Once Casita had been repaired, life quickly returned to normal. We'll, mostly normal. Luisa had begun learning to relax more and Isabela learned to be more open with her feelings and not pretending to be perfect.
Dolores and Mariano began officially dating and Antonio began having the animals help him make home deliveries when his family was too busy to fetch traded goods.
Camilo decided to take it easy with the shape-shifting. He needed to find out who he really was inside, by focusing on who he was on the outside.
Pepa's anxiety reduced greatly now that her brother was home and her kids seemed to be finding their own ways. This in turn made Felíx more romantic towards her and a bit less submissive.
Mirabel's parents remained exactly the same. Loving, caring and protective parents, willing to stand up for their daughters even against their own family if need be.
Speaking of Mirabel, she seemed to grow in beauty, independence, kindness, grace, love and leadership every day. She was the overseer for practically every project that the town took on. Everything from the yearly flower parade to the building of new homes was all left up to her. Beyond that she made and sold ruanas and wayuu bags.
As for Abuela, well, she was trying to be better at... life. She lent a hand when she could and assisted Julieta with first aid missions, Dolores with wedding plans and her grandkids with anything they may need. She knew that she had messed up big time with her family, and she was doing her best to make it better for them.
Especially Bruno.
All this time, she had assumed that he had abandoned them, when he was the one who had loved them most, doing everything he did to protect Mirabel. He put himself into self imposed exile so that she could have a fair chance, and Abuela hadn't ever given her one.
Bruno had quickly made up his mind to never enter his tower again after the rebuild of their home. Too many stairs. Too much sand. Too far away. He decided to stay in the wall, and Casita had given him the opening back behind the painting of coffee.
When he had seen that Mirabel was still in the nursery however, he had a talk with the family and with Casita. She agreed to create a new room for Mirabel, but it still couldn't be magical. Mirabel was delighted and she drew up blueprints and laid them in the hall, next to Bruno's tower. Casita agreed to the design and created the new room for Mirabel, down to every last detail.
The room was sophisticated but fun and cute. It had plenty of room for sewing and crafts and dancing, even of it wasn't as big as everyone else's, it was much bigger than the nursery and much more suited to a young woman.
As time went on, Bruno became comfortable with the family, and he began to joke around with them, helping them out and joining in conversations. He stopped apologizing for every move he made and he began to hang out with his nieces and nephews. He even went out with Augustín and Felíx when they had missions into the forest or through the mountain crack.
As they had left one day in mid November, he couldn't help but notice that Mirabel had hugged him longer than usual, whispering against his cheek to be careful.
He pat her head and helped the men to hitch two donkeys to a couple of wagons to carry back any supplies they could find.
As they passed through Split Mountain, he couldn't help but think about Mirabel's hug. They had been doing this every month since he had come back. That was nearly three years ago now. Why the sudden clinginess?
Now that he really thought about it, she had slowly become more and more clingy and cuddly over time. All of the kids had, but with her it felt, different somehow.
He cleared his mind as they came into a grove of coca trees. They also had to find papaya, coffee beans, cocoa beans, bananas and borojo. These trips usually took all day as they had to traverse thick vegetation and fight off monkeys and birds that wanted their treasures.
The men would make each other laugh and talk about their families. When Augustín mentioned his daughter's getting married, since it was finally about time, Bruno felt a twist in his gut like someone had grabbed his insides and they were twisting hard.
He didn't know what had caused the reaction, but he shrugged it off and quietly finished packing bananas into the cart. They finally finished as the sun began to set.
Back at the house, they went inside to their families, and the three of them were greeted with a barrage of hugs and stories about what had happened during the day.
Bruno was again taken aback as Mirabel wrapped an arm around his torso, holding his hand that now rested on her shoulder. Her eyes twinkled with mischief and she spoke in a mock creepy tone.
"So, did you guys run into anything dangerous?"
Augustín laughed and put a friendly arm around Felíx.
"I think your Tio is more dangerous than anything out there."
The Afro-Latino laughed heartily.
"If snakes don't want to become serpent pretzels, they'll leave my family alone."
A few weeks later, the whole town was preparing for Blacks and Whites day, excited for the fun of wearing marbled body paint. But today was water day!
The girls wore their hair down and the men left their ruanas at home. Everyone ran around in the streets barefoot and everyone took turns cooking up random things for all of the townsfolk to munch on.
The kids threw water balloons at each other and adults dumped large buckets of water on each other.
Bruno danced with his family, having the most fun with his sisters. When other random women wanted to dance with him he danced the best he could, but he still felt a bit awkward to stand so close to people he barely knew.
Mirabel noticed his discomfort and hurried over to rescue him, pulling him to the side of the street as a fresh bucket of water was dumped on them. They both gasped at the sudden cold water and smiled up at the man laughing at them.
As it became late afternoon, clouds began to gather and a rainstorm blew in. Mirabel laughed excitedly, dancing in the sudden downpour along with most of the townsfolk.
So many eyes were on her. On her graceful and feminine figure and the way she twirled like a butterfly on a breeze. Her hair stuck to her shoulders and chest, her skirt clinging to her legs as all of the young men clambered to dance with her.
Bruno wanted to interfere, feeling very protective of her all of a sudden. But he knew better. She was a woman now, it was time that she found a husband. He could feel himself becoming hot and light headed, and he sat down at the base of a divider wall where Dolores sat.
She spoke quickly, her whisper soft voice hitting Bruno's ear the wrong way.
"Was it too noisy for you too? Girls began clinging to Mariano and I had to walk away before I did something stupid."
Bruno forced a chuckle and glanced at her.
"I don't think you know how to be that brash. You're too sweet."
As they chatted, Mirabel hurried towards them, grinning with pure joy and spinning in a circle, her skirt throwing water in every direction.
"Why are you guys over here? The party's back there!"
As she said this, she shook her hips and shoulders in synch, her lips pursed in a silly expression.
Bruno smiled softly, his eyes tired.
"I'm just not used to this much activity. All of the noise, the people, the alcohol. "
She giggled and squatted in front of him, booping his nose.
"Is my poor Tio drunk?"
He smiled back at her, tugging playfully on a curl that stuck across her forehead.
"No, I'm not. A bit tipsy I guess, but I'm not drunk. I promise."
She laughed and laid on the grass beside him, laying her head on his lap.
"I may have gone a bit overboard with the Aguardiente and refajo."
He chuckled and brushed the soaking curls away from her forehead. She looked so beautiful in the late evening sun, her cheeks flushed with the rush of alcohol and excitement, her eyes closed comfortably.
"You deserve it, sobrinita. You work hard for the town and for the family. You deserve to relax and have fun."
She opened her eyes and smiled up at him, happy tears mixing with the rain on her face and she reached up to gently stroke his cheek. The touch sent an odd sort of shiver through him, like she had injected him with ice cold lightening that coursed through his veins.
He knew that she was just being the sweet girl that she always was. But he couldn't help but wonder if she meant anything more in the touch. It was so gentle, and her eyes were focused so intently on him.
He gulped at sat up straight, stretching his back so that he could focus on anything else. She sat up and leaned against him, quickly falling asleep on his shoulder. He wasn't far behind as his wandering dreams left him with a weird feeling.
When he woke up, Augustín was gently kicking the bottom of his foot.
"Wake up Bruno, it's time to go home."
Bruno asked then if he wanted to come get his daughter, but he shrugged helplessly.
"I hurt my arm trying to hoist a bucket a bit too high. I can't lift anything until Julieta heals me."
His wife pat his back with a glance of mild annoyance and amusement.
Bruno nodded and stood slowly, holding Mirabel's head in place, before he could pick her up bridal style, her head on his shoulder. He nodded, satisfied that she didn't weigh much, and they headed on their way.
Julieta couldn't help gawking at her brother.
"You're a lot stronger than I would have assumed."
He chuckled nervously, watching his steps for any cracks or stones. He didn't want to stumble with such precious cargo in his arms.
"Well, living ten years in a breaking homes walls, I had to learn to use every muscle I had to get around and survive. Often times running or jumping or swinging."
He smiled at his sister.
"I know people assume I'm weak because I'm skinny, and that's okay. I can just surprise them with my great feats of strength!"
Luisa hurried towards them, Isabela, Antonio and Camilo all clinging to her, and Bruno seemed to deflate.
"Never mind."
They shared a laugh, but he couldn't seem to focus his thoughts. Why did carrying Mirabel feel so natural? Her hair tickled his neck and he smiled tenderly at her. Silly girl. Getting drunk and falling asleep like that. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
He remembered being her age. Except he would sneak around and drink once in a while, because he knew that Alma would have killed him if she had found out. Julieta would usually find him and sober him up so that he could come home.
He was pulled from his thoughts as he stepped into the house and took Mirabel to her room. He laid her in her bed and smiled at her as he removed her glasses and set them on the shelf. She smiled in her sleep and snuggled in on herself, getting comfortable. He felt his heart melt at the sweet sight, and he left quietly, allowing her sisters to dry her off and change her.