This picks up right after the end of "Viñetas." (Bruno POV because I can't help myself)

Solo tú

For someone whose gift was to see the future, Bruno thought about the past a lot. Most people were preoccupied with the past, like his mother. So, contemplating on the time long ago gave Bruno a feeling of normalcy. He had been home for one year now, as Mirabel had so passionately reminded him ten minutes ago. One year full of love, forgiveness, and transformation from the chaotic Madrigal family. The best year of his life.

"Best year of your life so far," Camilo's voice echoed in his head.

Bruno's sobrinos wanted to put his disappearance as far behind them as they could. Camilo and Mirabel were especially driven to anxiety at the idea of Bruno ever leaving again. They had been five years old when Bruno had gone into the walls; by the time Mirabel had found him, their memories of Bruno were unsubstantial at best. Bruno did wish that he had never left them. But as he thought about it, Bruno figured that it was the details that he hadn't foreseen that led everything to fall into place—that maybe his disappearance was necessary for his family to change the way that it had.

Such were Bruno's thoughts while sitting with his back against the wall in the spare bed in Mirabel's room. Mirabel was asleep and leaning against his right side while his arm was wrapped around her. Mirabel had dozed off after an emotional outburst only ten minutes ago:

"I thought you were dead! I almost lived my life not knowing how much you love me!"

Bruno had comforted his youngest niece and hummed lullabies to her. He continued to sing softly while Mirabel slept.

Adio, adio querida
No quero la vida
Me l'amargastes tu

Bruno had heard the song only once, on his first day in the walls. He never forgot.

Mirabel stirred. "Oh, no, I didn't even know I had fallen asleep," said Mirabel.

"Don't worry, Mira. It's only been ten minutes. I could have held you for an hour more."

Mirabel smiled at him. Looking at Mirabel felt like traveling back in time—like he was really looking at Julieta, and they were sixteen again.

"Were you singing just now?" she asked.

"Yes. I thought you didn't hear." To his relief, Mirabel didn't ask about the song.

Bruno set the table while Mirabel helped Julieta clean the knives, chopping boards, and the pots and pans. Not everyone was home yet, so there was still time for a quick walk in the village before dinner. Bruno liked taking walks at dusk. While he was easy to recognize—all the Madrigals were—he could disappear in a crowd—an advantage of his five-foot-four frame. It was only recently that Bruno got into the habit of taking walks. Sometimes he visited the square. Sometimes he visited the church; he occasionally attended a weekday evening Mass if he happened to be passing by. Most frequently, he visited the abandoned Lombroso home.

Aya had moved back into her family's home twenty-five years ago. The neighbors then finally recognized her as the Lombroso family's missing daughter. Bruno and his sisters had helped her move back in. They had cleaned the rooms and furniture. Julieta had helped in laundering the tablecloths, napkins, bedclothes, and upholstery. Pepa had taken great joy in cleaning every nook and cranny. Bruno had taken charge of the finishing touches and redecorating. He'd patched up cracks, replaced damaged wallpaper, and repainted the walls inside and outside.

Bruno had especially enjoyed organizing the home altar, which occupied a pillar straddling the living room and dining room. The villagers that had called the Lombrosos witches clearly hadn't seen the beautiful family altar. There was a painting of La Mano Poderosa in an ornate wooden frame. Propped up on a wooden stand was the poem "La Noche Oscura" by San Juan de la Cruz etched in brass. At its left was a plaster miniature of Bernini's Ecstasy of Santa Teresa de Ávila. At the poem's right was a wooden statue of San Juan de la Cruz. The two saints were conversos like the Lombroso family—Sephardic Jews that had converted to Catholicism at the end of the Reconquista in Spain.

One year ago, when Bruno and his sisters had visited the house for the first time since the fall of Casita, Julieta and Pepa had shown him that everything had been left where they were. Everything had been coated in dust but otherwise undisturbed. Aya had only taken clothes and food with her. Bruno visited the house every third Friday of the month. Today was such a day. To his shock, there was light from the windows. A lantern hanging beside the front door flickered invitingly.

Was he dreaming? He had dreamed about this often. Bruno shut his eyes and took several deep breaths. His heart was racing—damn coffee. He opened his eyes. The house was still there, with light. Why hadn't he foreseen this? He slowly walked to the door. He touched the wood with an open palm. Bruno inhaled deeply and held his breath for as long as it took him to take a pinch of salt from his pocket and throw it over his shoulder. Now feeling a little less nervous, he knocked on the door and flinched.

"Who is it?"

Bruno wanted to cry. He hadn't heard that voice in eleven years. Has it been eleven years?

"It's me," he said.

There was a gasp and footsteps.

Her eyes shone like gold in the lantern's light. Her black hair was streaked with silver like his own, and a long lock of silver hair was framing her face. Her skin was tanner than he remembered.

"I thought you were dead!" Aya screeched.

Bruno shrugged. "I get that a lot."

"Where have you been?!"

"I'd ask you the same thing."

"Oh," Aya whimpered as she reached out and brushed her knuckles along Bruno's beard and hair. Bruno held that hand and kissed the back, then the wrist, then up her arm and shoulder.

Their lips meeting, they embraced and closed the door. But when Bruno felt Aya's hand reaching under his shirt, he had to pull away. He had a better idea: "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

"Really?" said Aya, her voice wobbling as her arousal dissipated.

"Almost everyone should be home by now, and it's a long walk to Casita and now that—(the events of my second-worst vision have been avoided)—we're here, it's time for the family to meet you. We can catch up on the way."

Aya was nervous, but she accepted.

"Have I got a story for you," said Bruno as Aya secured her hair in a long braid behind her back.

Aya grabbed his hand. "Please, tell me. What happened while I was gone? And where have you been?" She playfully struck his arm with an open hand.

Bruno chuckled. "So, my sisters must have told you that Mirabel did not get her gift and that I fought with Mamá over it. I had a vision that I feared would make Mirabel suffer if Mamá saw it."

"Yes, yes." Their hands were clasped together as they walked to Casita.

Bruno would have been wringing his hands if Aya wasn't holding one of them. "Casita's walls were hollow, so that's where I hid in lieu of actually leaving. I couldn't bring myself to leave them."

Aya glowered at him. "I called out to you, and you didn't come!"

Bruno had expected anger. His sisters had reacted similarly. "I couldn't. I had to hide, for Mirabel."

Aya sniffled. "When they couldn't find a body for a year, it was decided that you were only missing. But one year was all I could take. I couldn't keep living here without you."

"What's it like outside?"

Aya smiled sadly. "There is beauty, progress, but also chaos. When I reached Riohacha, I wanted to go to Spain and then the Holy Land, but at the time, the world was on fire. People call it the Second World War."

"The Second?!"

"Yes. Apparently the first one happened when we were adolescents. Oh, Bruno, it was terrible! Jews from Europe came to the country by the thousands, looking like ghosts! I volunteered to help them get settled in the city. There were so many orphans. It was too much. I wanted to come back here as soon as the influx of refugees dwindled, but then, more violence erupted in the country. It was all so stupid. I couldn't travel. People were dying. I was so lucky when I did manage to travel without encountering armed men. I moved to Bogotá, but then, more violence broke out over there, too. So, I kept moving until I made it back. There is a split in the big mountain now." The last sentence was spoken like a question.

"Yeah, that's where my story picks up. While you were gone, Pepa had a third baby. After he got his gift last year, cracks appeared in Casita. Mirabel tried to prevent disaster, and she found me in the process. But the magic died. Our house collapsed. We all lost our gifts. We're not sure why or how, but somehow, after we rebuilt the house, Mirabel brought the magic back. Oh, I love that girl. She brought me home."

Aya squeezed his hand. The first stars twinkled in the firmament above them.

"There was an especially big crack that ran from the house to the mountain. That's what caused the split. But the other cracks disappeared when our gifts returned. Sometimes I wish it didn't." His free hand instinctively moved to the spot in his head where he would feel pain most intensely though he was feeling nothing right now.

"Your sicknesses also came back?"

"Well, they never left, really. Insomnia, melancholy, migraines—all that fun stuff. I'm glad you taught Julieta how to make that tea. It really helped. But when I went into the walls, I went without it for that whole time. I came close to ending it all, several times. But then, I would hear those kids. Dolores kept me company most of all."

Another voice spoke from behind them. "Tío Bruno?" Camilo was agape, his hazel eyes on the hands clasped between them. Camilo squealed and bounced where he stood. "Oh! It's you! Señora Aya! I remember you!"

Bruno scoffed in mock indignation. "Really, Camilo? You remembered her but not me?" He beat his chest melodramatically. "Your tío, your own flesh and blood!"

Camilo folded his arms. "Not my fault that Mamí talked about her more than you. 'We don't talk about Bruno,' remember?" he deadpanned.

"I remember," both Bruno and Aya said.

"I've invited Señora Aya to dinner with us."

Camilo squealed and bounced again. "I'll go tell everyone!" He ran to Casita, which was not far away from where they were standing. "See you at home!"

Bruno's sisters and nieces were at the front door when he and Aya arrived. Julieta and Pepa were shrieking as they kissed and hugged their friend. Bruno smiled bashfully at his nieces.

"So, there is someone, after all," said Mirabel with a smirk.

"I told you, but you didn't believe me!" Isabela told her sister.

Mamá heard the commotion and went to the group as they entered the inner courtyard. She glowed when she saw Aya, who shrank back much like Bruno usually did.

"Doña Madrigal," she greeted.

Bruno took Aya's hand. "Mamá, this is a long time coming. This is Áurea Lombroso, mi querida."

Mamá teared up and hugged them both. "Bienvenida, mija," she said tenderly.

Julieta and Pepa squealed in delight. Their daughters were stunned to see their mothers so excitable.

Aya looked lost at sea, reaching for Bruno's hand under the table to anchor her. Like Bruno only minutes ago, the rest of the family was eager to ask Aya what it was like beyond the mountains. Aya glossed over the World War and the so-called Shoah, focusing instead on how far technology had come. She described skyscrapers, cars, aircraft, electricity, telecommunication.

"Wow, we live in the future," said Antonio, earning him approving laughter.

"We're glad that you are home, Aya," said Pepa.

"We're glad that you're back, both of you," added Julieta, meeting Bruno's eyes as well.

The triplets looked at their mother, who was smiling with an otherworldly serenity.

Pepa, Julieta, and their husbands initiated a round of drinks. Bruno opted out but stayed in the same room with them, holding a cup of coffee. He explained to Aya that he'd had a problem with alcohol earlier that year. In solidarity, Aya took only one glass of wine, not nearly enough to make her tipsy.

Two hours later, Aya and Bruno were in his room. "I like what you've done to the place," she quipped, admiring the elaborate rat maze fixed to the dome ceiling.

"Thanks. I modeled it after the labyrinth at the Chartres Cathedral. Padre Flores showed me an illustration of it," Bruno explained.

He was glad that he was sober right now. Otherwise, he might have ravished her as soon as he'd closed the door. There would be time for that later. He needed a clear head for this. But with the clear head also came his bleak thoughts. As much as he'd missed her, Bruno was glad that Aya hadn't seen him in the last year, when he was at his worst. His demons had plagued him at any time that he was alone. They still did sometimes, even when his family was always there for him.

He noticed that Aya had noticed his eyes glazing over. Bruno wondered if it was the same before, when she had been the one to try to chase his demons away. Aya smiled playfully at him. Bruno realized how silly it was that he was ruminating in her presence.

"You're trying to resist me." Aya put her arms around his shoulders, her eyes inches from his own.

Bruno put his hands on her hips. "I just got a lot on my mind. I've had an eventful year. Today is one of the biggest surprises. Right now, I'm happy that you're here."

"Happy. It's nice to hear you say that word," she said.

"Because I mean it." He kissed her. He could taste the wine on her. "I've missed you so much."

"No matter how far I went, my heart stayed here. My heart belongs to only you."

"Is that something you want, to belong to me?"

Aya cupped his face in her hands to meet his gaze. "Yes. That makes me happy."

"Then, would it make you happy to belong to me forever?"

Bruno smiled as Aya's eyes sparkled with joy. "Yes! Yes! I would love that!"

They kissed again. "Solo para ti, mi querida."