On his apartment door was a note from Erma saying she’d gone out of town with Lewis on an overnight road trip to Santa Fe and he’d find a landscape plan on his kitchen table that she wanted to discuss with him upon her return. It was a master plan drawn in her hand for the grounds immediately surrounding the house and the driveway. Most of the surrounding acreage on the property would remain untouched. It showed the exact location for every shrub, tree, bush, and planting bed, along with a list of the species or variety to be planted, mostly native. She wanted a great deal of rock work to be done, including sizable boulders, rock walls, and gravel pathways.
If she expected him to do it alone, it would likely mean working steadily during his free time over the course of the entire academic year. He didn’t mind; it would give him a lot of satisfaction to see it come to fruition.
When she returned home they went over the plan together. It was to be his only handyman project for the year, and she would work with him when time allowed. Starting right away, all the rock, boulders, gravel, and plants would be delivered on an as-needed basis. When the time came, additional workers would be hired to help position the larger boulders.
“Do we have a deal?” Erma asked.
“You bet. It’s the best project you’ve given me yet.”
Erma laughed. “You’re just glad to be released from making appetizers and hors d’oeuvres for my parties. Speaking of which, there will be one on Saturday night and you must come.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
The party was one of Erma’s standard affairs, only this time it had the addition of a Mexican guitarist, Gabriel Morales, who played and sang Spanish ballads on the courtyard. Kevin met him before the party while he helped Erma with the appetizers and hors d’oeuvres anyway, and discovered he was a muralist from Mexico City who had been accepted into the university fine-arts graduate program. They chatted in Spanish, which pleased Gabriel greatly. He talked about his wife and baby girl, who waited for him at their apartment in the old Hispanic neighborhood close to downtown. He was surprised and delighted to be in a place that reminded him of old Mexico, and to meet so many people who fluently spoke his native tongue.
He looked a little bit like the actor Fernando Lamas, with dark, intense eyes; a long, angular face; and a thin aristocratic nose above narrow lips. He had a ready smile, a strong baritone voice, and long fingers that flew over the guitar strings.
The minute Sue Ann Bussey arrived at the party, solo this time, she zoomed in on Gabriel like a heat-seeking missile, flashing her most brilliant smile, swishing by him as he roamed the courtyard taking requests for songs from the guests. Kevin’s presence rated no more than a passing glance from her. He watched with amused interest as she tried to monopolize Gabriel’s attention.
He charmingly deflected her. At the end of the party, when he packed up his guitar and left to go home to his wife and infant daughter, Sue Ann turned her spotlight on Kevin.
“Are you ever going to show me your apartment?” She pouted like a spoiled little Shirley Temple.
“It’s such a mess, I’d be embarrassed for you to see it.”
Sue Ann shook her strawberry locks. “I wouldn’t mind.”
Kevin studied her face. It was lovely, the smile magnetic, the look perfect for the camera, but it was empty of anything genuine. She could easily arouse him, but he found he really didn’t like her. “No, I don’t think so.”
Her smile vanished. “You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Jesus, what an arrogant kid you are.” She snatched her clutch purse from the entry side table, said good night to Erma, and stormed out.
“I thought you’d sleep with her at least once,” Erma commented dryly.
“So did I,” Kevin said. “But there’s nothing there. Why do you keep inviting her to your parties?”
“Entertainment value,” Erma replied. “But now that I’ve discovered Gabriel and his guitar, you may have seen the last of her.”
“That’s okay by me.”
Erma stepped close and gave him a motherly kiss.
“What’s that for?”
Her smile was filled with pride. “Being the man my dear friend Mary has always known you would be.”
“You aren’t going to tell her about this, are you?”
“Goodness, no. Now go home before I ask you to help me clean up.”
Kevin reached for the half-empty drink glasses on the entry table. “You don’t have to ask. I’ll help anyway.”
***
After classes started, he saw Kim several times from a distance on campus but didn’t try to intercept her. According to her roommate, who was in his English literature class, she was still with Todd, on the rodeo team, and as free-spirited as ever.
He had little time for dating or socializing. He managed to meet up for coffee at the SUB with several girls who appealed to him, but nothing came of it. He wasn’t sure if they simply weren’t interested or he wasn’t, but the absence of any spark made it clear trying to turn it into something more wouldn’t work. He took a town girl to a football game and slept with her once and that was the end of that. It was a monstrous disappointment compared to lovemaking with Kim.
In his second-year Spanish class there was a girl who intrigued him. He didn’t know why, because she seemed the exact opposite of the type he liked. She sat alone, spoke little in class, and had a very shy air about her. She was tiny, dark-skinned with a small waist, had jet-black hair, obsidian eyes, and an oval face with high cheekbones.
He thought she was very good-looking but did everything possible to hide it. Her hair was always in a single braid that ran down her back, her clothing was drab and plain, she wore little or no makeup, and she hid her pretty face behind oversize reading glasses. She lived in the same dorm as Kim, because he’d seen her coming and going. During class introductions, she said she was from the Apache village of Mescalero. That was all he knew.
One day on a whim, he caught up with her outside after class. “You speak Spanish perfectly,” he said with a smile as he walked with her. “Why are you taking the class?”
She stopped and looked at him with serious eyes. “Because it’s an easy A and I need it for my grade-point average.”
“That makes sense.”
She nodded in agreement and began to walk away.
He caught up with her again. “I’m Kevin Kerney.”
She paused again with the same serious look. “My name is Isabel Istee.”
“From Mescalero, right?”
“Yes, I am Chiricahua.” She eyed him critically. “You don’t look like one of those hippie boys who wants to sleep with an Indian.”
Her comment threw him off. “I’m not.”
“Do you?”
“Do I what?”
“Want to sleep with me? I’m the only Indian girl living on campus, so it seems there’s quite a competition going on about it.” She said it without rancor.
Flummoxed, Kevin put his hands up in surrender. “I don’t know anything about that. I’m sorry if I’ve given you the wrong impression.”
“Then why did you speak to me?”
“Is it forbidden?”
“No, it’s just unusual. Most people leave me alone.”
“I won’t trouble you again.”
“I don’t mind, if you are honorable.”
“I like to think I am.”
“You study to be a soldier. I’ve seen you in your uniform.”
“Is that bad?”
Isabel shook her head. “No. I must go now. I have another class.”
He watched her walk away. He decided there was nothing shy about her at all. She moved with the grace of a woman, not with a bouncy, flouncy, college-girl walk. He figured Isabel Istee was not one to be taken lightly.
***
Isabel Istee thought about Kevin Kerney as she walked into her biology class, not quite sure of what to make of him. He seemed genuinely surprised to know there was a “Who would be the first to score with the Indian chick?” contest on campus. Was that on the up-and-up or just a ploy on his part?
She was the first in her family and one of the first women in her tribe to ever go to college. She wasn’t about to dishonor her family or tribe in her quest to become a registered nurse with a bachelor’s degree. Ever since she was a little girl she’d dreamed of helping her people, especially the teenagers. Among her generation a high percentage suffered from alcoholism and drug abuse, and the rate of pregnancy of underage girls was astronomical.
She’d noticed Kevin Kerney in Spanish class and appreciated that he was one of the few Anglo students who didn’t speak over another person, rudely interrupt them, or fail to listen. She found these traits admirable and unusual in a White Eyes.
His family was known to her through Jasper Daklugie, who’d worked for a time on the Kerney ranch before he went to war in Korea. He had only positive things to say about the family. And Kerney’s ancestors were known to her through the stories passed down from Jasper’s uncle, who in the long-ago days knew and respected the Kerneys as decent people. The rarity of such a positive attitude among her people toward any White Eyes made Isabel disposed to withhold judgment. But experience had taught her that prejudice ran deep and was often unrecognized by virtually all White Eyes, including most of the students she’d met and many of the faculty.
Isabel was both Christian and pagan. She spoke three languages fluently, including her native Apache tongue, had a public name and a birth name known to few others, and was a member of an ancient matriarchal culture where women were more than just equals. It would take a special White Eyes to earn her regard. She decided if he persisted in his interest, she might be agreeable to it, but somewhat wary.
She settled down in her favorite chair at the back of the classroom where she’d be undisturbed and opened her notebook just as the professor cleared his throat to begin.
***
Without being pushy, Kevin persuaded Isabel to help him study for the midterm Spanish test, which would be to translate half a dozen English passages into Spanish. Conversationally he was okay, but when it came to the complexities of grammar, especially with words with multiple meanings, he often stumbled.
They met at the library and she tutored him for two hours, patiently correcting and encouraging him. On the walk back to her dorm, he invited her to Erma’s annual Halloween party as his guest.
“Professor Erma Fergurson?”
“Yes, she’s my landlady.”
Isabel smiled in disbelief. She’d heard much about Professor Fergurson and had wanted to meet her. “She is your landlady?”
She rarely smiled, so Kevin took it as a good omen. “And my mother’s best friend,” he added, hoping it might win him a few points.
“I will go,” she said as they stopped in front of the dorm. “Good night.”
Hoping for more of an explanation as to why she showed such an interest in Erma, Kevin hesitated, but she’d already turned away.
“It’s a costume party,” he noted.
“I’ll come as an Apache princess,” Isabel replied over her shoulder.
And she did. When Kevin picked her up the night of the party, she emerged into the dorm reception area wearing a blue-and-red-beaded soft white buckskin dress with long tassels and knee-high matching beaded moccasins. Her hair, pulled into a braided ponytail, ran down her back to her waist. Draped around her neck were strands of colorful beads. Her eyeglasses were gone, showing off her lovely eyes. Her entrance stopped all activity. Guys waiting to pick up their dates unabashedly stared. She approached Kevin, looked him up and down, and smiled.
“Why did I know you’d dress as a cowboy?” she said.
“It seemed only right,” he replied grinning. His chaps, hat, belt, boots, and spurs were the real McCoy, seasoned by his work at the ranch. Even his blue jeans had seen better days. Only the sparkling white, starched cowboy shirt was brand-new.
“What a pair we are,” Isabel said with a soft smile as they made their way outside.
“You look spectacular.”
“Thank you.”
At the party, Kevin introduced Isabel to Erma, who’d dressed as a go-go girl in a miniskirt and boots. His date earned him a big wink of approval. Gabriel Morales and his wife were there as Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, along with a packed house of costumed revelers. Tables were laden with food and drink, and Beatles music poured from the hi-fi. Sue Ann Bussey was nowhere to be seen.
Isabel was the hit of the party, thus Kevin had little time with her. He entertained himself by jumping into conversations about art, the war, the peace movement, Aggie football, and complaints about some of the local politicians. When the party wound down, he rescued Isabel from a graduate student costumed as a turbaned sheik who had her cornered in the kitchen. As they walked to his truck, she took a long look around before getting in.
“You live here?” she questioned.
Kevin’s hand froze on the ignition key. “In an apartment above the garage. Want to see it?” he asked hopefully.
“No, I just want to know where to find you.”
He waited, hoping for clarification, but she was silent. He was still trying to figure what she meant when he got home.
***
Kevin’s suspicion that Isabel was more interested in meeting Erma at her Halloween party than dating him was confirmed when she turned him down twice to go to the movies. He let the idea of anything more than a passing friendship slide, although he continued to remain intrigued by her. After their one date they always sat together in Spanish class and chatted briefly after, but never about anything personal. He didn’t probe, nor did she seem interested to learn more about him. Occasionally he’d catch her looking at him as if she was trying to figure something out, and a moment of embarrassment would pass between them. She seemed to live inside herself more than anyone he knew.
During finals week they studied together for several hours the night before the Spanish exam. On their walk from the library to her dorm, she asked him when he’d be going home.
“Probably by the end of the week,” he replied. “I earn most of my rent helping Erma with house projects, and I’ve fallen a little behind. And you?”
“Soon,” she answered obliquely. “But I’ll see you before I go.”
Again mystified, Kevin said good night and watched her disappear through the dorm doors. When he saw her at the exam the next morning, he figured she only meant that she’d see him during the final. But it hadn’t sounded that way the night before.
She finished the exam long before he did and waved at him as she left the classroom. He waved back, wondering if she’d be in his Spanish class in the second semester. If not, he’d miss seeing her.
Between studying and the exams, the days passed quickly. With his last final out of the way, he turned his attention to finishing the rock wall enclosing the circular planting bed in front of the house. The day started out mild and sunny, and he was making good progress until a fast-moving snowstorm blew in at noontime.
He’d promised Erma, who’d gone to Mexico on vacation, to finish the wall before he left for the ranch in the morning, so he put on his old barn coat, jammed a hat on his head, pulled on his gloves, and kept at it in the cold and wet until it got done. In the last flicker of twilight under a slate-gray sky, he admired his work briefly before putting away the tools and climbing the stairs to his apartment, eagerly anticipating a hot shower and something to eat.
When he emerged from the bathroom the wind was rattling the front-room window. He looked out to see heavy, wind-driven flakes pelting down and wondered if it was snowing at home. He wolfed down a can of warmed-up baked beans and a hot dog for dinner, too hungry to
care about his culinary choices. He dumped the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink just as a knock came at the front door. He opened the door to a wintery blast. Isabel Istee, dressed in a heavy winter coat covered in snow, stepped quickly inside.
“I came to see you,” she announced, shedding her coat. Under it she wore blue jeans and a bulky sweater over a blue cotton shirt.
“I’m surprised,” Kevin said.
“I said I would.” She looked him over. “Remember?”
“I wasn’t sure what you meant. Did you walk here?”
“Yes.”
“I could have come to get you.”
“No, I needed the time to decide.”
“Whether or not to come?”
“Yes.” Her smile was almost playful.
“Well, here you are,” Kevin said, still taken aback, wondering if he should do something, say something. “Now what?”
Isabel laughed and her face lit up. “I confuse you.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Take me to your bed,” she said.
He opened his mouth to speak and she put her forefinger to his lips. “No talking.”
In the bedroom, she undressed, let her hair down, stretched out on the bed, and waited for him. Nervous and a little shaky, he turned out the light and joined her. Within minutes, the quiet girl, the seemingly shy girl who lived so comfortably within herself, overwhelmed him with raw sexuality.
They did it twice again before she asked for a ride back to the dorm. It had stopped snowing and the desert town glistened under a blanket of white in a clear night sky.
“You can spend the night,” he offered.
“No.”
They dressed and left for the dorm. When he stopped at the front door, she looked at him and smiled. “You won,” she said.
“Won what? Oh, you mean the contest.”
Isabel nodded.
“But I didn’t care about the contest.”
“That’s why I picked you.”
“Now what?”
Isabel shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ll think about it while I’m at home.”
“So will I,” Kevin said.
The Last Ranch Page 41