Tia Eva was fun after she literally filled me with sweets and chocolates, under the excuse of not telling my mom. She took me to the kitchen to find out what my popularity was like at school. I won't lie, it was entertaining to see her excitement vanish as she listened to me recount everything that happened at Chicago school.
"Is this some kind of joke?!" she exclaimed incredulously, and it amused me. It had been a long time since I laughed like that.
"Are you sure you're Mary's daughter? My goodness, your mom must be going crazy because her little princess didn't follow in her footsteps," Tia Eva said, now standing by the sink and filling a kettle with water. Her eyes fixed on the backyard where the torches were lit a bit, time had passed so quickly that I hadn't even noticed the sunset.
"Actually... I didn't tell Mom. She never took the time to listen to me, she always jumped to conclusions on her own, so I just let it go," I replied, no longer laughing, looking at my fingers clasped together on the marble countertop. I don't know what my expression was like, but it probably wasn't the best because my aunt came over and hugged me tightly.
"I'm the cool aunt, you can tell me everything," she replied playfully, and then I noticed her smile grew even wider.
"Luke and Cristal have arrived, they're going to explore the house, and I'll see you in the living room for a cup of tea. Do you like fennel tea?" I didn't know how she was so sure my cousins had arrived, but I agreed to the tea and the little exploration of the house.
Leaving the kitchen behind, my feet took me to the main living room where there was a table full of portraits and photographs. I smiled as I looked at the images, all the family members were there. My grandmother was in a photo with all her children, I recognized my mom and Aunt Eva, but I didn't know who the third person was, and the funniest thing was that they all had silver pendants around their necks with different symbols. I stayed for hours looking at that photo until Luke's voice startled me.
"When I was little, I also liked to admire this photo. Our mom and our uncles," he approached with a mischievous smile.
"I didn't get to meet this one..." I pointed to the man in the photo, and I noticed his smile faded slightly.
"Uncle Esteban, they say he fell in love with a Mexican woman and when she left, he followed her, leaving the family behind. That was before you were born, and when you and your mom left, he came back with an eight-year-old son. He left the son here and hit the road again... our wandering uncle," Luke spoke as if reliving the past, and it didn't bother me in the slightest. I stayed a little longer admiring the photos, but every now and then my eyes would meet your pendant, I had forgotten what it was like to want a pendant like that.
"Oh, you guys are here! Come on, Mom has made the tea," Cristal appeared completely different from when I had seen her in the city. Her hair was braided now, she was wearing a pink summer dress, and the rustic boots had been replaced by sandals. I was pulled by the arm towards where the tea was, and the scent of fennel was undoubtedly the best of all.
Luke stayed behind, maybe he didn't like tea or my presence didn't make him as happy as I imagined. I pushed these thoughts out of my mind and focused on the family reunion, so much had changed, or was it just a six-year-old's mind being too imaginative for reality?
With each step towards the room where the tea was, memories flooded in. I remembered when I was five and used to run along this same path playing with Cristal. As I descended two steps, I laughed because I remembered the fall I took, resulting in a bump on my forehead.
"You remembered, didn't you, cousin?" Cristal turned to look at me with a smile on her face, and I nodded, still laughing.
"I remember the panic I felt that day, the bump on your head was huge... Luke almost killed me that day..." Cristal continued laughing as she let herself fall onto the sofa.
"Of course! One child taking care of another, Lou Lou was our little princess, imagine how Benjamin would feel when he found out she fell... Luckily Aunt Mary arrived first and did that trick with the spoon." Luke entered the room with his hands in his pockets, him calling me by my nickname sent shivers down my spine, it had been a while since I heard that nickname.
Silence filled the room for a few minutes, from what I could tell, the name of my deceased brother was still a source of sadness for the family, Luke seemed to be quite close to Ben. The steam from the cup of tea caught my attention.
I wished I had more memories of my older brother, but it felt like everything about him and Dad had been blocked from my mind, the most I could do was imagine what our relationship would have been like. My mother had let slip twice that my brother was very protective of me, and now with Luke's words, I could only wonder how my life would have been if they were still alive.
The sound of the door opening drew my attention to the dark-haired boy who entered, kicking off his shoes and muttering some things in Spanish.
"And the black sheep of the family returns." Cristal let the words slip without caring about her mother's disapproving look, I held back my laughter until I saw my mother and Grandma Agnes entering right behind.
"What did the delinquent do now?" Cristal asked, and in response, received a slap on the arm from Aunt Eva.
"House arrest... he was caught vandalizing the Santa Maria church." Grandma Agnes replied as she followed the scent of the tea, thanking her lucky stars.
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