CHAPTER 3

The following morning, Mirabel let out a sharp hiss of pain as she sat up, the joint pain and stiffness in her legs worse than usual. "I overdid it yesterday, Casita," she confessed in a whisper, noticing that Bruno was still sleeping.

'Do you want me to get help?' the house asked, concerned.

Before Mirabel could respond, she watched one of her tio's rats nip him sharply on the back of the neck to wake him up before turning to look at Mirabel.

"Mira?" Bruno murmured, stretching a knot out of his back as he sat up, moving into a cross-legged position. "Are you okay?"

"I, uh..." Feeling her left calf cramp up, she bit back a cry of pain as she reached down to try and work out the tightness.

Bruno was on his feet in an instant and swiftly went over to Mirabel, massaging her leg with practiced fingers. Within moments, he felt Mira start to relax and he looked up with a reminiscent smile. "Before I left, you had constant problems with the muscle cramps. Julieta and I usually had to massage your legs to get them to stop."

"I haven't had the cramps in a few years," Mira admitted as Bruno handed her her clothes, turning away to give her privacy. "But I was on my feet too much yesterday, and..." Once she was dressed, she waited until Bruno was facing her before she nodded at her wheelchair. "Could you help me, please?"

Picking Mirabel up and getting her settled, Bruno helped his sobrina with her shoes before asking, "So... do you want me to stay here until Julieta tells everyone about me, or...?"

Thinking the situation over, Mirabel leaned back in her wheelchair as she considered the options.

Abuela was going to go nuclear no matter what, and if she started yelling, it would hurt Dolores's ears...

"I'm going to talk to Mama first," Mirabel decided, quickly. "I'll figure out a way to get my sisters and primos out of the house to do... something. I - " She stopped as her phone chirped, indicating that she had a text message. "This is perfect," she murmured with a smile. Looking back at Bruno, she outlined her plan as Micha finally woke up and hopped over to Mira's shoulder. "Stay here till Casita gives you the go-ahead to go down to the kitchen. I am going to wrangle Luisa, Isabela, and Dolores for the day and Camilo can look after Antonio." When her uncle looked anxious about the impending reveal, she gave him her best reassuring look. "We're going to figure this out, okay? Together. But it's probably best for us kids to steer clear until the dust settles."

x

In the kitchen, Mira was surprised to see her mother already puttering about as she worked on putting breakfast together, including tamales. A platter of brigadeiros sat on the counter and when Mira popped one in her mouth, her eyes widened at the taste of her mother's homemade dulce de leche. "Mama, how long have you been up?"

"I couldn't sleep," Julieta confessed, before directing her daughter to start mixing and forming arepas. "Last night, I... I have been dreaming and praying and wishing for Bruno to come back for years. And now he is back and... and the first thing I did was attack him. I hit him and yelled at him... I should have been throwing my arms around him and hugging him!" her voice caught as she added, "I should have told him that I was sorry for being a horrible sister."

"Mama, if I had seen Luisa or Isabela after they'd been gone without a trace for ten years... I can't say that I would have acted any differently," Mirabel assured her mother. "You were caught off-guard, and you let your emotions get the better of you. Tio Bruno knows that you're not really angry at him, Mama." Thinking about Luisa, she shrugged as she pointed out, "It's like how I know now that Luisa doesn't really hate me. She just pushed me away for so long because she was afraid of how I would react to finding out about Tio Bruno."

"I know what you're trying to say, corazon, but I pushed Bruno away because...," With a deep sigh, Julieta threw up her hands in exasperation. "I don't even know why anymore. Because I was busy with you and your sisters... I was spending too many hours at the hospital... Because I was too tired to listen to my own brother talk about his problems..."

Sitting down at the table, Julieta wiped tears from her eyes as she went on. "Bruno was used to being pushed aside by Mama and Pepa. The morning we found out that he disappeared... I thought it was my fault. I thought... I thought that he'd finally had enough... That me pushing him away was the last straw. For years I thought that I had indirectly killed my own brother."

Not sure if she wanted to know the truth, Mirabel hesitated before finally asking, "Did he... Did he have a history of...?"

"Of hurting himself?" Julieta finished before nodding, shakily. "Yeah. Self-harm, drinking... suicide attempts... I tried helping him find a psychiatrist, but he stopped going after a few months. We tried medication, and... and he nearly died after overdosing." Standing up and going back to her breakfast preparations, she confessed, "I don't want to go through all that again. I want to help Bruno, but I don't know how."

"Start by telling him how you feel," Mirabel advised, simply. "I know that he loves this family. It hurt him to stay away, but he thought he was doing the right thing."

Hearing Luisa come into the kitchen, Mirabel was about to offer a warm greeting, but she stopped as she noticed her sister's eye twitching slightly. "Exactly how long have you been eavesdropping?"

For a brief moment, Luisa looked like she was going to brush off the question, but when she caught her little sister's look, her whole body sagged a bit, and she sat down as she began running on. "I'm really, really sorry, Mira! I hated pushing you away and acting like I didn't want to help you, because I did, but I know how you don't let anything go, and I knew that you'd start asking questions about what was bothering me, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep Tio Bruno's secret, and I promised him, and you know how I hate to break a promise - "

Wheeling over to Luisa, Mirabel hugged her sister, unable to suppress a smile as her middle sister wrapped her in a bear hug. "How about you and I take a spa day with Isa and Dolores? We'll go get our hair and nails done... We can go out for lunch and then do some shopping..."

"You mean, like... do girl stuff?" Luisa asked, a note of surprise in her voice as she considered the idea. "Yeah... Yeah, I'd like that," she replied, smiling. However, after a moment, she frowned as she thought about what everyone else would think. "But what about Abuela? You know she's not going to like me skipping out on working."

But Mirabel was ready for the argument and pulled out her phone, bringing up the text message from Mariano Guzman. "We've got to make sure Dolores looks her best if we've got company coming tonight for dinner, right?"

"Don't worry about your grandmother," Julieta assured her daughters. "If Mirabel's news doesn't provide a sufficient distraction... Well, let's just say I have a bombshell of my own that I need to drop."

As soon as breakfast was finished, Mirabel corralled her hermanas and prima and they headed into town, Dolores stopping and wincing as she heard Abuela demanding, "Why didn't you tell us this last night?!"

"Is everything alright?" Isabela wanted to know, watching as Dolores looked back at the house, eyeing Camilo and Antonio as they headed towards the woods with Parce the jaguar.

"Tio Bruno is back," Mirabel explained, before correcting herself. "Well, technically he never actually left. But he's...back from hiding in the walls." Before Isa could head back towards the casita, Mira zipped in front of her, cutting her off. "It's going to be pretty hotheaded in there right now. Let's try and enjoy the day, okay?"

Arriving at the spa, Mira held a whispered conference with one of the employees, Penelope, to explain the situation. Once the four young women were whisked away for individual pampering, Mirabel found herself being taken care of by an older woman named Stephanie Beatriz.

"Let me see your hands," Stephanie requested, sitting down so she was face to face with her patient. Examining Mirabel's hands, she gently touched the callouses and faint scars, smiling as she noted, "You are a healer like your mother. But you seek to heal the mind instead of the body. Your hands are worn and tired from your crutches and wheelchair, aren't they?" With a twinkle in her eye, Stephanie nodded as she concluded, "I will make sure your hands, shoulders, and legs receive special care as far as your massage. And I will make your nails look more beautiful than you have ever seen them."

Once Mirabel had removed her clothing and set it aside, the masseuse helped her up onto the table and began on her feet and ankles, feeling the scars from countless operations and the pins, screws, and other metal needed to correct the limb deformities.

"Your leg muscles are tense," Stephanie pointed out, kneading Mirabel's left leg with practiced hands. "Our bodies were never meant to withstand the things you have gone through. You've tried to repair yourself, but I fear that it has done you more harm than good."

"You don't know how if feels to see people take something as simple as walking for granted," Mirabel argued, trying to will her body to relax. "To not be like everyone else..."

Stephanie didn't take offense at the remark and instead nodded at a framed photograph on the desk. "Before I came to Encanto, I was a dancer in Bogota. I'd moved there from my small village, chasing fame and hopefully a wealthy husband. But then I was in a terrible accident. I was paralyzed and could barely move my arms. I was in the hospital for over a year and when my parents came to take me home, I was told that I would have to have someone take care of me the rest of my life."

Sitting up, clutching the sheet to her chest, Mirabel's eyes widened in surprise. "Your parents brought you here to be healed by my mother, didn't they?"

With a fond smile, Stephanie nodded as she pointed to another photograph. "Doctor Madrigal took care of me for several years. Between my original injuries and the fact that my body had started to heal on its own, it took time for your mother's Gift to fix me. And while I can no longer dance like I used to, I take comfort in knowing that I can help other people who are in pain."

Isabela let out a groan of relief as her masseuse, Viola Tiaz, dug the heels of her hands into her lower back and right hip. Clumps of lavender immediately sprang up, filling the room with a relaxing scent.

"You've doing a lot of kneeling, haven't you?" Viola queried, feeling the knots in her patient's back, frowning as she detected the beginnings of a spinal curve. "You need to be careful. Your spine is starting to distort."

"Is that bad?" Isa asked, looking over her shoulder with alarm. She couldn't imagine having something wrong with her back. What if she needed surgery? What if something happened during the procedure and she ended up like Mirabel - needing either a wheelchair or crutches the rest of her life?

"It's something to monitor closely," Viola replied, cautiously. "You should see an orthopedist about a back brace to keep your spine straight while you're working." Feeling the tightness in Isabela's shoulders, she added, "A brace might also help with the shoulder pain."

Looking over her shoulder one more, Isa frowned slightly as she asked, "How did you know I was having -?"

"The muscles and joints in your body often betray what we're really feeling, even when we try to hide it. Your hips and knees tell me that you're kneeling on the ground too much without any cushioning, and your shoulders and back tell me you hunch whenever you think you can get away with it."

"Is it too much to ask to just be... lazy and messy sometimes?" Isabela mused aloud.

Viola pondered the question and after a while, she replied, "There's a yoga class here that meets every Monday and Thursday. You should join in sometime. I think it would be something you'd enjoy."

Meeting at the spa's cafe around noon, Isabela and Mirabel were astounded by how relaxed Luisa and Dolores seemed. Dolores, in fact, seemed to be practically glowing.

"I heard Mariano talking to his mother about coming for dinner tonight," Dolores explained, taking a bite of her salad before blushing furiously. "She reminded him to pick up something from the jewelers."

"Awww!" Mirabel sighed, smiling at her cousin. "I am so excited for you, Lola!"

"So, you're definitely going to need your hair done," Luisa pointed out. "You've already had the manicure and pedicure - "

"And new sandals," Mirabel pointed out, catching Isa's approving look. "Show off those perfectly painted toes!"

"And I am going to cut my hair and get it colored," Isabela announced, grinning widely. When her sisters and Dolores looked stunned by the declaration, Isa elaborated. "I'm going to donate my hair. The manicurist who did my nails told me that her niece is in the hospital undergoing treatment for cancer and the poor thing has lost all of her hair. So, I am going to have a special wig made for her."

Mirabel felt herself tearing up and she wished her own hair was long enough to do the same thing. However, she knew that there was something she could do, and she brightened as she asked, "What's the girl's favorite animal? I'll make her her own little plushie."

"And I'd be happy to help the family out if they have any chores they can't get to," Luisa added, feeling a rush of warmth as she thought about using her Gift to help someone who really needed it.

Listening carefully and closing her eyes to give her better focus, Dolores homed in on Belinda Flores, and her daughter, Lina. "Lina wants her mother to sneak in the family's cat, Bubbles," Dolores reported. "But the doctors aren't allowing it."

Isa considered the situation and after a moment, she straightened up, a resolved look in her eye as she looked at her sisters. "The two of you should go over to the hospital and see how you can help the Flores family. Dolores and I will head over to the salon, and we'll meet at the ice cream shop before we hit the clothing shops."

Luisa nodded, swallowing a bite of her sandwich before she replied, "Sounds like a plan."

Julieta was silently fuming as she prepared dinner, trying not to start cursing again as she considered the intense argument that had begun shortly after breakfast.

As expected, Alma Madrigal had been shocked and astonished that not only was Bruno back, but that he'd never actually left the house.

Then, Alma had become thoroughly dismayed and enraged that Felix, Bruno, and Julieta had concealed the fact that the house had been breaking off and on for years.

When Bruno had finally confessed what he'd seen in his vision of Mirabel, the Madrigal matriarch had frozen, a look of horror on her face mixed with anger and something Julieta couldn't quite describe but had never seen before.

The yelling and accusations only ceased when Maria Guzman had called, saying that she and Mariano wished to come over for dinner as Mariano was ready to propose to Dolores.

The news threw Alma into a tizzy, and she'd whirled about on her family, giving clear orders to say nothing about the problems with the magic.

Bruno had tried to duck out of dinner, but Pepa wouldn't hear of it, even when their mother clearly indicated that it was a good idea.

"You've already driven Bruno away once, Mama!" Pepa shouted, her cloud storming, dangerously. "I am not about to let you do it again!"

Stopping in the middle of chopping vegetables, Julieta slammed the knife down on the counter, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths, willing herself to calm down.

It wasn't fair! She should be overjoyed by her brother's return and her sobrina marrying the man she loved.

Leaning against the counter, Julieta bowed her head, letting out the flood of tears she'd been holding back for a fair portion of the day. This should have been one of the happiest times of her life... and her own mother had ruined everything!

With one swift motion, Julieta whirled about, throwing an empty jar at the wall, letting out a scream of frustration as the glass shattered, littering the floor with shards.

With a startled yelp, she felt the house moving her over to the elevator before practically throwing her inside and slamming the door closed. "Let me out!" Julieta demanded, slamming the side of the elevator.

'No,' Casita replied, using the floor display.

"Let me out!" Juli shrieked again, throwing a punch at the door.

"This is for your own good," Casita insisted before opening up and pushing Julieta towards Dolores's room, throwing open the door and forcing Juli inside before shutting the door and locking it.

"I'm sorry I threw a jar at you," Julieta apologized before trying the doorknob again, growling when it remained locked.

Feeling the magic of the house ripple through the room, Julieta turned, surprised when she realized that Dolores's room had drastically changed.

Usually, the room had concrete walls and thick carpeting with lots of cushions and curtains instead of actual doors.

Now, it was nearly empty except for a stone and tile floor and a large cabinet upon which sat dozens of clay and ceramic jars, each with writing on them.

Upon closer inspection, Juli's fists clenched as she read the words on one of the jars.

"Encanto is counting on our family and our Gifts!"

"Mirabel, you should stay in your room so you're not in the way."

"How will it reflect on the Madrigal name if one of us is a cripple?"

Hurling the jar at the wall, Julieta screamed as it smashed to pieces. Grabbing another jar which read, "Julieta, there must be something wrong with your Gift. Why can't you fix Mirabel's disability?"

"Damn you, Mama!" Julieta shrieked as she broke the jar on the floor. "It wasn't enough that Mira's body was broken, but you had to constantly break her spirit and heart as well?!"

SMASH!

"You made Pepa into an anxiety-fueled mess!"

CRASH!

"You work everyone too hard trying to protect the precious family miracle!"

Another jar shattered as Julieta screamed once more. "Do you see what you've done to me, Mama?! What you've done to your family?! It wasn't enough for us to have to use our Gifts to help the community, but we had to do it without magic, too?!"

The energy seemed to drain from Julieta, and she let out a deep breath as the room returned to normal before shuffling a loveseat over to her. Dropping down onto the cushioned seat, Julieta looked over to the table next to her, a small smile on her face as she saw the picture of Felix at one of his book signings.

After finding out that Jorge, Hernando, and 'The Seer' were supposed to be based on Bruno and his visions and acting abilities, Julieta had been mortified and horrified.

"It's not enough that everyone in town thinks that Bruno was a bad omen, but now you're making him the villain in children's books?!"

Of course, that had been before Julieta had actually read the books. Halfway through the first novel, she'd sincerely apologized for being so harsh in her criticism.

Felix constantly went out of his way to stress the point that 'The Seer' did not make bad things happen. He had no control over what he saw and when he did see danger or a bad situation, Jorge and Hernando did their best to stop it. And even when the pair couldn't prevent the event from coming to pass, the ending wasn't always grim.

Like when The Seer had seen the death of a young father, resulting in the family losing their home. It had seemed terrible to read but discovering that the father had been physically abusive changed things considerably.

"I'm not writing Bruno as the villain," Felix had insisted. "When he comes back, I want people to see that he was never the specter of doom everyone always made him out to be."

Felix's eternal optimism that Bruno would come back made sense in retrospect, Julieta realized, setting the picture back down.

"Feeling better?" Casita asked, hopefully.

"No," Julieta admitted, standing and heading for the door. "But I am feeling calmer, so that will have to do."

Heading back down to the kitchen, Julieta felt tears well up in her eyes as she saw Pepa, Felix, Agustin, and Bruno trying to put dinner together.

Camilo and Antonio were finishing setting the table and when Antonio saw her, he ran over, looking worried. "Are you okay, Tia Juli?"

"We saw the glass shards in the waste bin," Camilo explained before nodding at his mother. "And Mami said she saw Casita pushing you into Dolores's room."

Sitting down at the kitchen table, Julieta picked Antonio up, setting the young boy on her knee as she replied, "I was angry and hurt because of some things your abuela said earlier, Tonito. Casita wanted me to get it out of my system so that I didn't accidentally hurt my family."

"Well, the family is lucky that you've taught all of us a little bit of cooking," Agustin chimed, pulling fresh arepas off of the griddle. "It's nothing fancy, but it should be tasty."

"Thank you all so much," Julieta said, wiping away a few tears. "And, uh... What about the girls? Do we know when they'll be back, or -?"

"We're here, Mama!" Luisa announced, leading her sisters and Dolores to the kitchen.

"You look amazing, Lola!" Pepa exclaimed, admiring her daughter's new hairdo, dress, and sandals. "Mariano is going to be distracted the entire dinner," she added, grinning and creating a rainbow over the room.

But as attentions turned to Isabela, everyone stared in wide-eyed astonishment at the young woman's new look. Her hair had been cut a touch shorter than shoulder length in a layered cut and was now flowing with waves and curls. Blue and green streaks - courtesy of some special flower pollens - stood out against the black and highlighted the splashes of color in Isa's new dress.

"You look... You look like my perfect little wildflower," Julieta mused, touching the blue and green in her daughter's hair. "I think your new looks suits you to a 'T'."

Filling her mother in on the spa day, Mirabel found that - for the first time in a long time - she wasn't resentful of Isabela's grace or Luisa's strength. Getting out with her sisters and doing something completely fun reminded her that, although they were Madrigals, they were allowed to enjoy themselves once in a while.