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Mirabel hung back after mass ended, Bruno at her side. "Padre," she called to the priest, "may we have a word?"
"Of course, señorita. What can I do for you?"
Mirabel took a deep breath. "We—" she took Bruno's hand "—we would like to get married. Now, I know the church does not typically allow marriage between an uncle and niece, but I also know there have been exceptions in the past where dispensation was granted to allow for it. Innnnnn—" she glanced down at her arm, where she'd scrawled some notes "—1797, Jorge Tadeo Lozano was granted dispensation from the Archbishop of Bogotá to marry his niece María. In exchange, Tadeo had an aqueduct built. Our family is always doing projects for the town; we could totally make something like that happen. If—"
The priest held up his hand, to signal Mirabel to stop. "Wait, hold on. Before any of that, first thing—if I agreed to marry you, would Doña Alma kill me?"
Mirabel laughed. "No. It's… this isn't her first choice, but she's coming around. She wouldn't try to stop it."
The priest nodded. "Very well. Carry on."
"So, anyway, there's precedent for building an aqueduct in exchange for dispensation to marry your uncle. So, I was hoping that if we built an aqueduct, would you…?"
"Our town doesn't need an aqueduct."
"C'mon, everyone loves a good aqueduct!"
"I really don't think…"
"Ok, the aqueduct's out. No problem! It could be anything! What does the town need that our family hasn't done already? Or it could be a project for the church specifically, if you'd like? I could embroidery a new altar cloth, and we could build a…"
Suddenly the priest's eyes lit up. He turned to Bruno, who had been standing quietly at Mirabel's side, awkwardly fiddling with the hem of his ruana. "How is it that you still have all your hair?"
Mirabel stepped protectively between Bruno and the priest. "Now listen here—"
Bruno squeezed her shoulder. "Mira, no," he whispered, "don't antagonize him." He took a deep breath, then gestured for the priest to continue. "Go on, Padre; say what you need to say."
"How have you kept all your hair?"
"I don't know."
"You have a suspicious amount of hair for a man of your age."
Bruno had no response for that.
"And it's not just you. Your brothers-in-law have all their hair as well."
"I… suppose that's true."
"And Félix is a little older than you and your sisters."
"He is."
"And he still has all his hair! All of you have all your hair! Just look at it! It's not even receding!"
"…I don't know what to say."
Mirabel tugged on Bruno's sleeve. "Do you think that Mamí's power somehow…?"
"But going bald isn't an illness."
"Do you think Casita somehow…?"
"I don't know."
Mirabel turned back to the priest. "Ok, um… thank you Padre. We will… look into the matter and get back to you, ok? Great, ok, thanks, bye!"