A Slow Burning Candle *Main story completed, additional scenes to be added*

Chapter 5 - Dolores Hears Everything

Julieta began to watch things a bit more closely.

Over the next few days, she watched as her brother got up earlier in the morning than she'd seen in a great while and go downstairs to prepare a pot of coffee.

He never stayed though. He prepared the cup, poured one for Luz and one for himself, and took off back to his room, often passing Mirabel on the way down and asking her to help him out again.

Mirabel, for her part, loved feeling like she was being helpful to the adults.

Luz continued to tell her little estudiante to thank her uncle on her behalf and tucked into the café each morning like it was liquid gold.

So, one morning, Julieta decided to follow her hermanito into the kitchen.

"Julieta?" He looked up, "Good morning."

"Good morning." She responded pleasantly, somewhat keeping her distance. She wanted to go about her line of thought gently, "I see you made coffee again."

"Yes, I thought it would help." He tapped his fingers on the counter, "You know how mamá wants me to help out more."

"She wants everyone to help all the time." Julieta began to gather supplies for breakfast, "You must make really good coffee though, Luz has nothing but compliments when I ask."

Though he didn't look at her, she noticed a half smile creep onto his face, "Thank you, it was the least I could do."

"No the least you could do would be to give her some beans for her house and let her brew them at home."

He paused, "You don't think she'd prefer that, do you?"

She pulled back, "No no no, I didn't mean it like that. You're doing something nice for her, besides, café is always sweeter when someone else makes it for you. That's what my Agustín says."

Julieta continued when he didn't respond, "I think she's really getting to like it here. She's fitting in well with the other women from the village. In fact, the only one I'm worried about leaving her alone with is Pepa!"

"¿Por qué?"

"Well, besides the fact that I don't want her to accidentally get struck by lightning? I'm worried she'll have Luz set up on a date with every man in the village before too long."

It was a risky gambit for the healer to take, but she noticed him pause before reaching for the hot water to pour.

The pause was only a second, but to the trained eye, it was hard to miss.

"Did she ask to be?"

"No, no. You know our sister though; she loves all sorts of drama. Now that she's married, she has to live vicariously through everyone else."

They both gave a little laugh, his more restrained than hers.

"I've told her to knock it off."

He sighed, "That's probably for the best."

They went to work, side by side. Julieta preparing breakfast, Bruno drawing the hot water over the grinds to extract flavor the way he'd learned a long time ago.

Good food took time, even in an enchanted house.

And thankfully, Bruno was somewhat distracted when Mirabel wandered into the kitchen and her mother shooed her out, finger pressed to her lips to keep her quiet.

"Good morning mis estudiantes!" Luz's voice rang out and Bruno turned around, looking for Mirabel.

"She's already out there," Julieta handed him the saucer, "You'll have to take it out yourself."