June 1916

It had been the first time in weeks since Imelda was allowed to leave the ranch alone. With her Papá, Oscar, and Felipe in the field all day the option for a male chaperone was out of the question. Her mamá, Josefina was stuck in the kitchen all day making dinner for the boys.

She had discarded the apron she wore over her purple linen skirt before leaving the house. Her mamá however, had insisted the young woman wear a shawl over her light weight blouse and her corset. The shawl had been discarded into her shopping basket by the time Imelda had reached the edge of Santa Cecilia. She keeps to the busy roads as she was instructed, ignoring the whistling and indecent comments the soldiers made as she walked past. This was something every woman in her town had learned not fight against, only to ignore it.

Upon reaching the plaza Imelda avoided the groups of older women scattered throughout the square. She had no intention of allowing her mama's peers prodding her with questions and a potential list of suitors. All of the señoras favorite "potential" suitor for Imelda was Joaquín Pérez Murillo and she didn't think she could stand anymore polite conversation on how handsome the tailor's boy had become. Behind him was Diego Arango López, the produce vendor's son. The list contained the name of three more suitors from respectable families, after that the señoras would remark that Imelda was running out of options.

As she approaches the Murillo's stand, she can see in her peripheral three older señoras begin to gossip as Diego approaches her.

"Hola Imelda." The young man greets her as she looks over the choice of produce.

"Hola. I need four tomatillos, some cilantro, two guajillo chilies, and three jicamas." Imelda immediately says, trying to remain cold and professional with him.

"Is that all?" He asks, taking a step closer to her. Imelda takes one away from him, obviously uncomfortable with his proximity.

"Sí. That is all." She responds, her tone firm. He flashes her a smile once more before gathering all of the produce she needs. He hands her the tamatillos first, then the chilies, then the jicamas and the cilantro to place into her basket. She reaches into the leather coin purse, which sat in the bottom of her basket, pulling out 12 pesos for the produce. She holds out the money to him. He looks at the money in her hand and his arrogant smile returns.

"Please, there is no need." Diego smiles, his gaze never leaving her. Imelda does not meet his gaze, focusing it instead on a group of four young women in the distance. "You look beautiful today Imelda."

Imelda looks back at the young man, placing her money on the cart before she walks away without another word. If there was one thing Imelda hated more than chivalry it was flattery, especially if there was an ulterior motive. She ignores the stares of the older women, who had all witnessed her brush off the vendor's son, walking toward her friends. Imelda silently joins the group, taking her place next to Lucia, who immediately links her arm with Imelda's.

"Imelda!" Carmen, the eldest of the group, excitedly greets as she notices Imelda's presence. Carmen immediately looks to the shortest woman of the group, Gloria, nearly bouncing with excitement. "Go on tell her."

"Tell me what?" Imelda raises an eyebrow, curious as to what news could've developed for Gloria since Tuesday. The short women sighs, clearly exhausted from sharing this piece of news.

"Alejandro asked for my hand." She states, a smile spreading across her face. Imelda could feel her stomach drop; Gloria was her one friend who was not engaged or already married, her ally.

"That is…wonderful. Congratulations Gloria." Imelda forces a smile, her grip tightening on Lucia's arm; who tries hard to mask her slight pain caused by her best friend. Carmen's gaze goes directly to Imelda, who dreaded the comment that was next out of Carmen's mouth.

"You're next Imelda." She wiggles her eyebrows at Imelda, who rolls her eyes in response. "Amiga, you're not getting any younger. In a few years there will be no man who will want you."

"Good, I would prefer it that way."

"Don't say such things. I mean, Diego is rather handsome." Carmen's gaze goes past Imelda to the young man, who was currently chatting with Doña Ramirez.

"And is awfully dull."

"And Joaquín? What was your excuse for refusing him?" Carmen crosses her arms, looking back at her friend.

"That cabrón? I think not."

"I think that answers your question." Lucia chuckles in response.

"Imelda Adelita Herrera y Posada, I should tell your madre about the use of your language." Carmen scolds the young woman.

"What about him?" Margarita, the last of the group finally speaks. Nodding towards the pavilion. Imelda turns her head to see who she was referring to; she hadn't even noticed the two men playing music in the covered space.

"Which one?" Lucia asks.

"Which one do you think? The handsome one." Margarita scoffs, clearly in her mind there was only one man who was playing music.

"Isn't that Ernesto Cruz?" Gloria inquires, trying to make the man's face out better,

"The tailor's boy?" Lucia asks, Margarita nods in response to both questions. "I thought he was in Mexico City."

"I thought it was Oaxaca" Gloria remarks.

"It's not of importance." Imelda turns back to her friends.

"At least give him a chance." Margarita says, still gazing at the man, in a rather flirty way. Imelda leans in, smacking the other girl's arm.

"You are married and with child." Imelda gestures to Margarita's slightly protruding belly.

"It doesn't mean I'm not allowed to look." She defends, emitting a laugh from most of the young women in the group.

"Who is he playing with?" Lucia inquires, her gaze still resting on the musicians. The group go back to staring at the duo, finally focusing on the skinnier man. Imelda stares at the boy, he seemed so familiar to her.

"I think it is…hungry Héctor." Margarita answers. The young man smiles nervously at the group of women when he notices them staring at him.

"It's unmistakably him, all you have to do it look at those ears and that nose." Gloria giggles as the women look away from the duo. Imelda rolls her eyes in response, she always hated how needlessly cruel her peers could be whenever it concerned the Rivera boy.

"Was it not Héctor who used to follow you everywhere Imelda?" Carmen raises an eyebrow as she questions her friend.

"I remember that! He used to trail on your heels like some street dog." Margarita adds, recalling the scrawny boy trailing after Imelda in the plaza.

"It was only for a short time and a long time ago. He's probably forgotten about that by now." Imelda explains.

"You should call him over here, maybe he can get Ernesto over here to introduce himself to you." Gloria wiggles her brows at the younger woman.

"And why should I do that?" Imelda implores, her hands resting on her hips in response.

"He comes from a good family Imelda, your mamá would approve of him if you don't scare him off." Carmen remarks, crossing her arms.

"It doesn't really matter than does it? Because I am not calling anyone over here."

"It's not needed, he's already moving towards us." Margarita informs the group; her gaze barely had left the handsome man.

"He's what!?" Lucia exclaims, turning to see the musician sauntering towards them; his guitar discarded on the steps of the gazebo. "Why is he doing such a thing?"

"Because I waved him over." Gloria states.

"Gloria!" Margarita smacks her friend's arm slightly "You shouldn't be so familiar with a man who isn't your intended."

"He lives next to me; we practically grew up together." Gloria shrugs her shoulders.

"Bueno días señoritas." A male voice joins the chorus of female ones, a pleasant smile occupying his face.

"Hola Ernesto" Gloria greets as he joins them.

"Cómo estás?" He asks, his gaze falling on the petite woman.

"Estoy bien, gracias." She responds pleasantly.

"I don't believe I've been recently acquainted with everyone in your party." Ernesto states, looking over the group of women.

"Ay! Where are my manners." Gloria shakes her head as if trying to clear her head. Carmen clears her throat pushing forward towards Ernesto with her hand outstretched.

"I am Carmen Juárez y Lorca and we have Margarita Ruiz Luis, Lucia Cabrera Díaz, and Imelda Herrera Posada."

"Me complace conocerte." Ernesto greets, smiling at each of the women; his gaze lingering on Imelda longer than she liked.

"You know if you spent as much time helping me write songs as you did flirt, we'd be rich by now." A voice quips from behind Ernesto

"Ah listen, how are we going to be famous if we don't discuss our greatness with these lovely Señoritas." Ernesto turns to his friend, grabbing him by the arm to join the group.

"Maybe if you two idiotas got real jobs then maybe you would make real money." Imelda raises an eyebrow, not directly looking at the two men but she could feel Ernesto's stare burn into her.

"But if we got real jobs, we couldn't show our…talent to beautiful young Señoritas such as yourself." Ernesto winks at her somewhat suggestively. Imelda narrows her eyes in disgust at the young man, no longer being able to resist.

"Any chicas who show any interest in you clearly have been kicked in the head by a burro." Imelda chides. "now, I have to get home."

She turns without another word; she can briefly hear the other girls apologizing to Ernesto as she walks away from her friends.

She switches her basket to her left arm as she walks across the square as it was slowly weighing down on her right arm. She returns home the same way she came; on hot days it took Imelda longer to walk home to the farm. The constant heat wearing down on her, and her mamá's insistence that she wore a corset every time she went into town made her movements more cumbersome and slower.

She knew she was fortunate; she knew some of the men used to travel 15km outside of the town just to work on a hacienda for hours on end making barely any money for the hard work they had done. In comparison her walking 5km outside the city in a corset was nothing. As Imelda approached the land, she notices the twins in the field, obviously goofing off as one of them was trying to balance the butt of the rank in his palm while the other encouraged. Her papá yelling at them echoes through the air reaching the road, causing Imelda to chuckle and shake her head.

Imelda walks through the doorway, her mamá had always kept the front door open on hot days, citing it allowed for air to move through the house which was something Imelda was always skeptical of in her mind it made the house feel even hotter throughout the day. She walks through the comedor to the kitchen to the back of the house, Imelda places the basket on the counter, removing the cloth covering on the supplies. She walks away from the surface to the open back door, which led to the backyard, where her mamá, Josefina, sat cleaning corn into a metal bucket.

"Did Estela have cilantro?" Josefina asks without looking up from her task.

"Sí, she did."

"Perfecto, now come help me." Josefina orders, Imelda grabs her apron from the hook hanging by the door and fastens it around her waist before going over to her mamá, sitting on the stool across from her mamá's.

"You're late, I was expecting you nearly half an hour ago." The older woman comments

"Lo siento, Gloria had some news she had to share with everyone."

"What news?"

"She and Alejandro are engaged." Imelda says hesitantly.

"How wonderful, I'll have to speak to her mamá at mass this Sunday. There isn't a happier day in a mamá's life until her daughter is finally going to be married." Josefina states, looking over to her daughter; who simply hums in acknowledgment.

"Was Diego at the stand today?" Josefina asks after a period of silence.

"Sí, he was. Ernesto Cruz and Hector Rivera are back in town as well." Imelda says, hoping to change the subject.

"I never realized they were gone. I'm sure María is thrilled, she used to spoil that boy to no end. I never understood why she took in that other boy." Josefina sighs, dropping the now bare cob back into the same bucket before grabbing another one.

"Señora Cruz is a kind woman." Imelda remarks, slowly removing the fruit off of the cob

"Sí, that she is but she also took on an unnecessary burden for her and her familia. You'll understand one day when you marry and have your own children." Josephina says, picking up a new cob to strip and taking note that her daughter was moving slowly. "I'll finish this, bring your pobres hermanos some water."

Imelda silently nods in response, placing the half-stripped cob back into the bucket as she stands from her stool. Imelda walks back into the kitchen, grabbing three pottery cups and the water jug, which sat on the counter already full. She grabs the jug by the neck and holds the three cups between her fingers as she walks back outside.

"Make sure Oscar and Felipe drink enough water, they get so tired when your papá makes them work in this heat." Josefina shouts after her daughter as she walks into the field. Her mamá was right, as the day approached the afternoon the temperature was increasing in Santa Cecilia, hotter than it normally was in May; her corset seemed to make everything more difficult in the heat. She found it hard to catch her breath as she walked across the field, slowly moving closer to the figures on the horizon.

When Oscar and Felipe notice her approaching the two immediately abandon their duties to run to her, both reaching for the water jug.

"ah-ah-ah!" Imelda exclaims, startling both of her brothers as she does so. She holds out the cups to her brothers who both grab two of them. Imelda fills all three cups and leaves the jug with the twins as she walks over to her papá, Raúl, who was looking over the last acre of their land.

She nearly startles him as she breaks him out of his trance.

"It's going to be a good year; we may be able to afford a few new farm hands." He states, grabbing the cup from her hands. "If your Mamá agrees you could help out in the fields this year too."

Imelda smiles in response as Raúl places an arm around his daughter's shoulders as they overlook the fields. A low grumble emits from her father and he pulls away from the embrace, muttering something along the lines of:

"These two are going to be the death of me."

Imelda chuckles in response, grabbing the cup from her Papá's hands as he goes over to lecture his two sons on using equipment properly. Imelda walks over to where her hermanos abandoned their cups along with the now empty water jug, she picks up the discarded dishes and heads back to the house to help her Mamá with supper.