I see you, Bruno

Chapter Fifteen

The triplets were just helping Mamá in the front garden with the plants because they needed to be watered and the weeds plucked when a farmer drove up in a truck. Once a week he brought Julieta special ingredients, some herbs that Bruno had long since lost track of.

His donkey ran tirelessly up the hill and the farmer waved joyfully to the family from afar. "It's nice and quiet here," he said by way of greeting and jumped down from the coaching box. "There's a very tense atmosphere down below right now."

"Why is that?" asked Mamá, patting her hands on her apron. "All hell is breaking loose at the Pérez'," he told her and Bruno listened up. "They've been shouting at each other in there all day. It's unbearable."

"What do you mean 'yelling at'?" asked Bruno, completely forgetting about the plant pot he had been tending.

"Well, Adella yells around - you know her loud voice," the farmer explained. "And the other woman, Lucia, yells back even louder. Like it's a shouting match," he shrugged. "But I think it will stop soon because either they've gone hoarse or they've started to agree.", he turned away from Bruno and went through the charges with Julieta.

"See," Pepa nudged Bruno with her elbow. "It won't be long before the argument between them is forgotten."

"I don't know if I can forget it, though," Bruno muttered. He would never forgive Adella for raising her hand to Lucia.

"I know, but as Mamá said, it's not any of our business," Pepa went back to her work. "Unless you're planning to marry Lucia so that you can become a part of her family and then finish Adella off like that because of it," she added.

But when she saw Bruno's considering expression, she rolled her eyes. "That was a joke, Hermano."

It wasn't long before the farmer drove back to the village. Julieta took the jars with her ingredients to the kitchen while Pepa helped her. It seemed like a kind gesture, but Bruno knew she was just trying to avoid work.

So it was just him and Mamá left to tend to the plants, but even they were interrupted rather quickly as a running figure moved closer and closer to them. While Mamá was still wondering who it could be, Bruno had already recognised her; he dropped the watering can and water poured out. "Lucia!" he shouted and ran towards her.

Lucia didn't look very well; her eyes were blubbery and she had scratches all over her arms. "Bruno!" she cried and no sooner was he with her than she let herself fall into his arms too. She was still crying and Bruno held her tight.

He wanted to ask her so many things, but this was not the moment.

"You have rejected me, Bruno!" she sniffled into his arms. Bruno sank to the floor but still held her. It was like in the room behind the wall when Bruno had cried, only they had changed places. "I'm not part of the family anymore! I don't have a family anymore!"

Bruno stroked her back. "You're still part of my family, Lucia," he said gently. "You belong to us and we belong to you."

And suddenly he understood.

His vision - the one he'd had when he'd told Andres about his harvest. The woman who had cried collapsed on the floor was Lucia! Without meaning to, he had seen her future. It was probably because she had been in the room with him. Her fate had crept into Andres' and revealed itself to Bruno.

That was incredible! He didn't know such a thing was possible! Well, he knew very little about his powers, but this was something completely new!

He almost laughed, but Lucia pulled him out of his thoughts with a loud sob. He felt guilty and hugged her tighter. "It's all right," he whispered. "I'm with you, okay? It's going to be okay."