Mauricia by Margarita Sanchez (lightest ebook reader .TXT) 📕

would quit soon, as luck around there was dwindling down. Mauricia did not know Francisco was gathering enough money to save for a house and put the rest in the bank to ask her to marry him

Ch 5 - Over My Dead Body

"Sign right here and the house is yours", said the seller. Francisco could not believe he had purchased his own home and would soon surprise Mauricia. On his way home, Francisco kept rubbing his fingers on the key in his pants pocket to make sure he was not dreaming. Soon he would let his family know he was going to marry Mauricia even without their approval, and had used his pension money to buy the house.

His parents would not support the marriage as Mauricia had nothing to bring to the family and no background. That didn't matter to Francisco, his parents depended on him for money for too many years. His parents forced him and his siblings to work since childhood and they endured years of beatings if they came home without a penny. Francisco thought, "Funny how their perfect image of a family deceived everyone." He was ready to break loose from the chains.

For a moment he felt faint, Francisco shook it off as earlier in the day he was fighting off chills and a cough but what he needed was rest. He had put in many hours at the mines which wore him out and needed to regain his energy.

Upon his arrival, Francisco darts through the door to get to his room, he notices there are people in the living room with his parents but is able to run by without any interruption. No sooner that he felt he was able to rest when he hears, "Son!" as his father, Don Ruperto, calls out, "Come over and say hello!"
Francisco hides the house key in his top dresser drawer, wrapped in a handkerchief and runs back to greet everyone. Doña Rocio, Francisco's mother, points out that his second cousin, Anna, has been dying to say hello. Francisco thought, "I just saw her at the market yesterday what do they mean dying to say hello?"

Anna is a beautiful young woman but in Francisco's eyes she is hollow, no inner strength or values. Anna does not like to do housework or anything that requires labor. One time he even overheard her complain to her friends, "I can't wait to find a man with money, then I can hire someone else to do my grunt work!" Francisco never took a liking to her, she was just like all the other women he had encountered in the past. He knew in his heart that Mauricia was the right woman for him, she never followed anyone, she was led by faith and self motivation to succeed.

Francisco says hello to Anna's parents, Mr. & Mrs. Gonzalez and as he takes Anna's hand to greet her she giggles. He slightly shakes it, barely touching her, when his mother says softly, "Francisco, your father and I have been discussing your future with Anna's parents and feel it would benefit both families if you both wed." Francisco screeches, "What?" His mother answers, "Yes, we have struggled too long and feel anything you make in the mines should be kept within the family as Anna's parent's have their corner store and that will benefit both sides.

Francisco glares at them and says "First dead before I do that!" and proceeded to tell everyone, "you know who I am with and want to marry!" "Don Ruperto shouts back, "You don't mean that woman with that bastard child!" "Yes!", answers Francisco, and in a lower tone gritting his teeth says "I even bought a house out of my pension money for us, so I want to see how you can get your hands on that!" Francisco storms out of the room and slams the house door behind him as he makes his way to Mauricia's aunt's home to see her. Mauricia always seems to calm him in moments of despair.

"Mauricia! Francisco is here to see you!" Cipriana announces. Mauricia runs from the kitchen to the patio to greet him but he still seems agitated. "What's wrong?" Mauricia questions. "Nothing, just problems with my second cousin, Anna, she's, she's ugh!" "I don't want to talk about that, I wanted to get away to get my thoughts in order." "Okay, if that's what you want, we can sit in silence." Mauricia was suspicious why he mentioned Anna. Mauricia had heard that Anna had a crush on Francisco and she had mentioned her fear of Anna always following him around. Francisco assured her he had no interest in her and not to think such things.

Mauricia decided to ask him other questions to get his mind off whatever made him angry to begin with. "How was work?" Mauricia asked. Francisco proceeds to explain it was the same as usual when he starts coughing again. Mauricia advises, "You need to get that checked Francisco, it doesn't sound good." When she felt his forehead he was burning up. Mauricia told Francisco if he couldn't go back home for the time being, he needed to find somewhere else to recuperate. "I think your right", Francisco says, "I need to rest but I will not be able to do that at my parent's house. I think I will go to my cousin, Julio's house. I can stay there for a couple of days, things will die down, and I'll get better." "Good idea." Mauricia responds.

Francisco gets up to leave and kisses Mauricia on the forehead as he heads out the door and says, "I love you and I will see you on Sunday." "God willing, within the next four days you should get better." responds Mauricia and waves goodbye.

Ch 6 - The Happy Couple

"Please doctor, come inside, we do not know what else to do." Francisco's cousin, Julio, explained. "For the past two days, Francisco has been coughing up black mucus, and having night sweats. What is this?" As the doctor examined Francisco he said, "I don't think it's black lung, he's too young. Although, he has been working at the mines almost ten years, it's hard to say." Second guessing himself, the doctor again responded, "I wouldn't be surprised though if he has black lung, you never know. This is a mining town, and most of our boys who start out early in the mines are lucky not to get gravely ill before fifty." "Let me see what I can do."

Julio rushed to Francisco's parent's home to bring them over to discuss Francisco's illness. His parents cautiously kept track of the doctor's words, and Don Ruperto asked, "Do you see any signs of improvement for my son soon?" The doctor responded, "I cannot assure anything at this stage of his illness as we do not know how long he has been sick before exhibiting symptoms. His fever has not gone down, and I've given him a sedative to sleep and antibiotics to help with any infection." Doña Rocio gave Don Ruperto a worried look and cried, "What are we going to do now? I pray that we do not lose our son, Ruperto!" The only response Don Ruperto gave was, "I do not either but if my son dies, he will die a man. There is only one thing we need to do now."

Mauricia woke up early Saturday morning to clean the patio before heading to the market with Cipriana. The cleaning girl, Lucia, met her outside as she swept and watered the plants. "Good morning Mauricia, how did you sleep?" Mauricia responded, "not well, for some reason I feel bad, not sick but just down." Lucia laughed and said, "Oh, it's only because Francisco has not come over to see you! You will be fine tomorrow, you'll see." "Your right," answered Mauricia, "tomorrow I will see him and hope he is in a better mood to talk. I'm off to the market to catch up with Cipriana. Eduardo and she should be opening up by now, and today is a busy day for business." Before Mauricia left, she ran back to her room to kiss Teresa goodbye and give her daily blessing.

The day passed quickly as customers flew in and out picking up their orders of meat. Mauricia can only think about Francisco and why he acted so strangely the other night. While Mauricia scrambled to clean up behind Eduardo and pass orders to the front, Cipriana stopped her and told her, "Mauricia, there is something I need to discuss with you tonight." Puzzled but cooperative Mauricia said, "Whatever you say Cipriana, I'm available when you need me." Cipriana hobbled back to work at the front. "Hurry up woman! You're as slow as a Mule!" Eduardo yelled out to Mauricia. "Who are you calling a Mule?" Mauricia snapped back as she slings slabs of fat off the floor towards Eduardo.

Later that evening, as Cipriana and Mauricia entered the house, Lucia is sitting in the patio crying into her apron. Mauricia rushed over and said, "What's wrong Lucia? Is Teresa alright?" Lucia cried out, "Yes, she's fine! I received terrible news that my mother is dying back home and I need to see her!" Mauricia began to feel old emotions brewing inside of her. She could sense the fear and sadness in Lucia; something Mauricia knew very well. Mauricia hugged Lucia tightly and caressed her hair in hopes of calming her down. Cipriana said, "Take her to the church to pray for her mother, and to provide Lucia strength for this change in her life." In order to soothe her state of shock, Mauricia knelt down and told Lucia, "Yes Lucia, let's go to the church, and we can pray for your mother. Early tomorrow morning, you can catch the first train out to see her." Cipriana agreed to stay with Teresa and the two ladies rushed over to the church.

Upon arriving at the church, Mauricia and Lucia chose to sit in the back of the church as the candles provided good lighting. Mauricia began to tell Lucia, "I think life gives us good and bad things to make us better people. When I was younger, I thought I was being punished for something I did. As I grew older, I realized that's how life is; babies are born and people die, we can't escape this. We have to prepare ourselves for life's changes when they come." Tears began to stream down Mauricia's face as she concluded, "Unfortunately, some of us are thrown into those changes."

Lucia wiped away her tears as she finished praying, and she began to notice people standing at the front of the church. Their shadows could be seen by the flickering candles off the alter. Lucia asked, "Mauricia, look over there, what is that?" Mauricia squinted and said, "It looks like this couple is getting married. I cannot see from here, let's get a closer look." "No, no!" Lucia cried as she tugged on Mauricia's reboso, "I don't think that would be a wise thing to do." Lucia advised, "It looks like they do not want to be bothered and it doesn't look like a happy wedding either."

In the distance they overheard the priest say "I now pronounce you man and wife." The groom began to fall and two men captured him before he hit the ground. Mauricia heard a woman yell, "Francisco!" Mauricia jumped up and, holding her reboso to her face, she scurried to the front to catch a better view. At that moment, Don Ruperto jumped out to stop Mauricia and said, "What are you doing here? Can't you see that Francisco is now married, and he did not take your relationship