32. Parent/child

Mirabel woke up to a sunbeam streaming through a window.

She yawned as she sat up, stretching her arms up into the air. She reached over to grab her glasses from the side table, but found herself trapped between the wall and a sleeping body, her glasses far out of reach.

She blinked at the fuzzy figure sleeping beside her, and realized hazily that it was Bruno.

What was Papá doing in her bed? She squinted her eyes and reached out to poke his shoulder.

Suddenly the memories of the past week filled her mind, and she remembered everything that had happened. Bruno wasn't in her bed she was in his. She sat up suddenly, jostling the bed and making Bruno groan loudly.

“Mirabel?” Bruno said in a tired voice, yawning loudly and turning around to look at her. “What time is it?” Mirabel gulped, then answered, “Uh... morning time? I don't have my glasses to check the clock.”

She was pretty sure Bruno nodded, based on the fact that his hair seemed to bounce a little. He laid his head back down and seemed to close his eyes. “That's nice...” he said, yawning a little bit.

“Uh... Papá?” Mirabel said, and Bruno hummed in acknowledgment. “You're... in my way.”

Bruno lifted his head up, and said, “Serves you right... seeing as you're in my bed right now. What are you even doing here?”

Mirabel blinked at him, thoughts of is he stupid, or just ignorant going through her mind. “Uh... you forced me to sleep here... remember? You said you 'didn't trust me further than you can throw me'?” Bruno looked over at her, and she saw his eyes widen.

“Oh... right...” he said, and then he seemed to produce her glasses from out of nowhere. “Because of the... running away thing. Dios mio you're starting to take after me.”

Mirabel froze, sliding her glasses onto her face and getting her first good look at Bruno that morning. She was met with the left side of his tired face... which was sporting a... large bruise...

“Papá!” she cried, staring at his face, he turned and looked at her, a confused look in his eyes. “What happened to your face?”

“That?” he asked, pointing at his jaw and sighing, “Well... I... uh... ran into Agustin...”

Mirabel froze, Agustin seemed nice enough, if your name wasn't Bruno Madrigal that is. And unfortunately for the man next to her, his name happened to be Bruno Madrigal.

I'm gonna kill him.

“Oh.” was all she could force herself to say, then a solution popped into her mind. “It'll be okay Papá. We'll just ask Casa to get some of Julieta's...”

She froze. No. She couldn't ask Casa to get some of Julieta's food. Because Casa wasn't alive anymore. And Julieta didn't have a gift. Never again would her home playfully slide a plate over to her, never again would Casa throw her out of bed and into the kitchen. Papá would never have another vision. Julieta's food would never heal another grateful townsperson. Never again would...

“Mirabel? Mirabel! Don't cry Mija.” Bruno sat up and grabbed onto her shoulders. “It's okay Mirabel. It's okay... Hey, hey,” Mirabel stared at him with teary eyes, and Bruno gave her a commiserating look. The next thing she knew he was placing a gray stuffed rat in her hands, and wiping her tears away with his thumb.

Mirabel stared at the stuffed rat, her thumbs running over its little fabric face. She couldn't bring herself to look in Bruno's eyes. She might not have lost a gift with the death of the miracle, but Bruno... Bruno had lost the thing that had been with him for nearly all of his life. He had lost the thing that made him... special. Now he was just like...

“Mirabel, what are you thinking about? You've got your bad-thoughts face on.” Mirabel forced herself to look up into his eyes, and found them warm and concerned.

“I...” she started, but she couldn't find another word to follow it. She hugged the rat close to her chest and shut her eyes tight.

Bruno's hand dropped to her shoulder, and she found more tears building up in her eyes. She sat there in silence, then she choked out, “I killed Casa. I destroyed the miracle... I took away all of your gifts! I took away their home! I-”

Before she could say another word she was pulled into a bone-crushing hug. She gasped a bit as Bruno held her, and felt her arms pinned to her chest.

“Oh mija,” Bruno said into her tangled hair. “You never... No. That's not true. It's not your fault. You did the best you could. Believe me. Even if it were true it wouldn't be your fault. I know you too well Mirabel. You were only trying to help. I'm sure of it.”

Mirabel nodded deftly, then she gasped out, “Papá... you're choking me...”

Bruno let go of her, then sat back in the bed. He stared at her, then readjusted her glasses tenderly. “Mirabel...” he said, his voice trailing off. He seemed to find what he wanted to say a moment later though, and restarted, “Mirabel, you never killed Casa. It wasn't your fault. I should have... I shouldn't have told you to stay behind. You have every right to know your family. I was...” His eyes dropped to his hands, which he fiddled with a little. “I was... selfish. To try to keep you here. I should have known better.”

Mirabel stared at him, then said, “But... your vision. You knew that I would hurt the magic.” Bruno's eyes snapped to hers, and then he said in a dark voice, “You knew about the vision?”

“Well... I sorta... went into your tower...” Mirabel said, and a confused expression came across Bruno's face. “How...” he asked holding up his hands palms out towards her. “Did you have time to go to my tower? How long did it take for you to get to Casita?”

“Uh...” Mirabel said, feeling sweat start to develop on her forehead. “Uh... about a day?”

Bruno stared at her with a shocked expression. “A DAY?!” he yelled in a disbelieving voice. “How on earth did you get across the mountains in a day?!”

Casa had kept Mirabel's secret. Mirabel didn't know if she should be relieved, or upset. “Oh... uh...” she stammered, rubbing the back of her neck and avoiding the eye contact that Bruno for once in his life seemed to have no problem maintaining. “I... asked Casa for a passage between it and Casita, and... it made me a secret tunnel.”

She held her breath for a moment, then risked a glance at Bruno's face. He had a blank look on it, and she was about to ask him what was wrong when he said in a slow voice, “You... got a tunnel. And I had to climb the freaking mountains?!”

His tone made her wince, and she held her arms up in a half shrug. Bruno face-palmed, and then said in a pained voice, “Mira... I don't know if I should be upset... or insanely proud with how creative you are.”

“Uh... the last one.” Mirabel asked, a hopeful smile crossing her face. Bruno looked at her head on, and said, “Very well. Good job on your tunnel. Thanks for accidentally making a bigger one for us to go back through.”

“Wait.” Mirabel said, sitting up and staring at him. “We're going back?” Bruno laughed a bit, and nodded. “Of course. I promise Julieta I'd bring you back so she could at least say goodbye... plus, we can't just let Abuela stay here... or go back all by herself.”

Mirabel leaned against the wall and groaned. “Of... course...” she said in a tired voice. Bruno chuckled, and said, “And, don't forget this, even if it is Not. Your. Fault. You did sorta make the rest of our family homeless... so we need to make sure they get settled down again.”

Bruno then stood up, and stretched. “Ya know, sometimes being a responsible adult is annoying.” he said, looking back at Mirabel. She nodded at him, and watched he took a step forward.

“Ugh..” he said, “My legs feel like jelly. But, ya know, I did just climb some pretty tall mountains, and then run down them, and ride a horse... right back...”

Bruno froze, then he turned towards Mirabel, his eyes wide. “Mirabel... I forgot the horse.” he said, dread filling his voice. Mirabel blinked at him, and then he ordered, “Alright, Mirabel, you make some breakfast for the three of us while I go find the horse I stole- borrowed! I borrowed it!”

Mirabel nodded, a small smile sliding onto her face. She set the stuffed rat she was holding down on the bed, and said, “Yeah... you go do that Papá. Don't want another guy punching you in the face because you took something that was his.”

Bruno's face blanched. “Oh yeah...” he said in a nervous voice. “About that Mirabel... I'm sorta... not... your... uh...”

“Father?” Mirabel offered, and pointed at his face, “Yeah. I figured that out when Agustin said he was going to murder you.” A pained look crossed her own face, and Bruno grew concerned once more.

“What's wrong?” he asked, and Mirabel shook her head. “Just something Abuela said when she was... Right before Casita fell.” Mirabel admitted. Bruno's eyes widened a bit, a protective light starting to build up in his eyes.

“She said that you weren't my father, and you know what I said?” Mirabel continued, and watched Bruno shake his head. “I said that you were better than that.

“I said that you are my Papá.”

Alma woke up later than she usually did, in a room she didn't recognize.

The room had white walls, decorated with butterflies, hourglasses, and rats. The dresser was a bright turquoise, and had fabric poking out of the drawers. There was a sewing machine and box sitting on top of it, along with several skeins of brightly colored fabric.

As she sat up she realized where she was, and a deep sense of guilt settled on her shoulders.

That was, until she received a little visitor.

A small brown creature was casually making its way across the floor, a slice of bread held firmly in its tiny teeth. Alma stared at the rat, and the rat seemed to notice her and stare right back.

A part of her wanted to grab a broom and force the rat out of the room, but she knew that the owner of the house would not appreciate that. Bruno had always had an affinity for the small creatures, and it seemed that he had instilled that into his niece... daughter... adopted daughter.

Bruno... had gotten Julieta's permission to take Mirabel. He had said that yesterday.

As her mind decided to start on its rabbit trail the rat seemed to snap out of its initial shock of seeing a new person in the home it had most likely known its entire life.

Alma forced her mind to stop thinking of such things. She stood up, and realized that she wouldn't be able to change, seeing as all of her clothes were back in the wreckage of Casita. So she settled with smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt as best as she could with her hands, and then left the room.

She found her way back to the kitchen, and found her son and granddaughter already in there, talking at the table.

“-even though I might have done it in this extreme circumstance Mirabel, it doesn't mean that you can!”

“But Papá! Just think of how much easier my life could be if I just took everything that I needed!” Mirabel's voice was just in between a joking and serious tone, and Alma watched her son groan and slide his still-tired face into his hands. “Mirabel... don't make me leave you here when I go back to the Encanto. I really don't feel like getting punched by Agustin again. Stealing is not okay!”

“But you stole that horse-”

“I know what I did!” Bruno exclaimed, exasperation filling his voice. He threw his hands in the air, and light laugh came from Mirabel. “And I'll never do it again young lady! Just as long as you don't do anything that stupid again!”

“Buenos dias,” Alma said, and instantly the two arguers looked at her. She stepped into the room, and only heard a stiff “Buenos dias,” returned from Mirabel. She sat down at one of the two vacant seats, feeling Bruno's eyes glued to her.

The three Madrigals sat in silence for a minute, then Mirabel said loudly, “Anyway... How dare you suggest that I would do something stupid! I only did something stupid because you did something stupid!”

Bruno groaned, then took a long sip out of his mug. “Mirabel, I already apologized for that! You don't need to bring up-”

“At least I helped get the family to open up about their trauma! You seem to like to sweep it under the rug!” Mirabel said, and Alma found herself stiffening.

She stared at Bruno, who sighed once more, loudly. He ran a hand through his hair, and then said in a quiet voice, “Trauma is not a breakfast topic Mirabel. Thank you for doing that, but you know why I do what I do. Now...”

His eyes flicked up and met Alma's, and he smiled tiredly at her. “Lo siento Madre, Mirabel and I were just having a discussion about the last week... Can we get you some breakfast? We have toast and... uh... huevos apparently. We... uh... ate everything else.”

She smiled a bit, Bruno awkwardly shifting in his seat. He was sending Mirabel kind-hearted and teasing glared every couple of seconds, and she found it incredibly similar to when he had been younger, and the arguments he'd hold with Pepa. Except Mirabel couldn't make a cloud pop over her head to get him to stop.

“Some food would do me good,” she said, and Bruno nodded, standing up and filling a plate with breakfast. He went ahead and poured her a cup of coffee as well, and she whispered a “gracias” to him as he handed her the meal.

“So...” Bruno said, glancing between Mirabel and Alma. “How was your sleep Madre?” She looked at him and said, “It was... good. I haven't slept in a different bed for a long time.”

To her surprise it was Bruno who winced, and not Mirabel. Mirabel dipped her head down, seeming to find the table more interesting than her two relatives. “Yeah. I get that... the first few nights here... well... We had been sleeping on the ground, so they were actually pretty restful...”

Alma watched her son begin to fidget, and then glanced at Mirabel. Mirabel was staring at Bruno with a confused expression.

“Uh... Papá... why don't you... uh... drink some more coffee.” Mirabel said, placing a hand on Bruno's forearm. He looked at her, and then smiled warmly. It was the look Pedro always had whenever he held any of his...

It started to hurt seeing Bruno smiling at Mirabel. Alma tore her eyes away from the two them, and started to eat her food. A hunger she didn't know she had demanding for her to eat everything on the plate her son had given her.

When she finally brought her eyes up again Bruno had his hand tucked inside of Mirabel's, and he was drinking from his cup of coffee. Mirabel was smiling at him, and using her free hand to grab her own cup of coffee.

Alma averted her gaze once more. She felt like she was witnessing something she shouldn't. She had watched interactions like this between her other sons and their children, but there was just something about Bruno and Mirabel that made her feel like she was... unneeded. Unwanted was probably a better word for it. But she knew that neither of them would ever admit that. No one would.

“Mija, could you... get me some more coffee?” Bruno asked after another minute of uninterrupted silence. Mirabel smiled once more at him and slid her hand out of his. She took his mug to the counter and poured more coffee into it.

That left Bruno and Alma alone at the table for a minute. The two of them made eye contact, then Bruno blurted out, “Mirabel and I are going back to the Encanto later today. We're... uh... Going on the horse. There's probably not a lot of room, what with the two of us... but you can come... I mean, you are sorta the one in charge over there... and they probably need you... I mean...”

Alma felt her breath catch in her throat, and was about to respond right before Bruno cleared his throat and said, “Wow. That came out really badly. What I meant to say is, please accompany me and Mirabel back to the Encanto.”

A smile came across Alma's face, and she said quietly, “Of course Bruno. Thank you for inviting me to come with you.” Bruno nodded once, then took his mug from Mirabel as she handed it to him.

“Aw,” Mirabel said, sliding back into her chair. “You two are bonding again!”