Marcelo couldn't get to sleep in spite of his fatigue. He spent the first hours of the night tossing and turning in his hammock. On the floor, a small fire fed by small sticks smoked slightly, just enough to chase away the few mosquitoes that bothered him. But that wasn't what was keeping him awake. He was tired and his muscles were sore. He thought about the events of the past days, his anxiety and fear of arriving in Santa Cruz. His anguish at the thought of an uprising and the repercussions it would have for him, for the people of Tok'tuunich and the other towns and what if hostilities had broken out; he and many others would have surely died. Then he thought about Jacinto's family and about his mother in Zaci. The figure of Leonor appeared again and again in his mind.

He got out of the house-school. The sky was clear and full of stars; the Milky Way was clearly visible in all its beauty. The "three martyrs" shone in their entire splendor. His memories went over everything that had happened since he arrived in Tok'tuunich. He saw Leonor in causal encounters, in Jacinto's house when she and Carmen served the meals, in her comings and goings every day to the cenote, he remember how she would look away from his glance, and how sometimes he caught her looking at him. "What beautiful eyes she had".

The turbulent, recent events had made him understand that he was in love with her, and that he needed her every moment more and more.

He no longer had any doubt. As soon as he could, he would talk to her and her parents to ask for her hand in marriage, and Jacinto, Would she accept that? Would her family?

Thousand things occurred in his mind. He thought about his mother-so far away who couldn't know about how he felt. With all these thoughts he could hardly sleep.

At the first light of dawn, he woke up, and tried to put his ideas in order a few minutes later, he was washed and dressed, ready to go to Jacinto's house.

When he got there breakfast was ready- while it was being served, he thought about the moment when he would talk to Leonor. However, it was more convenient to confess his feelings to his friend.

After breakfast he spoke to Jacinto. "Don't go yet, I have to talk to you alone, go with me to the school".

Jacinto nodded. On the way to the school Marcelo said to his friend.

" I have to tell you something that you probably don't expect and it will surprise you" -after a pause he continued- "I am in love with Leonor and I want to talk to your parents to ask for her to be my wife.

I am telling you first after thinking about it for a long time, I don't have the slightest doubt, and I believe, and I hope to God I am not wrong, that she feels the same for me. I haven't said anything to her yet; I didn't want to until I have spoken with you and your parents.

Help me, guide me, tell me what I should do to speak with the family."

Jacinto looked deep into his friend’s eyes with an expression that Marcelo couldn't define. For some instants, Marcelo's heart beat fiercely at the fear of rejection.

"For quite some time, I have seen you watching her, at first I confess, it bothered me, but as I have gotten to know you, I realized that you have honorable intentions toward her. It is natural, you are young and you live alone. I have seen the same feeling in Leonor's eyes. I have never seen anything like it in her, and I am sure that you are not mistaken when you say that she feels the same. However I am surprised that you want to talk to my parents now. I thought that more time should go by.

I do not doubt your words or your feelings; but have you thought that perhaps Leonor would be afraid of leaving us when she marries you?

Because someday you will surely leave our town, we don't know when, but you will go, and may never come back".

Marcelo tried to interrupt him, but he stopped at Jacinto's gesture.

"Haven't you thought that perhaps there in Zaci your family and your people won't accept her, like our people didn't accept you here?"

"I have thought about all that over and over again and the answer is always the same: there is no obstacle that we can't overcome if she accepts me as her husband".

"She will accept you and you will marry if my parents agree; they will have the last word. It is our way and nobody can change it and so it will be".

After a short pause, Jacinto smiled to encourage him saying,

"Count on me because I am sure of your intentions and I know that Leonor loves you."

Marcelo breathed deeply. He felt a great sense of peace.

"I didn't expect any less from you. I thank you from my heart".

That same afternoon when Leonor came back from the cenote, Marcelo approached her near the house. The young girl smiled as she had done many times, with a quick glance. She noticed that the teacher was coming towards her. It was not his custom.

"Leonor, I need to talk to you a few words, I beg you to listen to me before you go into the house".

Without stopping Leonor whispered.

"We are almost there".

"Leonor, I have to tell you something serious. I have told Jacinto that I want to marry you, but I won't speak to your parents until I know what you say. Forgive me for telling you in this way, but in the house we can not speak alone"

Leonor felt her heart jump and her cheeks burn; she wanted to answer but she had a lump in her throat, she felt her knees shake, she was making an effort to keep walking, when she felt the gentle but firm hand of the young man who took her arm.

"Forgive me for stopping you, but I need to know your answer, even if it is a single word before we go into the house, otherwise I can't ask your parents for their consent".

Leonor lifted her eyes shining intensely with tears, and after a few seconds of anguished silence, the young máasewáal whispered words that could hardly be heard.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"Do you think I would lie to you".

Before he could say anything else Leonor start walking faster, going into the house before the teacher could react.

"What happened, Leonor", asked Carmen,

"I called to you when you came in, but you didn't seem to hear me. Did something happen? You look very strange".

"It's nothing, it is happiness and fear; happiness because Marcelo told me that he will speak to my parents to ask for my hand in marriage; and fear because I can't believe it is real. He told me that he wants to marry me".

Carmen's surprise changed to joy, hugging her, she said.

"I knew this was going to happen I saw it in your eyes and his.

I'm glad he didn't wait too long. Will he speak with your parents?"

"He was only waiting to speak to me first. Do you think my parents will accept?" A chill ran over her body at the thought of a negative.

"They will accept, why shouldn't they? Isn't he a friend of the family? I don't see how your parents could refuse ".

Leonor caught her sister-in law optimism.

When Jacinto and Marcelo went in Silvano's house he already knew the motive of his visit. In the morning, his son had told him that the teacher wanted to talk to him about his intentions towards Leonor. Silvano had suspected his daughter's interest in the young tsu'ul. Knowing the nobility of the young man, he hadn't been worried, however, he had not expected that the young man would speak so soon.

"Don Silvano", began Marcelo after greeting him, " I have come to ask you to let me speak to you about your daughter, but first, please accept this gift as a sign of good will. I don't have anybody to accompany me, except your son who has been like a brother to me since I arrived in your town. My mother is too far away, in Zaci. I would have liked her to be with me in this moment but that isn't possible.

"I want you to let me visit Leonor because I want to make her my wife"

"You will have to wait two or three days to talk, Jacinto will advise you" -answered Don Silvano. The teacher left and Jacinto stayed in his parents' house. Surely they would be talking about it. He would have to be patient and wait until he was informed when he should return. When he passed in front of his friend's house, he saw Leonor's silhouette in the doorway looking at him. He stopped for a minute to look at her, and with an almost imperceptible hand sign, he let her know the reason for his visit to her father's house. He walked on to the house school thinking about his immediate future.

A week later Marcelo and Jacinto went to Jacinto's parents' house taking presents that the Maya ritual established to formalize the marriage with rustic solemnities. They delivered the gifts and between drinks and drinks of liquor that Marcelo brought, they agreed on the gifts for the bride, and the obligation that Marcelo would have to Leonor's parents during the time of cutting down, burning, planting and harvesting and the milpa.

The wedding would be celebrated by a priest from Chuum-poom two months from the day of the visit, that should be enough time to build their own house, get the indispensable utensils, as well as the cloth and colored threads for the bridal "huipil" which would be embroidered by the bride herself.

They decided on the jewelry that should be given and the conditions for Marcelo to visit his bride to-be in the meantime.

Two weeks later the young teacher left for Valladolid to buy what he had promised and to visit his mother. The trip went without incidents, Marcelo knew his way well from his two previous trips.

He only stopped one day in Tihosuco and from there he took short cuts through the roads that led to the town around Valladolid.

His arrival was a pleasant surprised, for his mother since she didn't expect him until summer, in vacation time. When he told her about the reasons for his trip, she was very surprised, since she wasn't expecting anything like that. When she listened to the news and saw the enthusiasm in her son, she was a little afraid that his decision had been sudden. His conduct in the following days made her understand that her son didn't have any doubts and that he had thought his decision over well.

A day before his return to the village, Marcelo's mother asked him during the preparative.

"When do you expect to come back?

I would really like to go with you, but I realize that you are right. It is a very long trip. I can't go. But tell Leonor that I would have liked to meet her and maybe when you come back in vacation time, maybe you can bring her with you.

She is young, I don't doubt that she can do it. Marcelo, "said his mother," You haven't asked me about your father".

"Forgive me but the truth is I've only been thinking about my wedding" -with a sense of guilt, he asked- "How is he? I suppose his servant has brought you news"

"One week after you went back to the village, they told me that, he was very sick, that he couldn't even talk. The doctor said that he had had a stroke, later they told me that he was better and that his brothers were visiting him every day to see that he was being taken care of. It seems like about a month now that he hasn't gotten better or worse. Why don't you go see him?"

Marcelo sensed his mother's plea in her words.

" I will go to see him tonight, I promise".

Marcelo remembered the little strong box that he had given to his mother when he had come back from the last visit to his father.

" Where do you have the money and the jewels?"

"It is my trunk, it's locked. It's the safest place. I am afraid to leave the house empty. Isn't there a safer place?"

Marcelo smiled, "Who could ever imagine that you keep a capital so big here in this house? Come on. Don't worry, mommy".

"It's not mine, neither is yours, my son. By the way, why don't we pick something out for your bride to be?"

She didn’t wait for an answer then she opened the trunk and took out the jewel box, She opened it, and put the jewels on her lap. She took a chain with a medal of the Virgin
Mary and said "Isn't this pretty? Give it to Leonor as a wedding gift".

Marcelo looked at it, and putting aside his feelings against his father said, "If you want to give it to her, Leonor will love it ".

"They are yours, son, your father left them to you".

"They're yours, mommy, I told you that when you need something, all you have to do is to take whatever you want from the box".

"Not more words" -added Marcelo- "I will give it to her as a gift from you".

That same night, Marcelo visited the old colonial mansion. When he got home, he told his mother what she wanted to know.

Ï don't think that I will ever see him again, I'm not even sure if he recognized me".

Marcelo noticed the tears shining in his mother's eyes and on her cheeks as she listened to his words.

Main Page                           Chapter 20  ''The Wedding''

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