THEIR SUITE WAS A WELCOMED
SIGHT. Ellen was close to exhaustion and
even Slade had to admit he was tired. He
walked to the rope hanging by the fire place and tugged it a couple times. Ellen kicked off her shoes as she stepped
inside the bedroom door. She loved her
new clothes but longed for the old comfortable ways of home. She pulled off the
shirtwaist and skirt to don her pretty robe.
Slade came in as she was tying the sash around her waist.
He smiled to see her
bashfulness when she caught sight of him over her shoulder. “It’s all right, Mrs. Slade. I’m allowed to watch my wife changing her
dress. I love watching her--no matter
what she is doing.”
He walked across and
wrapped his arms around her waist to kiss the side of her neck. How wonderful it was to be able to nuzzle her
ruffles aside and kiss the top of her shoulder.
“I’ve ordered some coffee and something
for us to eat before we start packing for tomorrow,” he told her as they went
back to the fire in the sitting room.
There they snuggled in the warmth until a knock at the door announced
their food.
With the tray came a brief note
from the Commandant’s wife inviting them to dinner in the hotel dining room
later in the evening. Ellen wrote a happy response to send back by the
messenger. Slade asked the maid to have them called an
hour before they were due to dinner.
“Beatriz is the sweetest
woman! You will like her, Eli. I know she chose the hotel dining room to
allow us to rest as long as we can. She
is just that considerate! The Commandant
dotes on her.”
“Well, I’m famished.” Slade
said. “Breakfast was a long time ago and
it will be quite a while until we are to meet the Ortega-Garcia’s for dinner”
He pulled the small table to the
front of the settee. There was cold
fried chicken and white bread with butter on the tray with some apples kept
carefully over the winter. A silver pot of hot coffee with cream and sugar
accompanied them. They ate their combination
lunch and afternoon snack quickly.
Afterwards, Ellen put her feet
up on the sofa and leaned against her husband. Slade propped his stocking feet
on the stool beside the fire. Within in
minutes they were both asleep, packing forgotten.
THEIR MEAL WITH THE COMMANDANTE and his wife was a quiet
affair. It became a celebratory event when the couple discovered the young
people had been married. Beatriz was
just as kindly as Ellen had foretold. She asked about the ranch on the slope of
the mountain and wanted to know all about Joseph and his grandparents. She was
interested in their wedding and plans for the future.
“I’ve told Eli,” Ellen said when
the topic came up, ‘that I would much rather go back to our little house in the
mountains. I may be able to return to
the rancho later, but right now I only want it repaired for Don Francisco’s
brother if should he decide to take up residence. If not, well, we will decide what to do
later.
“At the moment I don’t believe I
can bring myself to face all the horrible memories there. Every room is filled
with terror. I’m not sure I could enjoy
returning yet. Santos
“I entirely understand,” Senora
Ortega-Garcia answered. “I don’t believe
I could return quite so soon after what you experienced with that horrid bandito. And now all these months later, to be awakened
from a sound sleep with him standing over you!
And then you were so brave as to shoot
him!
“You have my highest esteem, querida!”
“I’m afraid the shooting was absolutely
spontaneous self defense, senora,” Ellen returned. “I was so frightened that when my hand closed
on the shotgun, I acted without a thought.
“Thank the Lord that Slade
taught me to shoot it. I was so
frightened. I’m afraid I was hysterical
beyond describing for a short while.
“I am content to have the house
and Los Llanos repaired and made
beautiful again. Maybe later we can
visit.”
The conversation passed on to
descriptions of their ranch and the conveniences that Jacob had built into the
little house. Ellen described the warmth
of the stove and the fireplace and told how happy she was to be able to use the
tiny cook top of the stove for some things instead of having to cook over the
open flames all the time.
The senora had never cooked over
a fire or a stove in her life, but she was able to imagine the difficulties
involved. When she heard that Ellen had
learned to milk a cow and drive a wagon she was even more admiring.
“That is so wonderful, querida! I cannot imagine myself ever
being so self-sufficient! I am afraid,
as much as I admire you, that I am too old to learn such things now.” She
sighed with what seemed to be a genuine regret.
“Perhaps someday when you are
settled, de Ortega will bring me to visit you and you can show me all of these
amazing things. Imagine! Water that flows into the house and keeps
things cold! How convenient! And a tank that always has hot water!” She shook her head.
“My dear Beatriz,” the Comandante said, “you will never dip hot
water or put milk in a cold well! You
would splash it over yourself or fall in the cold!”
Beatriz sighed, “One can always
dream.” And she smiled smugly at her
husband.
Conversation moved to other
things and Ellen inquired how long Ortega-Garcia considered that it would take
for word to arrive from the remaining Aguilar brother.
‘I would not expect word for a
year. It may possibly arrive sooner, but
better to anticipate a longer time than to be constantly worrying when it
hasn’t arrived. It should take a great
deal less time, but there are many disruptions between here and Spain
“And we don’t know if el Senor
Aguilar is still living.”
Ellen accepted the statement
calmly. The remaining Aguilar brother was
nothing to her except a name. She was
only contacting him through a sense of right.
“I hope to hear something definite one way or another. I wouldn’t mind keeping the land but I
sincerely feel that the Aguilar heir should at least be made aware that I’m
more than willing to cede it to him if he desires.
“After that we can make better
plans.”
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