Antonio loves when Luisa carries him because he always gets to sit so high. She's so much taller than anyone he knows, so much stronger, and she gets to see everything going on around them all the time. Everybody in town loves her, waving excitedly and wanting to talk to her whenever they see her. She gets hugs and handshakes and warm smiles, and when he grows up, he wants to be just like her. But taller!
She enters the town at a light trot, having just raced Camilo down the hill. His brother is red-faced and puffing, losing more and more freckles by the minute as he tries to catch his breath. Luisa grins mischievously up at Antonio when Camilo collapses at her feet.
"No...fair..." Camilo pants. "Not... at all... fair."
Luisa snorts. "Which part? Challenging me or the fact that you didn't have to carry Toñito yourself?"
"Let's go again!" Antonio says. "It would probably be better with two of us against Luisa, Camilo."
"What? Are you going... to run, too?"
Antonio giggles. "No, I'm too slow. But you can put me on your shoulders like Luisa so I won't slow you down!"
Camilo looks up at their cousin, who shrugs. "I'm game if you are," she deadpans.
"Have mercy. Por favor."
"Then we win, Toñito!" Luisa lifts him off her shoulders, gives him a quick squeeze, and sets him on his feet just in time for Tía y Tío – well, Tío Agustín, that is – to catch up.
Antonio isn't really listening when Luisa y Tía try to list out all the stuff they need to get. Camilo hangs around, interrupting to ask for extras so much that Tía shooes him away from the conversation and tells him to go find a cart they can borrow for a bit. Camilo looks grumpy, like he doesn't trust Tía to get anything he wants, which is probably what will happen because everything he asks for is full of sugar or ex-spin-sive. Whatever spinning has to do with marketing, Antonio does't know, unless it's the funny, spinning feeling he gets when he thinks too hard about the question that pops out of him.
"¿Tío?"
"Sí, Toníto, ¿estás bien?"
"Is it okay to still call you Tío even though I've got two Tíos now?"
"Ah..." Tío Agustín pulls at his necktie, like the question scared him a little, and Antonio hopes it didn't because he doesn't want to upset him. "Well, you've always had two Tíos, niño."
"But we only found Tío... uh, other Tío... two days ago."
"Well, uh...I'm sure he won't mind if you call us both just 'Tío.'"
"But it's okay? He is still my tio just like you are?"
Tío Agustín clears his throat and looks over at Tía. At least there's just one of her. Tía walks over and kneels down with a warm smile. "Let's think, Toñito. Camilo es su hermano, ¿sí?"
He nods.
"But we can't see him right now, can we?"
"No."
"But he doesn't stop being your brother just because you can't see him, does he? You still call him 'hermano.'"
He nods again.
"And even if you didn't see..." Her voice gets all scratchy like the words wandered off, and she stops for a few seconds to go look for them. "E-even if you didn't see him...for a long, long time...he'd still be your brother, ¿sí?"
He smiles with relief and hugs Tía around the neck. Tía always knew how to explain things in just the right way, and he changes his mind just a little.
He still wants to be tall and strong and brave when he grows up, but he wants to have Tía's words and hugs to give, too.
Julieta lets the children take the lead as they pull the borrowed cart around the square. Luisa is keeping Camilo within arm's reach and pulls him away from the baker's stall and the butcher's and the florist's and the cobbler's as they pass. Antonio is riding in the cart and is delighted to find himself surrounded by a pile of produce, clean sheets and blankets, and several empty mochilas of varying sizes. He's waving at everyone they see, but he hasn't let slip anything about his "two Tíos" to anyone in town yet. She knows it's only a matter of time before her brother's return gets around and doesn't want to think about what means for them... or him.
She sighs and leans her head on Agustín's shoulder as they walk.
"Out of the mouths of babes." He says.
She snorts but doesn't reply.
Even if you didn't see him for a long, long time...he'd still be your brother.
Right?
She doesn't know. The man Mamá found looks like Bruno and talks like Bruno and walks like Bruno. He has Bruno's clothes and his tics and his way with the children. He gets uncomfortable with small talk, gives the clothes off his back to a girl in need, and seems unsure if he belongs in any crowd.
And if those descriptors were presented to her outright...they'd make a Bruno Madrigal from ten years ago.
The man she had met yesterday morning... is tired. And weary. And guarded.
Fear and exhaustion have aged him, ten years of secrets have weighed on him. Had illness taken the color from his skin? Had there been Magic to sustain him despite it? Who had harbored him so completely this past decade that his own family had thought him dead? Who had kept him away from her?
Agustín nudges her out of her reverie. "He's still Bruno, amor."
"How do you know?" It's not really a question. "Where has he been?"
He kisses her forehead. "In your heart, if nowhere else. He's still your brother, whoever he is now."
"Mm."
They watch as Luisa's patience with Camilo finally runs out, and she picks him up and sets him in the cart next to Antonio. When he opens his mouth to protest, he has to deal with a calculated two-pronged attack; Toñito jumps happily into his brother's lap and hugs him, exclaiming, "Yay! It was getting lonely!" while Luisa's stern glower wobbles a bit at Antonio's enthusiasm.
Camilo's indignation fizzles out as he settles himself into the cart and hugs his brother back. "Can we hurry so I don't have to listen to Toñito's stomach growling at me?"
"That was you!"
"Was not!"
"Was, too! It's doing it again!"
"¡Ay! Don't poke me!"
"...Luisa...is Camilo... ticklish?"
"No! I'm not! I'm really, really not!"
"Go for his belly, Toñito!"
Julieta chuckles despite her fears that the boys will squash most of the food before they are able to make the short walk back to the others, an old, fuzzy memory of Pepa discovering Bruno was ticklish overlaying itself on the present.
Go for his belly, Pepa!
Julieta, don't encourage this - look at the shopping!
Lo siento, Mamá. He's my brother! It's so much fun to make him laugh!
She's glad to turn into the sun and set off and have an excuse for why her eyes are watering so much.
He's my brother. He's my brother. He's my brother.