considered herself to be particularly a religious woman, so she didn’t care if this was frowned upon.
The quickly unlock hands as a chorus of “Amens” echoes throughout the table. Imelda stares at Héctor from her peripheral, lightly brushing her index finger against his knuckles.
Neither of them noticing the way Josefina was staring at them from the other end of the table.
