Chapter V: The Bond
The morning sun casts its usual golden glare upon Hermosa, but inside the Quadro-Uy family house, tension brews like over-steeped barako coffee as high as the uplands of the Cordillera.
"No. Me rehuso (I refuse). I don't want to go," Rico mutters, eyes fixed on the wooden floor.
Mercy, brushing her long black hair, nods. "I'll come."
Tinang stands in the sala, arms crossed, eyebrow raised high enough to scrape the capiz ceiling. "Aysus Apo! (Oh my God!) Anya ka met nga Asawan, Rico? (What kind of spouse are you, Rico?) Refusing your own Pamanhikan?"
"It's awkward, Nang!" Rico exclaims. "They'll roast me alive. The'll might even bloodied me punching to death. I've seen her brothers and father who has bodes built like Burnay and Banga."
(Banga and Burnay are clay pots made in Ilocos, particularly Burnay is from Vigan, and Banga is from Ilocos Norte and can also be found manufactured in Ilocos Sur.)
Mercy looks at Rico angrily, upset on why he won't come to their own Dumanon.
Tinang sighs so hard the curtains move. She turns to the kitchen. "Conching!"
From behind the semi-open sliding door, the smell of Tinolang Manok wafts out.
"Yes, madam?" replies Consuelo Quicho, also known as Conching, a plump woman in her fifties, wearing a flowery apron and a warm smile.
"Put down the ladle. You're coming with me and Mercy to Banggai. Let's go there."
"Like, right now madam?"
Tinang grabs her purse. "Yes. Apparently, I have to do my son's courting for him. Boy he needs to get a life. He's nothing without me."
Conching looks at the simmering tinola and the half-stirred adobo. "Do I turn off the stove?"
Tinang groans. "Yes, you don't want to leave it in an old wooden house that would catch on fire would you? Turn it off and let's go."
Tinang looks at Rico, "Rico, have a nice lunch. The Tinolang Manok is now ready, and a side with adobo."
Outside, the family driver, Eduardo, also known as Addo, honks from the rusting jeepney. Conching climbs in with a box full of yema and sinuman as a peace offering. Tinang holds her umbrella like a general going to battle.
Before the 4 journey to Banggai,
"Do you think they'll be angry?" she asks Rico.
"They probably will," Rico replies, placing a hand over hers. "But if they love you, they might come around."
She leans on his shoulder. "That's a big if."
Rico watches them drive off at the back of the house, at Calle Plaridel, biting her lip.
The road to Brgy. Banggai is long and dusty, flanked by rice paddies and sari-sari stores. Tinang looks unimpressed as Addo halts near a small simple wooden gate across the National Highway.
"Wait here," she tells him.
Tinang and Conching cross the road like a mismatched duo—one regal in her batik skirt and pearls, the other waddling with her Tupperware.
Melo, in the nearby field, pauses mid-scythe. Tory, sweeping the yard, looks up as the gate creaks. Conching knocks.
"Who is it?" Tory calls out.
Tinang clears her throat. "Naimbag a Bigat kaniayo, Apo (Good Morning to you folks). It's me, Regina Uy or Tinang for short. Mother of Enrico."
Behind Tinang, is Mercy, bowing her head in embarrassment.
Tory opens the gate slowly, Melo appearing behind her, sweat on his brow.
"Mother of Enrico?" Melo repeats.
"Yes, Enrico Quadro," Tinang says, smiling tightly. "The boy who got your daughter, Mercy pregnant."
The couple sees Mercy behind Tinang. Silence erupts. A carabao moos nearby.
Conching offers the yema. "Peace offering?"
Inside, they sit on rattan chairs, sipping warm salabat. Tinang doesn't sugarcoat it.
"He's ready to marry her," she says. "So, we'd like your blessing."
Tory folds the dishrag in her lap with sharp, tense fingers.
"Blessing?" she echoes. Then she and Melo look at Mercy, "After you disgraced us?"
Melo stays quiet, jaw tight.
"Well...", Tory says. "Awan met maaramidan mi detan, masikog metten. (We can't do anything now since she is already pregnant."
"We're not expecting anything, Apo" Tinang says. "Just civility."
"Well, you can have your wedding. But... we will not go to your wedding."
Conching blinks, yema still in hand.
"Let them marry," Melo finally mutters. "She had already made her choice."
Tinang rises, smooths her skirt. "Then we'll take our leave. Thank you."
Conching bows and places the yema on the table before shuffling after her employer.
Moments after they leave, Restituto, Maxi, and Escolastica arrive, dust on their slippers.
"What's going on?" Restituto asks.
"Mercy and company just came," Tory mutters.
"Is the damn bastard with them? What for?" Maxi asks.
"No, Rico didn't come. It's Mercy's wedding," Melo says with a grunt. "To hell with Enrico. Go if you want."
Month after months, and more passes until the day comes. The day is November 26, 1975. The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Conversion of St. Paul with its gleaming and grandeur white façade and beige columns, is dressed in white and gold. With its ornate oil linings on its ceiling and grand arches perched on the massive columns, going through the three portals of the church. Bougainvilleas and roses line the aisle. Visitors from Pardas, the town south of Hermosa, known for its Pandan Port, chatter loudly on the left side, their barongs and ternos glowing.
The right side is nearly empty to really nothing.
Mercy's heart pounds beneath her wedding gown. Her hands tremble as she stands at the church doors.
"Ready?" whispers the coordinator.
She nods, though her chest tightens.
As the music plays, Mercy walks down the aisle alone. No Melo. No Tory.
But halfway, surprisingly, she sees Escolastica, standing proud in a blue dress. And beside her, Junior, freshly back from Maynilaan, eyes gleaming.
Mercy almost cries due to this.
At the altar, Rico waits, sweating buckets under his borrowed barong.
"You look beautiful," he whispers.
"Don't cry," she hisses, already crying.
The priest begins.
They exchange vows:
Rico: "I vow to always choose you, even over movie theaters in España Boulevard."
Mercy: "I vow to support you, even if you never become a captain."
Laughter trickles in.
When the priest says, "You may now kiss the bride," Rico freezes.
"Do I—?"
Mercy whispers, "Forehead. Just forehead."
He kisses her forehead.
Applause erupts.
Back at Calle Crisostomo, the house is transformed. Paper lanterns dangle from the eaves. Laughter fills every room. A whole lechon sits on the table, surrounded by pansit, lumpia, longganisa, and trays of Balicutia, Sinuman, Kahoy, Bibingka, Pudding, Calamay, and Patupat.
(Balicutia, otherwise known as Sugarcane candy, is native to Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur. While Sinuman, Bibingka, Patupat, and Calamay are made from sticky rice and some are made of coconuts. Calamay is native to Candon City, Ilocos Sur.)
Relatives from Poblacion, Pardas fill the house, gossiping and gifting.
"Mercy's pregnant?"
"Yes! Look at her glow."
"Rico got her? Ay sus!"
Tinang walks around like a proud mayor. Conching dances with Addo.
The night is long and loud.
Months have passed, and it arrives at the ninth day of the fifth month of 1976. Rico and Mercy try to settle in the Caluipat House in Pardas, owned by Rico's Aunt, Remedios. Due to the lack of money, they couldn't get Mercy to the hospital. So, she will give birth in the house.
Mercy screams through labor, Rico fainting twice in the corner.
"It's a boy!" the midwife shouts.
They name him Elric.
In the years that follow, now with money, Mercy gives birth in a small clinic named Carriaga Clinic. Another child follows, Meric joins the family.
One afternoon, Mercy watches them play with wooden toys and some of the hair pins scattered around. She sighs.
"I hope one day, my parents come around."
Rico hugs her.
"They will."
And somewhere in Banggai, Tory looks at the La Purisima Concepcion, now in her room, fingers on her rosary.
She whispers, "I wonder how Mercy is."