23. Chapter 23

As is tradition with weddings there was a ton of alcohol. More than enough and the day after there was plenty of leftover bottles.

That's when Bruno very sneakily and very quietly… grabbed a couple of unopened bottles and hid them beneath his ruana before darting back to his room and then shoveled the bottles into his closet for safekeeping.

After that Bruno made his travel through the painting and down to the foundation of casita to see that his vision was of course… True.

While the place Bruno had already patched up was covered the cracks had spread a bit beyond it and he swallowed. Yeah… Yeah, that didn't look good at all. "Is there something else I can do than use spackle?" Bruno asked out in the air as if hoping that Casita itself would respond.

It didn't and Bruno sighed. "Hey, vision sight. Feel like being of actual use for once?" he asked. And of course.. Nope! Nothing happened!

Bruno could of course goes to his seer's room and have a deliberate vision but shuddered by the mere thought of it!

What if he was just going to see the cracks spread and spread? Swallowing the entire house! And once he had seen it. It could no longer be changed! And then nothing could be done! And that was just… No. Bruno didn't dare.

So he patched up the new cracks as good as he could and left just in time for the rest of the family to come out of their rooms and slowly start the cleanup from yesterday's wedding.

"Wow, where did you come from?" Felix asked stunned as Bruno just rounded the corner from the portrait.

Bruno blinked then looked over his shoulder and back at Felix. "My room." he simply said.

"Really?" Felix asked. "But I was just checking your room! Heh. Must have just missed you."

Then Bruno grimaced. "I'm late for breakfast aren't I?" he asked.

"A little." Felix shrugged. "No worries though. It was a long day yesterday."

And Bruno smiled a little defeated but nodded as he followed Felix to the dining room.

Only three days after did Julieta suddenly ask everyone to gather in the living room after dinner.

She was jumpy and in a kind of odd mood. Agustin as well was a big smile as he glanced down looking a little nervous.

"What's going on Julieta?" Felix asked amused as he was sitting in a chair right next to Pepa holding her hand.

"So…" Julieta began. "The truth is we found out three weeks ago. But I didn't want to say anything until after the wedding."

Bruno was stunned into silence. Pepa's eyes widened as well and everyone gasped.

Was she saying?… Could it be?

Bruno's eyes were wide.

"I'M PREGNANT!" Julieta just burst out and they gasped.

"Mi Mija!" Alma cried as she stood up and ran to her daughter. Cupping her face in her hands and kissed her on both her cheeks. "Oh what a blessing I can't believe!"

"EEEEH!" Pepa squealed in delight.

"Oh my god." Bruno gasped and he grasped his hair and he exclaimed. "OH MY GOD! Hah!" he laughed.

"Agustin! You're gonna be a Papa!" Felix exclaimed and Agustin laughed nervously.

"Si." Only to get a big hug from Felix making the others laugh.

"Julieta this is amazing." Bruno gasped as he approached her. "A nino… Or nina! Or… I… I just." and then he hugged his sister not knowing what else to do quickly followed by Pepa who laughed happily.

"You should have told us," Pepa said as she cried happily.

Julieta shook her head. "I didn't want to steal your thunder."

"Ah I wouldn't worry about that," Bruno commented as he stood back. "Pepa got plenty of thunder of her own. Like we all saw!"

"Hey!" Pepa exclaimed as she hit Bruno over the head. "I was fine until you told me it was going to rain!"

"Heh heh heh… yeaaaah." Bruno laughed nervously as he glanced aside.

Felix laughed. "A little one." he beamed happily. "Hey, maybe we can ask Bruno what the gender is!" He smiled.

Only for Bruno to just scream out of completely nowhere. "NO!"

There was complete and stunned shocked silence. In less than a second, the entire mood had just changed as they all wide-eyed turned to Bruno who was now just standing there. His eyes were wide and almost bulging out as he was gasping for air.

"Bro?" Felix asked.

"No!" Bruno exclaimed. "No prophecies about unborn babies! No-no-no!" he wildly shook his head. And then loudly knocked on the door frame. "Knock-knock-knock! Knock-on-wood!"

Again there was just utter and stunned quiet and suddenly Bruno gasped as he realized his slip up.

He had been so worked up and so scared that he hadn't even thought about being subtle with the knocking thing! Normally he would only ever do it obviously when alone! Otherwise, he would try to hide it. Now he had to look like a complete lunatic in front of his family.

"I… Erh… We should celebrate!" Bruno suddenly shouted. Desperate to get the attention away. "A baby! Wow! I'll get some drinks. NO WAIT! Julieta shouldn't drink… Tea! Tea is good for all sorts of stuff! I'll make us tea!" And then he just scurried out and into the kitchen.

Leaving the rest of the family very stunned and kind of concerned.

In the kitchen, Bruno groaned deeply. His hands were shaking as he was trying to put on some water and he had to gasp for breath.

He had only been five years old. But he still remembered one of his first visions… seeing that woman getting a miscarriage.

And even though everyone at that time had said it wasn't Bruno's fault… He had started to actually have doubts about that.

With shaking hands did Bruno pick up the salt shaker and put just a little bit of salt into his hand. Then threw it over his shoulder… The thought of Julieta losing her baby… The thought was unbearable. She was so happy! Everyone was so happy. What if he had that kind of vision and then it just happened... And there was nothing anyone could do about it?

Bruno swallowed as he swiped a hand over his face as suddenly the reality settled in and Bruno gulped.

A baby? Here? …. So many horrible things could happen to a baby. It could get sick! Or fall down the stairs! Or drown!

"No!" Bruno squinted his eyes shut. "No no no." he shook his head. And he inhaled deeply. It was going to be fine… Things were going to be just fine.

"Bruno?"

"ARGH!" Bruno shouted in shock and surprise then twirled around to see his sister in the door. It was Julieta. And she looked deeply concerned.

"Bruno… Are you all right?" Julieta asked.

"Ye-Yeah." Bruno gasped. "So-Sorry about all of that! I didn't mean." he swallowed. "I was just… Making tea." he pointed at the kettle on the stow. "Is there anything you would like? Cerro Tatama maybe? Or… Chamomile?"

"Whatever is fine," Julieta promised and Bruno swallowed. "Chamomile then." she finally said and Bruno nodded as he turned to find the tin with chamomile tea blend. "Look Bruno you don't have to worry. Just take the time you need. Pepa is explaining the situation so… I assume it's about that vision you had when we were kids."

Bruno squinted his eyes as he held the tin.

"I'm doing fine," Julieta assured. "The baby is fine."

Bruno nodded. "Good… I'm glad," he said and he swallowed.

"Bruno…" Julieta said.

"I just…" Bruno halted. "Don't ask me to look into your baby's future," he asked and he turned to Julieta finally revealing his misty eyes making Julieta gasp. "I'll do anything for you and the baby! But don't ask me to look into its future! I just… I can't." he swallowed and he sniffed. "Sorry." he wiped away a tear.

"Oh Hermano." Julieta gasped as she stepped forward and then hugged Bruno. "Of course not," she whispered.

And Bruno swallowed as he leaned into his sister's embrace where he stood for a little while. Before slowly… Slowly they moved away from each other.

"Will you be okay now?" Julieta asked.

Bruno nodded. "Just… Give me a minute," he asked.

"Take all the time you need. Okay?" Julieta asked. "You don't have to go back into the living room if you don't want to."

"I want to," Bruno said. "Give me five minutes. I'll be there."

And Julieta smiled. "Okay then." she leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. "Don't pressure yourself too much." she finally asked and Bruno smiled.

"I won't." He assured and Julieta smiled as she finally left while Bruno exhaled deeply but only for a little while as his eyes flashed green again.

"Urgh." Bruno groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "More cracks. Casita I just fixed the new ones!"

And the house squeaked in complaint.

"Sorry. I know it's not your fault." Bruno sighed. "Who would want to have cracks in their foundation?" he asked then he silenced. "So… Is this what my gift is actually for?" he asked. "Fixing you?"

There was a squawk. Almost like a shrug.

"Well at least it's one good thing I can do," Bruno muttered as he arranged the tea tray and finally after another five minutes Bruno came back to the living room with the promised tea.

And an entire family looking very concerned at him… But nobody was saying anything. And honestly. Part of Bruno kind of wished they would.

Soon though the conversation returned to the baby. How they could use the old nursery for the baby and what kinds of things they needed to buy such as rompers and a new baby bed.

It thankfully turned out to be a really nice evening. But by the end of it Bruno was just exhausted as he returned to his room where he found a bottle of rum and poured himself a glass that he just emptied out in one swallow before falling down on his bed and allowing the buzz to calm down his fractured mind.

But finally. Bruno just fell asleep. And enjoyed a long, deep sleep.