Chapter Eight: A Tale of Two Lovers

I threw myself onto my bed, I couldn't believe it, I wasn't a real member of the Madrigal Family. It certainly did explain a lot. However it didn't explain my room, my new room, my obviously magical room. A room that was situated between Bruno's, who, apparently has been my father this whole time, and Julieta's, the woman who raised me as her own. Surely the fact that I have a magical room must mean that I'm a part of the Madrigal family. Maybe, I don't know. Everything is just spinning out of control. What in the world was I suppose to do?

Suddenly there was a knock on my door, honestly I'm surprised that I can hear the knock, considering how far from my door my bed is. I wonder if they knew that I could hear the knock, or if they would assume that I couldn't if I ignored it.

The sound of my door opening and closing caused me to sit up on my bed, they wouldn't just walk in without permission would they? I mean, this was my room, not the nursery. They'll respect my privacy. Wouldn't they?

"Mija, you in here?" Bruno's voice called out, as two sets of footsteps came closer.

I considered hiding for like half a minute, but Bruno always knew how to find me back before my failed gift ceremony, back before he disappeared, before he abandoned me a second time, because giving me to his sister to raise wasn't enough.

Besides, I can hear Mama calling out for me as well, and if you thought Bruno was good at hide and seek, Mama was the reigning champion. Soon they were stepping up into my private chamber part of my bedroom.

"I think now will be a good time for us to have that chat," Bruno insisted, plopping down on my bed next to me, Mama sitting on the other side.

"Yeah, sorry, this is a lot to take in," I pointed out, "I hit my head this morning and now, everything is different. Isabela is being nice to me, Luisa isn't working constantly, Abuela is being nice to me, Antonio is practically grown up, Dolores is a mother, and you're my father!"

"When you put it like that, it sounds like you're in one of my telenovelas," Bruno said with a little smile, as a rat scrambled out of his rauna, sniffed at me before turning to Bruno, who chuckled, running a finger down its back.

"Well?" I asked, "If Julieta isn't my madre, then who is?" I asked, looking at Bruno, "Did you even know her before you got her pregnant?"

"Her name was Ana Perez," Bruno confessed.

"Perez? Like Rev. Perez?"

"Yes, his younger sister," Bruno confessed.

"Younger? But he's like ten years younger than you! What did you do? How much younger was my madre?" a thought dawned on me, a very horrible thought, what if… "Did you hurt her?" I asked slowly, "Is the story about how the villagers hated your visions really just some cover up to hide the fact you attacked some helpless girl?"

"What!" Bruno sounded shocked as Mama burst out into laughter.

"Ay, Mira, you have no idea how funny that is," Mama insisted, "If you must know, if someone was to blame for Bruno and Ana's relationship then it would have to have been Ana. Bruno's such a softy, he could never have told her no."

Bruno pulled a face at Mama, who stuck her tongue out at him. This was something I've never seen before, I've never seen Mama act so immature.

"Did you ever tried to tell Ana what to do, or not to do?" Bruno asked, "That girl had her sight on me since she was five. She's as… she was..." his voice broke at that, "she was as strong willed as Mama, and…. Had a temper that put Pepa's temper to shame."

"I don't think that her temper was worse than Pepa's just different, when she was mad at someone the whole Encanto knew, and she didn't have a storm to announce it."

Okay, I didn't want to admit it but my interest was peeked. I mean Abuela is the most strong willed person I can think of, and they just mentioned that my madre, my mother, was just like that. They also mentioned that my Madre was five, so there had to be more to the story. There was no way Bruno Madrigal had a relationship with a five year old.

"What are you thinking Mira?" Mama asked, looking concerned.

"Bruno said she was five?"

"When we first met Ana, she was five," Bruno elaborated, "We were Twenty. This was before my reputation went completely down hill. So when I had a vision of a little girl falling into the river, I rushed down to save her."

"And you spent the rest of your week wondering why you did it," Mama interrupted, "It was so funny, you were being stalked by a five year old."

"Juli, who's telling this story anyway? You or me?"

"Sorry Brunito, go on."

"Anyway, I fished your madre out of the river and she just stares at me like I was some higher being or something. She just looks at me and then says loudly, "I'm going to marry you!' Typical hero worship you know. Only she wouldn't leave me alone after that," Bruno looked sad, and Mama reached over and gave him a squeeze, "By the time your Tia married Felix, Ana was probably the only person besides my hermanas that actually talked to me and wasn't scared of me."

"Heaven forbid you talk bad about Bruno in front of her," Mama added with a shiver.

"She was just a kid who liked hanging out around me. She liked to talk, and I liked listening," Bruno said, "I wouldn't have even called her a friend at the moment, until Pepa's wedding."

"What happened at Tia's wedding?"

"I may or may not have told her that it looked like rain and caused a hurricane," Bruno confessed, "Anyway Pepa was mad at me, Abuela was mad at Pepa, and there was Ana, she was nine by this point in time, yelling at both of them."

"She also took Pepa's bouquet of flowers and slapped her across the face with it," Mama reminded Bruno. I smirked as I pictured a nine year old girl yanking Tia's flowers out of her hand and smacking her with it. I can kind of see why Bruno fell in love with this Ana person. She sounds pretty awesome.

"We were friends, nothing more, nothing less, then friends. She'll come to me and vent, and vice versa."

"I remember once, when she was ten, it was back when I first met Agustin, but we hadn't actually started to date yet, and Ana showed up fumming mad, and yelled at me that I made Bruno cry, grabbed an arepa and stormed off, ran into Agustin, and told him that he needed to just save us both the trouble and ask me out that she already knew that he was going to marry me."

"Wait, so my ten year old mother gave Papa and you dating advice?"

"Yes, after she yelled at me for making Bruno cry."

I snorted picturing the girl, my Mami, rolling her eyes as she told Papa just to ask Mama out already fresh out of an argument with Mama. I don't even think that Abuela would have that much spunk. Yet this was when she was still a little girl, "How do I fit into all of this, Ana was just a little girl."

"True but… she did what all little girls do, much to the annoyance of their mothers," Mama stated, "She grew up."

"Si, one day she was a little girl following me around the Encanto, the next she was a full grown adult, kissing me on the lips in front of some guys that made a comment on how none of the girls in the Encanto wanted to date me."

"And that right there was your mother in a nutshell, she'd do the opposite of what she was told just to prove someone else wrong," Mama agreed, shaking her head at the thought, "best way to know that she'll do something, was tell her she couldn't do it."

"Did you like her, Mama?" I asked, honestly the question just kind of slipped out, but I also kind of needed to know.

"Liked her, I loved her, anyone who could make my hermano smile was an automatic friend of mine. It hurt, when Bruno told me that she was gone," Mama sounded surprised, and there was a little bit of a sad smile on her face as she spoke.

"You started dating Mami when she was all grown up?" I asked Papi, wait just when did I started referring to this Ana person as Mami, and when was Tio Bruno Papi?

"Si," Bruno confessed, "Not that I had much say in it. Ana had me totally wrapped around her finger by that point, so when she suggested that we get dinner together… I didn't think much of it. Next thing I knew she was telling me that we were expecting you."

I was quiet for a second, I was starting to have this feeling of de ja vu, like this had happened before. I kind of remember laying in bed… only it wasn't my bed, it wasn't in my room, or the nursery. I don't know where it was. Bruno was there, just talking to me about someone, and Mama was there too. I was too weak to move. And there was Bruno, "No, don't die, I'm sorry, I should have done more for you, I should have told you sooner. Please don't die, don't leave me like Ana did. You are so much like her. She would have been proud to call you her daughter."

"I'm proud to call you my daughter," Mama's voice had spoke up then, "I don't care who your birth parents are. You will always be my daughter, always."

"Mija, are you okay?" Bruno called out, pulling me back to the present with a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"I think so..." I muttered, "I think I remember something, about you… telling me that… Mami would have been proud of me?"

"Oh, she would have been so proud of you," Bruno explained, "She was a firm believer in standing up for others and wasn't one to shy away from an argument if she felt that it was important. Just like you, thankfully, you took after her more than me."

"I don't know," Mama said, "I always thought she took after you more."

Bruno looked at Mama over my head, then looked at me, "Meh," he said, tossing a white powdery substance over his shoulder.