✨·˚ ༘ ┊͙ NEEDY !
➵ | an encanto book
♯̑̑ 𝖎𝖎 — 𝖔𝖎. CHAPTER SIX !
𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕
𝕴t had been seven years since Camilo's gift ceremony. The Espinosas and Madrigals were never able to mend their relationship, meaning that Cara Maria and Camilo hadn't seen each other for seven years.
A lot has changed for the Espinosa family, Diego and Rosalba had had more kids. Specifically, they had triplets, Manolo, Alejo, and Xiomara. They were only two years old, but they were handfuls ( as many two-year-olds are ).
Cara Maria was now twelve years old and she did grow up a bit. Besides the fact that she grew in height, her hair had grown longer into fuller curls and she looked a bit older.
One thing that didn't change about Cara Maria was the gold markings that littered her arms. They grew along her body, spreading from her arms to her hands and finally ending at her thighs.
Since there were new additions to the family, Cara Maria worked very hard to do what she could to provide. The family's main source of income was Oracio, whose tailoring business stayed open, and Rosalba's restaurant.
Diego and Cara Maria would stay home and watch the children, with Cara Maria occasionally going out to buy the necessities for the family.
But one major thing was that Cara Maria had learned quite a lot of things. She had learned how to control and use her gift that was apparently 'stolen' from Camilo.
Her given gift was that she could create illusions. She could make her surroundings appear different to not only herself but to others as well.
Cara Maria had learned about her ability that hard way. When she turned six, she had unknowingly used her gift and made herself appear to be invisible, frightening not only herself but the whole Espinosa family.
She took the time to learn how to control her gift, now only using it to create cute and simple illusions to stop her siblings from crying. She found out that she could also make an illusion to duplicate herself, having played jokes on her father multiple times with that trick.
Today was a normal day in the Espinosa household. Oracio and Rosalba had gone to work, leaving Diego and Cara Maria to entertain the triplets.
"Oh my! Mija go get a change of diapers now!" Diego hollered while holding Alejo in the air after catching a smell of him.
Cara Maria was currently feeding baby food to Xiomara but immediately got up from her spot to help her father. Doing as he told, Cara Maria threw the diapers to her father.
Turning back to continue feeding Xiomara, Cara Maria paled at the sight before running to the kitchen.
Xiomara had taken the baby food and smeared it all over her high chair and her face.
"Xiomi! Don't do that!" Cara Maria spoke with haste as she cleaned the little girl's face.
Xiomara began to giggle watching her older sister's frantic movements. She was a troublemaker.
"Lo setto." The child laughed while Cara Maria took the girl from her high chair.
Cara Maria sighed before going to the kitchen to prepare bottles for her three siblings. Alejo was let loose after he was changed so he was playing with Xiomara. Manolo was passed out in his playpen the entire time.
Diego walked into the kitchen, peering over the island to watch his children while also helping Cara Maria make the bottles of milk.
"They seem more difficult today..." Cara Maria stated with a scoff of amusement.
"They seem normal to me." Diego said with an amused expression.
"I don't think so papá." Cara Maria looked over to see Alejo and Xiomara playing with small letter blocks.
"Your siblings are always like this cariño. They've always been sorta rowdy." Diego smiled while shaking a newly made bottle.
Suddenly the peace was ruined by the cries of one of the triplets. Cara Maria and Diego looked at each other before running into the living room to see Alejo and Xiomara peering into the playpen where a crying Manolo sat while rubbing his head.
Cara Maria looked into the crib to see a few blocks that weren't there before now laying there, immediately catching onto what happened.
"Xiomara! Alejo! Get away from the cuna!" Cara Maria picked up Manolo while rocking him back and forth.
"They threw blocks at me and woke me up!" Manolo whined while Diego stood there with his arms crossed.
"Shh. It's okay Manny." Cara Maria cooed, trying to calm the crying child.
"Alejo! Xiomara! Why did you do that?" Diego asked in anger.
The two of the triplets pointed to each other.
"He started it."
"She started it."
"I don't care who started it, you don't throw things at people." Diego scolded when he finally pointed at a set of chairs off to the side.
"Go sit in the chairs. Now." Diego told while the two kids pouted.
"But-"
"No buts. Now go."
The siblings stared at their father before they began to burst into tears of their own.
It became sweet and utter chaos.
Diego looked flabbergasted, wondering why Alejo and Xiomara were crying. Cara Maria was becoming more and more agitated with all the crying. She sighed before she did the thing she knows best.
Cara Maria gave Manolo to Diego as she opened her palm. Golden specks began to form in her palm as the markings on her arms began to glow.
She threw her hand into the air as gold filled the room, the living room scene changing into a hillside under the night sky.
The triplets soon stopped crying as they saw the beautiful starry night. Diego still couldn't get used to his daughter's abilities, seeing as how she could make sceneries as beautiful as this.
"Come here you three." Cara Maria sat down while the triplets ran over to her.
Manolo ran to sit in Cara Maria's lap, while Alejo and Xiomara sat on either side of her. The four Espinosa children looked up at the night sky, Cara Maria raised her glowing hand and waved it in the air, making shooting stars to entertain the children.
"You know what they say. Whenever you see a shooting star, you make a wish." Cara Maria told her siblings who each closed their eyes to make wishes.
"Emama! Guess what I wished for!" Alejo asked while shaking her arm.
"You can't tell me what you wished for, otherwise it won't come true, Ale." Cara Maria chuckled while rubbing his head.
"What about me? Can I say it?" Xiomara asked.
"Not even you Xiomi."
Cara Maria looked down to see Manolo cuddled up to her, gripping her dress, sound asleep. Cara Maria placed her hand in his head of curls, kissing him on the forehead.
Looking at Alejo and Xiomara, they both yawned while watching the sky, their eyes drooping slowly. Cara Maria smiled and brought the two closer to her as they too began to fall asleep.
Cara Maria felt sleep begin to eat at her, making her lean back and close her eyes in peace. Slowly the illusion began to fade as Caramaria fell asleep. There the four were children were asleep on the couch.
Diego smiled at the sight before going over and grabbing a blanket off of one of the sofas and placing it over his four children.
Bending down, he gave a kiss to each of their foreheads before leaving the living room to continue cleaning around the house.
"Sleep well Mijos."
𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒂 — 2022