The children of José Defaus and Teresa Moragas who were most alike were Mariano and Francisco. Both were insightful and had piercing blue eyes along with reddish hair. When Mariano went to Cuba, Francisco had just turned nine years old and was the most serious and sagacious of all the brothers. From a young age, he began to read on his own the books that his teacher lent him. He would take them to the attic, his favorite place in the house, and disappear for hours and hours.
His mother got along very well with him and did not scold him when he acted without asking permission or when he disappeared. “I prefer ten Franciscos over one Isidro!” she shouted at her son Isidro, running after him with a wooden ladle. When Isidro was expelled from the seminary, Francisco entered that sad building without a complaint. It was not difficult for him to adapt to the school routine, where he followed the same tactic as at home: he found the attic and he would hide there to read. There he found closets, mattresses, broken chairs, and various other junk. Being so silent and diligent, the priests who taught him, immediately began to praise him. He was a model student, and according to Father Prior he was going to become a good priest. However, Francisco was very clear that he was not going to be a clergyman. At school he did not make many friends. He liked to be alone and dealt with the events of his family with quite a bit of detachment: Mariano, who does not return from Cuba, Marieta's wedding, Isidro at sea, Juan who goes to war, falls ill and in the end, he marries Teresita.
The first time he returned home and saw his sister-in-law, he felt a pang in his chest. He liked that girl, but being his brother's wife he had to get her out of his head. He would sneak away so he wouldn't have to talk to her. Teresita was a girl with thick black hair, lively eyes, full lips and a dark complexion; she looked like a mulatta. Her family was from a nearby village, but she had an Andalusian grandmother, from whom she had inherited her smiling and extroverted character. She loved talking to people and had become friends with all the neighbors.
Since Teresita appeared in the house on Oller Street, Francisco began to spend more time in Malgrat, but he continued to avoid his sister-in-law. He had a hard time when his brother Juan died of pneumonia. In addition to the sadness of that loss, he had a feeling that he would have to leave the seminary and that the responsibility of taking care of his family would fall on him, being the only male child left in the family home.
Francisco was nineteen years old when his parents told him that he had to marry his sister-in-law. “Teresita is the ideal woman for you, but she has to get pregnant before celebrating the wedding,” his father told him abruptly.
“Have you lost your mind? How am I going to force Teresita to sleep with me?”
“I'll talk to her,” his father told Francisco very seriously.
“It seems like a very crazy idea to me,” Francisco answered.
“José, you get ahead of yourself! I don't want to lose Teresita either, but we can't force her to do that,” Teresa said.
“The parish priest told me that we must act quickly, because a widow cannot live under the same roof as her deceased husband's unmarried brother.”
“Father, don't say anything to the poor girl, I implore you," said Francisco.
“Let me be, I know what I'm doing. If you don't marry Teresita I'm going to disinherit you.”
“José, have you gone crazy?” his wife asked him, whimpering.
“Look Francisco, I give you three months.”
Francisco left the kitchen with his head down. He liked Teresita, but he didn't know how to do what his father asked him to do.
José Defaus Ballesté, being very stubborn, sent for Teresita that same day to come to his office and told her: “We are so happy with you that we don't want you to leave, but for appearances and to save your honor it is not good for you to live in the same house as Francisco. You should marry him.”
“I am also very comfortable with you, but this seems hasty to me. I know very little about Francisco,” Teresita replied.
“You have three months to decide if you want to stay in this house or return to your father's house.”
“Thank you for the trust you have in me, but love has to be a reciprocal thing.”
“Stop loving things and think about your future! Ah! I forgot, before the wedding you have to get pregnant.”
“Pregnant! Do you want me to go against religious principles?”
“Teresita, the parish priest says that it is a special case, that what you and Francisco are going to do to save your reputation is not a sin.”
“Not having had children with Juan, you and the priest are afraid that I will be sterile.”
“No Teresita, not that, we just want you to stay in this house.”
“And what does Francisco say? He always avoids me.”
“No, woman! I'm going to take care of Francisco.”
Teresita went to her bedroom, where she began to cry. She felt humiliated and had a feeling that José Defaus was going to force her son to marry her, threatening to disinherit him.
“I'm sure that Francisco doesn't love me and even though we've lived for a few months under the same roof, I don't know anything about him,” she said to herself, sobbing.
Not knowing how to act, she went to tell Mercedes, her best friend. “Do you like Francisco?” Mercedes asked her point blank.
“Yes, he seems like a good guy to me, but he is very shy. When he sees me, he moves away. How are we going to have a child?”
“I don't know what to tell you Teresita, maybe it would be better if you left that house. But where are you going to go? If I could, I would welcome you into our home. But you know that since my father is sick we have been going through hardships.”
“I hope your father gets better.”
“The doctor says he will be cured. It's pneumonia, but he's already on sick leave.”
“I'm really glad. . .” She was silent for a few seconds and then added, “I don't want to leave, I get along very well with my mother-in-law.”
“Well, I would let Francisco act, to see what happens.”
“I don't know what to do, really!”
“You don't do anything.”
Another afternoon she went to see her father, who told her: “You are a poor widow, you have no choice but to accept the wedding with Francisco. We cannot welcome you back, we have too many mouths to feed”
“Do what your father says,” her aunt begged her, crying.
She also went to talk to the priest, who made her dizzy with the number of things he said to her, trying to convince her to accept the offer from her late husband's family. But she was hesitant. One day she remembered the books that Francisco left on the dining room chairs, the town teacher lent them to him. Therefore she decided to go see him for advice.
The teacher told her that it was not fair that a woman should be forced to marry a man she hardly knew and advised her to write a letter to Francisco. “The correspondence, to avoid raising suspicions, can pass through my house,” the teacher told her.
And when she told him that Francisco was avoiding her, he replied, “He is still very young and inexperienced in love. He feels self-conscious in front of you.”
Teresita wrote a letter to Francisco.
Dear Francisco,
As in a dream, I entered your house at the age of eighteen. Juan was five years older than me. He was always kind to me and respected me during the time we lived together. You may be wondering if I loved him. I can confess that I admired him for his kindness and intelligence and that I suffered a lot when he died. Juan was my only and faithful suitor since I was fifteen. Even though I was afraid of him at first, little by little I got used to him. My parents, being poor, saw a good match in Juan. I couldn't let them down, so, without being in love, I agreed to marry him.
My marriage did not last very long, but in that year I have learned many things. All your family members were good to me. They always supported me, even when I proposed remodeling the mansion, something that no one had ever done before. You always avoid me. From time to time you leave a book on a chair in the dining room, which I read while you are all taking a nap. Have I offended you in something without realizing it?
I would love to talk to you.
I hope you answer me
Teresita
Francisco answered her that same day and from then on he continued writing long letters that he took to the teacher to give to Teresita. Little by little, they began to get to know each other and by letter they made an appointment to meet secretly in the attic of the house. Every night they talked by the light of a candle until they fell dead with sleep. The first thing they did was start conversations about the books that Francisco lent Teresita, but as the days went by their feelings began to emerge and the letters were less formal and more passionate; however, when they saw each other in the attic they were distanced and did not dare to approach.
One night Teresita told him:
“I'm really liking the last book you left on my chair.”
“Which book was that? I don't remember anymore,” Francisco said, playing dumb, so that she wouldn't notice that he had turned red.
“Madame Bovary by Flaubert.”
“Ah, yes, I remember. Emma, the protagonist, is unhappy with her husband; she dreams of passionate love that she cannot find even with her lover.”
“Yes, while I was reading it I felt sorry for her, but also for her doctor husband. The poor man didn't know how to show love to Emma.”
The next night while they were still talking about Emma Bovary, Francisco took her hand, caressed her hair and kissed her. Teresita hugged him. They fell on an old mattress in the attic and they loved each other with a passion unprecedented for two people with so little experience in love. The days passed and they continued to love each other and were happy despite all the complications that that clandestine love entailed.
After a few weeks Teresita discovered that she was pregnant. At that time, her father-in-law, seeing that nothing was happening, told her that he could no longer wait and that the next day a car would take her to her hometown, where her aunt would give her shelter.
Francisco blushed when he announced to his parents that Teresita was expecting his child. Everyone jumped for joy, and they prepared the wedding quickly.
Francisco was in love with Teresita and seeing his parents happy, he thought that the time had come to take the reins of his father's businesses. He began to go out more, to go to church every Sunday, and to hang out with his father's friends: the notary, the veterinarian, the mayor and the town doctor.
One Sunday the priest told him: “You have to get away from the teacher and get closer to the church.”
“But the teacher is my friend.”
“You already know what I'm talking about, you owe me a favor. I saved your reputation and Teresita's, you can't continue being friends with a republican teacher, who by the way is going to have to leave town soon.”
“Don't throw him out! He's a good man.”
“I know, but he doesn't get close to the church and he is a bad influence on the students. I have spoken with the director and they are going to replace him.”
Francisco thought it was unfair what they were going to do to the teacher, but after the priest's threat he knew that he had to stop attending the gatherings that he organized in a café in town.
The poor teacher was fired and returned to Barcelona, where fortunately he was employed in a school recently founded by a group of young teachers with innovative pedagogical ideas and techniques, very close to the educational method that Maria Montessori disseminated in Italy a few years later. Francisco lost his best friend and the priest kept his promise: Francisco and Teresita's marriage was officially recognized. Francisco, little by little, abandoned his republican ideals and became a monarchist like his father.
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