You are a madrigal

Part 16

As the days passed by, it seemed like the tension in the house was building rapidly.

Whenever Alex was in the house or Dolores was coming back from spending time with him, Abuela would give him dirty looks. Dolores would tell him to just let it be, seeing as nothing out of the ordinary had been said. She didn't know if he did it for her sake, Antonio's or himself but he would let it go.

Luisa had been having trouble with her gift. She came in one day after finishing her chores claiming that whatever she had been doing felt heavy before running to her room in a fit. That only seemed to make matters in the house worse. Word slipped out that she had been talking to Mirabel about something revolving around the miracle. Abuela was upset with Mirabel and made her stay away from Luísa.

Sometimes Dolores could hear Isabela muttering and pacing around. It wasn't something she usually did, and Dolores knew it had everything to do with her proposal to Mariano. She confided in Dolores sometime ago that she didn't want to marry the man but was too afraid of the reaction their Abuela would have if she refused. Isa quickly made Dolores promise not to tell another living soul about it and she promised.

Dolores had been talking to her parents and Alex about trying to tell Antonio the truth, but couldn't figure a way to word it correctly. They didn't want to shock the boy too much than what he would've been.

Speaking of the youngest child in the house. Dolores noticed that Antonio seemed a bit off for the past week. He would stare at her on occasion before looking at Felix and Pepa with the same expression. He had been staying in his room more often than not if he didn't have anything to do, as if he was avoiding something and it concerned her.

So yeah, as far as Dolores was aware, tension around the house has been at its highest the past few days.

Dolores had been laying in her bed reading to try and take her mind off of what's been going on, when she heard three light taps at her door. She sat up and placed the book down when she saw Antonio standing there.

Something was wrong.

The boy was in his Pjs, his hands fiddling with his shirt. He had red eyes as if he had been crying and her thoughts were confirmed when she heard him sniffle. She gave him a concerned look and got up to pull him into the room before sitting him down on the bed and kneeling in front of him to get a better look at his face. " Tonito, what's wrong?"

His sniffles became more frequent as he looked at her and it pulled at her heartstrings how broken he looked. "Am I a bad kid? ...Is there something wrong with me?" Dolores shook her head and moved his hair out of his face. " Claro que no, Principito. There's nothing wrong with you. You are an amazing kid."

He held a confused face and looked away from her as he shook his head. "But there is something wrong with me. There has to be..." Dolores frowned and sat down beside him. "Antonio, where is this coming from? Why do you think something is wrong with you?"

He rubbed at his eyes as he began tearing up again before looking back at her. "If there wasn't anything wrong with me then you wouldn't have given me away." Dolores eyes widened as her heart dropped at his words. She hadn't realized it but she stopped breathing for a second while she looked at him. He knew. Antonio knew and now he was upset.