“You know that I am not a violent man, Caitlin. But out here, Henry, sometimes it takes resorting to violence to protect your own.”
“Let’s not talk of violence, Michael,” said Elizabeth. “I doubt it will come to that. And certainly not at Saturday’s dance.”
“I’m sorry, a ghra. I got a bit carried away on the subject.”
“I’d like to hear more about your opinions, Mr. Burke. As a lawyer, you can imagine I’m appalled at the thought of lawlessness.” Henry paused and cleared his throat. “Perhaps after coffee we might step outside and enjoy a cigar. There is another matter I want your opinion on also.”
Cait blushed. Michael glanced over at his wife and then nodded. “I’d be delighted to try a cigar, Henry.”
“What do you think of New Mexico now that you’ve been here awhile?” Michael asked as they walked toward the corral after dessert and coffee.
“It seems like another country,” said Henry. “Desolate. But beautiful,” he added. “And I am beginning to think that all the stories we hear about the Wild West back east are not that exaggerated.”
“ ‘Tis just not as glamorous as the papers would have ye believe,” said Michael with a quick smile.
“I suppose not,” Henry admitted. “Especially if men like yourself are unable to get protection from the law when they are threatened. But do you really think it will come to your having to take the law into your own hands? And would you?” Henry asked soberly.
“I hope it will not, for I don’t know what I’d be driven to, boyo.”
“I hate to think of Caitlin being in danger.” Henry hesitated. “It is about her that I wish to speak with you, Mr. Burke.”
“I supposed so.” Michael lit the cigar Henry had given him and inhaled. The tip glowed red in the dusk. “I don’t smoke much,” he said as he exhaled a sigh of appreciation, “but I can appreciate a good cigar.”
“The fact is, Mr. Burke,” Henry began, more nervous than he had expected to be, “that Caitlin and I consider ourselves unofficially engaged to be married.”
“So she told us.”
“Of course, I wish to make it an official engagement, but that had to wait till I could talk to you.” Michael said nothing and Henry rushed into the silence. “I care very much for your daughter, Mr. Burke, and I would like your permission to marry her.”
“And take her back to Philadelphia?”
“My work is there, Mr. Burke. And Caitlin’s too. I am sure she has told you of her position at the Fayreweather School?”
“She has. When and where were you planning to be married.”
“I had hoped…we had hoped that Cait could accompany me back in August when I return from California. The wedding would be at Christmastime. We hope that you and Mrs. Burke will be able to come east for it.”
“Philadelphia is far away from New Mexico, Henry. This is Cait’s home.”
“I think she feels equally at home in Philadelphia, Mr. Burke.”
“Well, Mrs. Burke and I would never want to stand in the way of my daughter’s happiness, Henry.”
“Then you give your permission?” asked Henry eagerly.
“If Caitlin loves you and wishes to make her home with you, then Mrs. Burke and I will wish you both happiness,” said Michael, extending his hand.
Henry took it and was surprised at what relief he felt.
“Come, lad, let’s go in. If I know my daughter, she won’t be able to wait much longer.”
Indeed, Cait was standing at the door waiting as the two men walked back up to the house.
“Well, Da,” she said, giving him a questioning smile.
“Well, Cait, it looks like ye’re officially engaged now.”
She flung her arms around Michael’s neck. “Oh, Da, I knew you’d like Henry.”
Elizabeth came up behind her and said: “Now, Cait, don’t strangle your father.” Cait looked back at her mother with a teary smile. Elizabeth had been teasing her for years for flinging herself at Michael whenever he returned home.
“We must all have a sip of wine to celebrate an occasion like this,” said Elizabeth, and Michael looked over at her in warm approval. If it was hard for him to let his daughter go, he could imagine how difficult it was for his wife. Elizabeth took out their best glasses and the small decanter of port they reserved for special occasions.
“To Cait and Henry’s happiness,” Michael toasted. They all touched glasses and drank down the wine.
“Elizabeth, Henry was tellin’ me that he wishes to bring Caitlin back east with him when he returns in August.”
Elizabeth lowered her glass and said slowly, “I see.”
“And we would marry at Christmas, Mrs. Burke. I hope that you and Mr. Burke can be there. I would expect winter is a quiet time on a ranch.”
“Yes,” said Elizabeth, “but it is also a hard time to travel because of the weather.”
“Then come earlier, Ma,” Cait pleaded. “You and Da haven’t been east since you came here years ago.”
“Not since I was fourteen,” Elizabeth replied slowly. “We will see how things go.” She paused and then smiled at the two of them. “You can attend this Saturday dance as an engaged couple. The neighbors will be completely surprised.”
“Em, maybe the engaged couple would be likin’ some privacy, a ghra?” suggested Michael. “I am tired from all this excitement. Will ye come upstairs and keep me company?”
Cait blushed furiously as her father led her mother upstairs and Henry laughed as he took her hand and brought her into the parlor. “That was kind of your father, Cait,” he said as they sat down on the sofa.
“He may as well have said ‘you have my permission to kiss her,’ ” exclaimed Cait, her protest halfhearted for of course she hoped that was exactly what Henry was going to do.
Henry put his arm around her and drew her closer. Tilting her chin up he leaned down and kissed her. It was a gentle kiss at first, but as Cait responded he made it deeper, pushing her lips apart with his own. Cait opened to him immediately, wanting to drink him in, and he pushed his tongue gently into her mouth. She gasped with surprise and pleasure for this was the longest, most passionate kiss they had shared. It ended too soon when Henry pulled away after only a few moments. Cait gave a sigh of disappointment and Henry smiled down at her.
“We had better be careful, Cait. I don’t wish to abuse your parents’ trust in us.”
Cait respected Henry for his concern, but at the same time wished for more. She might not be that fifteen-year-old who imagined herself as Catherine Earnshaw nor could she quite see Henry as a Heathcliff, she thought, a little smile playing over her lips, but surely one kiss wasn’t enough. She felt very bold as she lifted her mouth to his and then a little ashamed when he only brushed her lips lightly and said, with a nervous laugh, “My dear, you are so tempting…but we must not.”
If she was so tempting, then why did he not succumb? she wondered later as she lay in bed remembering their kiss and longing for another…and another. Then she chided herself; she respected Henry for his self-control and sense of honor. Her father and mother had trusted them and she admired him for not wanting to betray that trust.
Chapter Eleven
All of them headed for town on Saturday: Michael and Elizabeth, Henry and Cait in the wagon and Gabe and Jake riding alongside. The moon was one day short of being full and Henry marveled aloud at how it lit the pinon-covered hills and the road in front of them. The air was redolent with the pungent smell of sage, for it had rained for a short time that afternoon.
Gabe looked around as he heard Beecham’s exclamation. He supposed he took it for granted, this unique beauty, now that he had been here for so many years. Maybe because he didn’t feel separate from it, but a part of it. For Beecham, it was something to wonder at because he was just passing through. For the Burkes and himself, the country had worked its way into their souls. Though obviously not so deep into Miss Burke’s soul if she was able to leave it far behind. He�
��d heard about the engagement. It came as no surprise, for what else would a man like Henry Beecham be doing at a horse ranch if it weren’t for love.
He could understand what Beecham saw in Miss Burke, for she was a very attractive young woman. Gabe shifted in his saddle as he remembered yet again how she had felt under his hands. But what in blue blazes did she see in Beecham, a girl who’d been raised in New Mexico? She’d be leaving at the end of the summer, and with Night Sky, if he was ready. Damn, but he would miss the horse.
* * * *
Dances were held in the town hall and by the time the Burkes had pulled up, they could hear the sound of the fiddle and the banjo.
“I hope Ramon is here tonight with his mandolin,” said Elizabeth as she handed her cake box to Michael and climbed down from the wagon. “I am in the mood for a Spanish waltz.”
Ramon was sitting inside and promised Elizabeth several waltzes when she went over to greet him.
Everyone from a thirty-mile radius was there and Cait thought she and Henry would never be free to dance, for once one person had been introduced to him as Miss Burke’s fiancé, the news spread and everyone had to come over and check out the Eastern lawyer who was going to take Miss Cait back to Philadelphia.
Finally the fiddle struck up another tune and they all left to form their squares. “Cait, I would ask you to dance,” said Henry, “but I am afraid I’d trample all over you. I’d better watch for a while before I risk this.”
“The caller gives the directions, Henry,” said Cait, trying to persuade him.
“So I have heard. But let’s sit out the first one or two, shall we?” Cait hoped her disappointment didn’t show. She loved dancing and had looked forward to being swung in Henry’s arms.
“Miss Burke, ma’am?”
It was Gabe Hart, who had been just behind them as they tried to make their way through the welcoming neighbors.
“Yes, Mr. Hart?”
“Why don’t we show Mr. Beecham how this is done, so’s he can join the next set?”
Cait’s face lit up. “You wouldn’t mind, would you, Henry?”
“Of course not, Cait. I’ll watch Mr. Hart and take notes!”
Gabe was dressed in worn but clean dove-colored wool pants and a navy shirt that brought out the blue of his eyes, Cait couldn’t help but notice. She soon found out that he was as good a dancer as a rider as they followed the caller’s instructions. She was so caught up in the joy of dancing that she only became aware of him when she felt his arm around her waist for the promenades. And when he swung her. She had never been swung quite like that before, just about swept off her feet by his strength. She laughed up at him at the same time he looked down at her and all of a sudden it felt like they were standing still while everything swung around them, the dancers, the floor, the walls. Cait shook her head to clear it. She was dizzy from the turning, that was all. Of course that was all, she thought. But then why did she feel such a letdown when Gabe returned her to Henry, bowed and left?
Henry begged to watch just one more before he attempted anything. He was lucky, for after the next square came a waltz. Ramon hadn’t joined the musicians yet, so it was just the fiddle and a guitar playing an old Texas waltz.
“May I have this dance, Cait? I can promise not to make a fool of myself with this one.”
Cait felt safe in Henry’s arms. Although it was a turning dance, the circles they made were too big to make her dizzy. And when he pulled her a little closer and she looked up to smile at him, nothing whirled around them. All was in the right place, including herself, there in Henry’s arms.
* * * *
“Thank God, Mackie doesn’t seem to be here, Michael,” said Elizabeth as her husband waltzed her around the floor.
“Don’t be surprised if he makes an entrance later, Elizabeth,” Michael warned her. “Don’t worry, though; he won’t be anything but charming in public.”
They were lucky that Mackie did not arrive until an hour later and he was accompanied only by his wife whom he danced with once and then abandoned in a corner with some of the wives of his acquaintances from town. He asked several women to dance and Elizabeth was fearful he would approach her, but between Michael, Jake, a few neighbors and even a shy Gabe Hart, she was kept partnered. As was Cait, she thought with a relieved smile as she watched her daughter guiding Henry through his first square dance.
Elizabeth hadn’t seen Chavez arrive, but she shivered in Michael’s arms a few minutes later when she saw him, dressed all in black, leaning against the wall in a corner watching them with those cold green eyes of his. Michael saw him a second later as they turned and he clasped his wife tighter. “Don’t ye worry, a ghra. He’s only here for show, just to remind us.”
“I don’t know what it is, Michael,” said Elizabeth in a low voice as they walked over to the refreshment table after their dance was finished. “It isn’t that I am so afraid of him. He is only one man, after all. There is just something about him that brings back the old memories.”
Cait pointed out Mackie and Chavez to Henry. “There he is, Henry, with his Mexican hired gun.”
Mackie looked like a well-to-do businessman to Henry and it was hard for him to believe that this was the bully who had been terrorizing the valley. Chavez, on the other hand, looked the real villain of the piece.
“Except for his clothes, he doesn’t look Mexican, Cait,” Henry said after looking Chavez over.
“Maybe he comes from one of the old Spanish families, which would explain his light hair and eyes,” Cait explained. “He speaks both English and Spanish perfectly, so maybe his mother was an Anglo,” she continued. “Anyway, he is perfectly happy to push any family off their land, Mexican or Anglo.”
Chavez didn’t join any of the square dances. He wandered over to where Ramon was sitting and chatted with him for a few minutes. And when Ramon picked up his mandolin and motioned for the guitar player to follow, Chavez waited until the waltz had begun before making his move.
Cait had been dying of thirst after all the dancing and Henry had gone to get both of them some punch. The refreshment table was on the other side of the room and once the music started and couples were on the floor, Henry had to make his way around the perimeter to get back to Cait. By the time he did, it was too late. Chavez was already there, bowing politely, taking Cait’s hand in his to lead her onto the dance floor.
Cait hadn’t known what to do when Chavez appeared in front of her. He was the last person in the world she wanted to dance with. She wanted to refuse him and as rudely as possible. She wanted to spit on his polished boots. But if she gave in to her anger, what might that mean for them afterward? This was a public dance. She could refuse him politely, she supposed. But as she cast her eyes around for Henry and saw how long it would take for him to reach her, she decided she’d rather be on a crowded dance floor with Chavez than alone in a corner with him. So she gave him a cool ‘yes’ and allowed him to lead her out.
“There is something about a Spanish waltz that touches the heart, isn’t there, Miss Burke?” said Chavez, breaking the silence she had maintained as they danced.
“I am surprised that you would notice that, Señor Chavez,” Cait answered without thinking.
“So you think I am sin corazon, señorita?” he said, smiling a smile that did not reach his eyes. “I assure you, I am not.”
Cait controlled herself with great difficulty and said with icy politeness, “I spoke without thinking, señor. And I agree with you about the music.” She tried to forget about the man who was holding her and imagine it was Henry’s arm around her waist, Henry’s hand clasped around hers. But oddly enough, it was Gabe Hart who kept intruding. Perhaps she couldn’t imagine Henry responding to the sadness in the music, but sensed that Gabe would resonate to it. But she was in the arms of “El Lobo,” who had no feelings at all, she remembered as he spoke again.
“You may think me heartless, Miss Burke, but I assure you, the thought of unnecessary suffering troubl
es me deeply.”
The words were innocuous, but the tone in which they were uttered made Cait’s blood run cold, and she stumbled, losing her way in the dance.
“Ah, you don’t like it either, señorita? I am glad. Perhaps you can convince your father that no one need suffer any accidental harm. I admire your father, you know, señorita.”
“Do you, Señor Chavez?” Cait tried to keep her voice from trembling. She would not let this man shake her.
“Yes. He is a man who has worked hard for what he has. He has much that he would hate to lose or see come to harm: his land, his horses, his lovely daughter….”
Again his words were seemingly only a statement of fact. Her father had worked hard. He would hate to lose what he most loved. Any man would. But the undercurrent to Chavez’s words was so terrifying that Cait stumbled again and tried to pull herself out of Chavez’s arms.
“Oh, no, señorita, our waltz isn’t over yet,” he said as he held her tight.
* * * *
Gabe had kept himself away from Caitlin Burke after their first dance. She had felt so right in his arms as he swung her around and their bodies had seemed to fit together perfectly as they’d walked through the ‘promenade call.’ He was a fool to be thinking of her. Even if she wasn’t engaged to be married, she was still his employer’s daughter and he the hired hand.
Of course, to keep away from her he had to know where she was. All evening he had been very aware of her, even when he was flirting with one of the Wilson girls. When Ramon struck up his waltz and Gabe saw Chavez make his move, he abandoned all thoughts of finding himself a partner and stood watching as they danced.
At first, it seemed as if it was harmless enough. Miss Burke had a polite smile on her face and while Gabe didn’t think she was enjoying the dance very much, neither did she seem uncomfortable. Then he saw her stumble as Chavez leaned forward to speak to her. Her smile disappeared and Gabe could tell from the way she stiffened in the Mexican’s arms that she was trying to control her reaction to whatever he was saying.
Journey of the Heart Page 10