CHAPTER 3
"I'll never not be someone who was once using alcohol every day."
The urge was always there, waiting...
It doesn't gnaw at him like it used to, and Temptation doesn't speak to him as loudly and insistently anymore, but it's there...
Meditation and talking to the family helps.
Practicing and performing new telenovelas with Antonio and Camilo gives him something to keep his mind occupied.
At night, sitting on the roof with Dolores or Mirabel is therapeutic, and allows him to get through the worst moments when his addiction starts to claw at him.
Even his rats have started demanding his attention more when they catch him staring at someone's wine glass for too long.
Most surprisingly, however, what helps as well is getting together with some of the villagers who have the same problem.
It began after Mass one Sunday when Padre Agudelo asked him to share his feelings with another man from the encanto who was constantly drinking.
The group that has formed now gathers in the church to talk about their addictions, leaning on one another to help them through the rough patches.
Dolores comes to help as well, bringing food made by Luisa and Julieta who sometimes joins in the meetings. No, she is not an alcoholic, but she understands the pull of compulsion and afterwards, she always seems to look more content. She is still helping the community-still healing others-which, in turn, helps to heal her own inner pains.
And Bruno finds that his mother is a new source of comfort as he tries to rebuild his life.
Mama is incredibly supportive of his recovery, even keeping the family liquor cabinet locked up, to be opened only for cooking, Sunday dinners, or special occasions.
He insisted at first that such steps weren't necessary, but after a particularly bad moment of weakness which found him standing in front of the cabinet, Bruno found himself grateful for his mother's foresight. She knows him all too well and wants to do the right thing.
Casita does her own part in helping Bruno recover. When everything feels like a whirlwind and even his good luck and OCD rituals aren't enough to keep his desire for alcohol at bay, she opens up the walls and guides him to his new den in the heart of the house.
He sits in his armchair, cuddles his rats, and reminds himself of all that he's gained since Mirabel found him again. Love is stronger than addiction and during the rare moments when even that doesn't feel like enough, he prays.
God doesn't make the urges go away, but He feels like a hand to hold while Bruno fights the desire to give in.
Every day, Bruno Madrigal stands on the edge of surrender and oblivion... destruction and hopelessness...
10 years ago, he stood alone, relying only on his own strength to keep from going over.
But now, as he looks into the abyss, he feels the hands of everyone in his family pulling him back and into their loving embrace.
The urge is always there, waiting... But so is his family, and they're not about to lose him again.