Between Héctor Rivera and Imelda Rivera and Miguel Rivera as romantic.
The Land of the Dead was abuzz with the usual riot of colors and celebrations—a never-ending fiesta where the nights were as lively as the days. Mariachi bands sauntered through the cobbled streets, alebrijes soared overhead with brilliant plumage, and families gathered around photo-laden ofrendas, their laughter mingling with the melodies in the air.
In the midst of it all stood Héctor Rivera, his bone-white figure now garbed in the embroidered finery befitting a musician loved by the world over. He wore his fame comfortably, like an old sombrero, yet his eyes were like windows to a soul that danced between joy and a deeper, hidden longing.
Imelda Rivera, ever the matriarch with an indomitable spirit, noticed the slight twinge of sadness that touched her husband's smile whenever his fingers lingered on the strings of his guitar. It was a mystery to her—the shade of an emotion she couldn't quite place. His music was once again celebrated, a stark turnaround from the years of silence that had bound his legacy, yet she wondered if every note he played was a reaching out to something still lost.
Together, they watched their great-great-grandson, Miguel, weave through the crowd with the eagerness of a breeze chasing the dawn. In his arms, he carried a guitar—its wood darker than most, with a sign of weariness behind its ancient varnish—the same guitar Héctor had owned in life.
Miguel approached, a wide, bright-eyed smile unfolding on his face. “Mamá Coco's attic had more secrets than I thought,” he said, cradling the instrument like a fragile hope.
Héctor's fingers trembled as he took the guitar from Miguel, a ghostly sensation stirring in his hands. His fingers brushed against something wedged in the strings—a piece of paper, age-worn and delicate, with notes penciled onto a stave, a fragment of a melody long forgotten.
Imelda watched her husband's gaze turn inward, his bones pale against the fabric of the night. “Héctor, what is it?” The question was soft, barely rising above the twang and thrum of the distant music.
He ran his finger over the paper, the decades peeling away beneath his touch. “A piece of a song... My song... I thought it was lost forever.” Héctor's voice trailed off, his usual vibrancy dimmed by the touch of the faded memory.
That night, as the music of the Land of the Dead rose and fell with the rhythms of eternal celebration, Imelda found herself lying awake, Héctor’s restlessness a silent symphony beside her. The diary, with its leathery cover and frayed edges, seemed to breathe from its resting place on their mantle, begging to be read, to be understood.
She knew that the dawn of the next day would mark the beginning of a journey—not through the streets and plazas of their boisterous world—but through the echoes of a love that thrived in the spaces between notes in a melody half-remembered, half-dreamed.