I didn't think he would accept so easily.
It was clear he was on the verge of breaking down, but I needed to know what was really keeping him from me. It was clear that he was worried about the reaction of Abuela and the people of the town and the effect all that could have on me, but, those words… he said that it was not our fate. Coming from someone else, that might just be a way of telling me that he didn't think we were meant for each other, but coming from him, I knew he meant it literally.
If he was going to break my heart, it would be once and for all. With the truth.
"What happened here?! Why are the stairs even higher?! Does your room want to kill me?!"
"Of course not. It just wants to discourage you from seeing the prophecy."
"Let's go to Antonio's room."
"No… this is not something you should do in front of anyone."
"Is it so terrible that you think I won't want others to see it?"
"No… I'm the one who doesn't want anyone to see it."
"Bruno…" I asked determinedly starting to climb the endless stairs.
"Hm?"
"Am I the only one who has seen you make a prophecy?"
"Yes. Probably because that time you didn't need to climb the stairs to do it."
Normally, Bruno would have giggled after that comment, but that day he was different. Whatever he was going to show me seemed to be something he never wanted to see again.
Surprisingly, late in the day and after five long breaks, we made it to the top.
"Can't be! Why is the bridge broken again?! Tell your room to rebuild it!"
"It wouldn't obey. It knows what my true desire is."
"Okay. I did it once and I can do it again."
"Are you k…?"
I didn't give him time to argue. Before he started his lifesaving sermon, I had already hooked the rope and thrown myself to the other side.
"Mirabel!"
"A little tiny infinite fosse is not going to hold me back!" I said as I flew through the air.
As if called by his heart, the ground grew under my feet and gave me access to the cave.
"I knew you could do it," I said heading toward the cave without looking back.
"Don't… don't do something like that again, please," he answered breathlessly, keeping up with me as best he could.
I knew I was being thoughtless and stubborn, but it had been six years of waiting and continuous struggle and I wasn't going to let them fall on deaf ears without good cause. If he really had one, I deserved to know it too.
Bruno entered the cave, looked at me with eyes full of pain, closed them, and extended his arms.
"Ehm… Don't you have to do the fire thing and all that stuff?"
"I don't need it," he answered not even opening his eyes. "I've been seeing this vision day and night for years even if I didn't want to. It won't take much concentration."
"Y… years?"
"Are you ready?"
"Wait!"
He opened his eyes then, maybe hoping that I had changed my mind.
"I … I wanna hang on."
Bruno nodded, took my hands with the same determination as that first time causing a shiver to run through my entire body, and closed his eyes again.
In a matter of seconds, his eyes shone again that intense green that had brought him so much trouble and the sand in the cave shone too and began to vibrate and spin around us.
Once again, my figure appeared before me, but I was not alone: my arms wrapped around his body; my lips kissed his.
"I don't understand. What's the problem?"
He did not answer; he just kept his eyes straight ahead, fixed on my image, lost in our kiss. So that wasn't gonna be it all.
As I expected, the image began to change, and what my eyes saw was the hardest thing to believe I had ever seen in my life. The man in my arms was no longer Bruno. He was slightly taller, slightly less thin, and much younger: it was Camilo.
"What?! No… It can't be, I don't…"
But, again, there was no answer. With tears in his eyes, he continued to stare straight ahead as if he was straining to face the future, and the image changed once more.
That time, it was not a man who accompanied me on the scene but three little babies. Three newborns resting in my arms under my attentive gaze and my sweet smile. My babies…
The babies of… Camilo?