Bea’s pregnancy

Bea’s pregnancy transforms a private relationship into a family crisis and then into a public commitment. Daniel learns of it only after Bea has disappeared, and the revelation sets in motion the events that culminate in their marriage at Santa Ana three months later.

Discovery and Family Conflict

When Daniel asks Tomás where Bea is, Tomás tells him that she has been missing for two days and that her parents and the police are searching for her. He also explains that Bea had returned home after seeing Daniel, where her father confronted her. Despite her father’s anger, she refused to disclose Daniel’s name.

Tomás then tells Daniel that Bea has been taken to a doctor and is pregnant. Daniel’s stunned reaction is followed by a physical confrontation: Tomás grabs him and throws him against a wall, demanding to know what he has done to his sister. The pregnancy is thus disclosed not in a calm conversation between the couple but amid Bea’s absence, her family’s alarm, and Tomás’s anger.

From Disappearance to Marriage

Three months after Bea’s disappearance, she and Daniel marry in the Church of Santa Ana. Her pregnancy is now known to the wedding party: the priest refuses to perform the ceremony because the bride is expecting a child. Fermín takes charge of the arrangements and responds by confronting the priest, then finding another officiant at San Gabriel’s School, Father Fernando Ramos.

The wedding marks a shift in the family conflict. Bea’s father, who had previously opposed Daniel, gives Bea’s hand in marriage. A week before the ceremony, he visits the bookshop with a gold tiepin inherited from his own father and shakes Daniel’s hand. Though he remains sparing in his speech, he entrusts Bea to Daniel’s care and appears resigned to the coming birth of his grandchild.

Significance in the Story

The pregnancy first reaches Daniel as news delivered by an angry brother, while Bea herself is absent; its consequences unfold through the actions of the people around her. Her refusal to name Daniel, her family’s search, and Tomás’s confrontation establish the personal stakes before the wedding turns the crisis toward a new household.

The wedding does not erase the earlier hostility. Instead, it records a practical accommodation: Bea’s father accepts the marriage, Fermín overcomes the priest’s refusal, and Daniel and Bea marry while Daniel is still recovering from a serious wound. The pregnancy therefore connects the couple’s private relationship to both family responsibility and the community’s religious institutions.