Todd knew, of course. We could hardly have hidden it from him. Mark never told him that I had known Lucas Cord would be in Silver City. The story we told was that Flo had caught a glimpse of him and recognized him, but too late to result in his capture.
And as for Flo herself, although she had returned with us, traveling in unusual silence, she took pains to avoid me, just as I did to avoid remaining too long in the same room with her.
I moved into the largest of the guest bedrooms and spent the first few weeks in learning all I could. I visited every line-shack, inspected every boundary fence. And in the evenings I studied the books that Todd had so painstakingly kept.
The pattern of my days assumed some kind of routine. I rose early, had breakfast with Mark, and then rode out. Either Mark or the taciturn Chuck Daly went with me. I felt that the men were beginning to accept me, especially when they found that I never complained of tiredness or the heat and was genuinely interested in the tasks each one of them performed. Even the hard-bitten Texans had stopped giving me slow, insolent glances when they encountered me.
How quickly one routine can replace another! The only breaks from the sameness of my days occurred when I went back “home” to read occasional entries in my father’s journals. But I went seldom—perhaps once or twice a week; and then only to stay for a short time. On those visits I sensed a kind of withdrawal in the way that Marta and Jules greeted me, and one day decided to question her about it.
“Something is the matter, and you might as well stop shaking your head at me in that stubborn fashion. Won’t you tell me what’s troubling you? I’m still the same person, you know, even though I’m living at the palacio.”
She began to talk to me in her quick, colloquial Spanish, as she used to do.
“The patrona has changed! The patrona does not feel compassion, as she did before. Si, I will say this, even though the patrona has the power to cast me out.”
“I wish you would stop calling me ‘the patrona’!” I protested. “Really, Marta, I’m only doing what my father wished me to do. I’m learning to be a rancher. I ask you, would he have approved of my lying in the sun and doing nothing?”
Her face took on a rather stubborn look. “Your padre would have understood. He wanted only that you should be happy.”
“And do I look as if I am unhappy? I tell you, Marta, I’m happier this way, when I’m doing something, learning something. I could not shut myself away from life forever. Surely you understand that?”
“I understand that the patrona is young. And soon the patrona will be married. What will happen then?”
I frowned. “What do you mean by that? My marriage will not change things. I have a feeling my father would have approved.”
“It is not for me to say. The patrona must do as she wishes, of course.”
Gentle reasoning was useless against the wall of Marta’s peasant stubbornness. I gave up, in the end, and went back to my large, impersonal bedroom in the palacio.
The bolt still held the trapdoor closed fast in my old room. I would have no unexpected, unwelcome callers here. But why had he come? What had he tried to tell me? Lucas Cord was Flo’s lover. Ramon Kordes had looked deeply into my eyes and hinted of some mystery. What kind of men were these seemingly opposite brothers? Ramon had been quiet and soft-spoken. Lucas was brash and rough. A murderer, blinded by his need for revenge. But why had he tried to kill Elmer Bragg?
I asked myself questions that had no answers, and was stern with myself when I was alone. Soon Todd would be well enough to come back, and then I would find the responsibilities I had assumed taken out of my hands. Did I want it that way?
Flo surprised me as I came out of my bedroom one day. Her manner was sullen, as it had been ever since we had left Silver City, missing the grand ball she had looked forward to.
“I guess Pa’ll be well enough to come home soon, and you two won’t want me around!”
I had had a tiring day, and I said wearily, “Oh, really Flo, are we back to that again?”
“You even sound like a stepmother already! My God! And don’t give me that look. I’m a grown woman, and I’ll swear if I want to!”
“Please feel free to do so then,” I said politely, turning aside to pass her, but she stood in my way, her eyes glittering.
“I haven’t said what I have to say yet.”
“Very well. And that is?”
“I’m going back. To New York. To Derek. Even he looks better after these weeks of living like a prisoner! I tell you, I’m bored, and I’m sick of it! I’m sick of Mark’s sanctimonious sermons, and I’m sick of looking at your face. You’re even getting to talk like Pa, you know that? And I don’t want to hear him shouting and lecturing at me either. So there you are!”
I returned her defiant look. “So I see! Have you spoken to Mark about your plans yet?”
“Why should I? You’re the patrona, aren’t you? You’re the real boss around here ever since Pa said so, and even Mark realizes that. So why should I tell him anything? You can’t stop me, anyhow. I’m over twenty-one; I’m a married woman, and Pa would be the first to say my place is back with my husband!”
I nodded coolly. “You’re right, of course. Well, let me know when you’re ready to leave, won’t you. I’ll arrange for some of the men to go with you as far as Santa Rita.”
“I was planning to go on from El Paso. I have friends there—the Bartletts—Mark knows them, in case you don’t want to believe me! I hate New Mexico. At least Texas is a state and the stages run regularly.”
“El Paso is a considerable distance away. Have you thought of how you’ll get there?”
“I can catch the stage at Deming or Las Cruces, can’t I?”
I sighed. “We’ll make some arrangement then, since you are determined to leave. But you will send a telegram to your husband?”
“You don’t trust me, do you? Not that it’s really any concern of yours, but I’ll write out a message if you like, and you can have it sent to Derek. I’ve no doubt it’ll make him so happy he’ll go right out and make another couple of thousands on the stock market!”
She brushed past me then, as if to indicate that all communication between us had ended, and I went on my way downstairs, wondering what she was up to this time.
When I discussed the matter with him that evening, Mark seemed to think that Flo’s departure would be the best possible thing for all of us.
“You know that her presence here has us all on edge,” he reminded me gently. “Heavens, Rowena, it’s just as well she leaves before Uncle Todd gets back, or there’ll be the devil to pay. She has a knack of rubbing him the wrong way, and when he finds out how deeply she’s been involved in all the unpleasantness that has taken place, well…” He raised his shoulders expressively, and I was forced to agree that he was right. Neither of us could have turned Flo out of what was, after all, her home. But she had been the first to suggest going back to her wifely duties.
Mark and I went along with Flo as far as Fort Selden, where we paid a courtesy call on the colonel who was in command of the cavalry unit there. The tall gentlemanly officer assured us she would have an escort of soldiers all the way into El Paso.
“It’s not putting us out at all. There’s been trouble with the Apaches lately, so all the coaches get an escort. Just to prevent anything, you understand? Show of force. Victorio and his bunch understand that.”
I discovered that Colonel Poynter had known my father.
“Fine man. Best chess player it’s been my good fortune to encounter.”
He was also a frank man, as I was to find out
“Guy should have been alive today. But there was something eating at him inside. He’d keep things to himself. Even his best friends didn’t know what he was really thinking. Poured it all out in those journals he kept. You’ve read them?”
I had to confess that I had not read them all.
“Ought to, if you want to understand him. But I can see where it would be diff
icult for you to feel close. You didn’t have a chance to know him, and he didn’t know you, although he’d talk, sometimes, after the brandy, of how you’d turn out to be a true Dangerfield.”
“Did he tell you about the Dangerfield devil? Someone described it to me once as a taint in the blood. All stemming from an ancestor who was a real witch.”
Colonel Poynter gave me a rather austere smile. “Ah, yes. But in your case, Lady Rowena, I think we can safely say the traditional devil has skipped a generation!”
I thanked him demurely and we went on to speak of other things. Mark came in, and Mrs. Poynter rose from the corner where she had sat silently, engrossed in her sewing, to announce that she was sure supper must be ready.
The stage left on time for El Paso, but Mark and I stayed another day before we returned to the ranch. I liked Colonel Poynter and his quiet wife, and I was genuinely interested in hearing more about the Apache Indians I’d been told so much about.
“Let us hope you’ll never meet any.” Colonel Poynter said grimly. “Believe me, Lady Rowena, and I don’t mean to try and frighten you, none of the stories you have heard are exaggerations. They are warriors by profession, they claim all this land as their own, and they bitterly resent not only Americans but the Spaniards and Mexicans as well. They are savage, magnificent fighters. Enemies to be respected and feared, Lady Rowena. Make no mistake about it.”
“But you are trying to frighten me, colonel!”
He gave me a long, thoughtful look, as if measuring my courage. “Far from it. I’m merely encouraging caution at all times. The Apaches have not chosen to show themselves yet; perhaps it’s because they’re cautious too, in their way. But they are there. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating them.”
I returned to the ranch in a sober mood, although Mark tried to tease me out of it.
“The colonel’s been a frontier soldier a long time. I think he sees Apaches behind every clump of mesquite.”
“Mark, you know that’s not quite true! Colonel Poynter is a soldier. He knows the Indians, and I’m convinced he knows what he’s talking about. He didn’t want to frighten me, only warn me.”
“Oh what, for heaven’s sake?”
“I’m not sure, Mark,” I said slowly. “But as commander of one of the largest forts in the area, I’m sure Colonel Poynter is a well-informed man. And as you pointed out, he’s been in the territory a long time. He knew my father, and he knows Todd. I’m sure he knows everything else as well. There was some reason for his warning, Mark, and it wasn’t just because the Apaches have been giving him trouble recently.”
He gave me a troubled look. “If Colonel Poynter had heard anything specific, he’d have given us a specific warning. You were thinking of Lucas Cord, weren’t you? Rowena, he’s miles away by now, hiding out somewhere! And now that Cousin Flo has decided to leave us and go back to being a respectable housewife, he has no ally in the enemy camp, has he?”
All the same, I thought, I could sense an underlying uneasiness in Mark as well, and I found myself wishing that Todd would be able to return soon.
Our relationship was now close to brother and sister, but both of us realized very well the infeasibility of living together in the same house without Flo’s presence as a chaperon. I returned to my little house, and I thought Marta and Jules were glad to see me back, although Maria’s manner remained more formal than it had been before.
The days went by, and I passed them much as I had been used to during the past weeks. It became hotter, although we sometimes saw thunderclouds gather behind the distant mountain peaks.
I was content to keep busy, and yet I was not content. I had the strangest feeling that I was waiting for something to happen, something to interrupt the dull routine I had fallen into.
Todd… I thought. Soon, he’ll be back, and we will start to quarrel again. He will infuriate me, and then kiss me forcibly into a temporary truce.
But we were to be married. I had given my word; it had been publicly announced. Marriage was hardly a temporary affair. How often I’d promised myself that I would never marry, and yet, suddenly and inexplicably, I found myself committed. Did I love him? I respected his strength, and I grudgingly admired the force of his will. But love? Did I know what it was?
The letter from Flo shook me out of my self-concern. It arrived only a day before Todd was due to come back, as I’m sure she meant it to, and was addressed to Mark.
I am only sending this letter because I’m sure Derek will write to find out why I have not arrived yet. You may tell him, from me, that I have decided to live, for a change. God, how bored I was. How tired of being watched, and having all my days and hours planned for me! I know you are going to show this letter to Rowena, and I don’t care! If you’re content with standing on the fringes and accepting second-best, I am not.
I’m tired of gentlemen; I need a man. Ask Rowena, she will know what I mean. Poor Mark. Pa thought once that I would do the convenient thing and marry you, did you know that? Then she came, and spoiled everything. But it makes no difference now.
I’m going with Lucas. Send those marshals after us and I’ll swear in public that we were lovers, that he was with me when Pa was shot at. Think of what a juicy scandal that would make!
You’re a clever attorney, Mark, and will think of some story that will satisfy everyone. But I want to be left alone. Don’t bother me, and I won’t bother you. That’s rather clever, don’t you think?
There were several pages of recriminations, mostly directed at me. But the gist of Flo’s communication was clear.
And, as Mark and I had both feared, the effect on Todd was catastrophic. His face became red, and he began to shout at Mark and me. It was our fault for not watching her, and especially for letting her go! He’d hire men to go after her and bring her back; if the U.S. marshals in the territory couldn’t do what they were supposed to, he’d hire his own killers to go after Luke Cord, men as dangerous and predatory as Cord was himself.
Mark tried to explain in his quiet, reasonable voice. I merely walked out of the room.
“Come back here, damn you!” Todd shouted behind me. “I ain’t through with you yet!” Ignoring him, I kept walking, and was halfway across the courtyard before he caught up with me.
“Rowena! Where in hell do you think you’re goin’? Told you I wasn’t through talkin’ to you yet.”
He caught my arm. I turned my head and looked at him coldly.
“I told you once that I would not be shouted at. Talk to yourself, if you will. Shout at Mark. But remember one thing, Todd Shannon, you don’t own me.”
“You walked out on me, dammit! I’m not used to that.”
“You were being totally unreasonable. I refuse to listen to loud, childish blusterings.”
“By God! You dare tell me I’m bein’ childish? An’ you no more than a chit of a brat.”
“In that case, I’m sure you won’t want to marry me.”
I tried to pull my arm free, and his grip tightened. He pulled me around to face him.
“Do you have to make a public exhibition of your brute strength?”
“Stop cuttin’ at me with that sharp tongue of yours, girl! Can you blame me for being angry? Flo’s made fools of us all by flauntin’ her shamelessness under the noses of the whole territory. An’ you expect me to sit back an’ talk about it reasonably?”
“There’s no reason that you can’t talk quietly, is there? And to waste your breath trying to place blame is useless.”
“Well, by God, I ain’t gonna let it go! She’s shamed me by runnin’ off with that damn halfbreed who tried to kill me.”
“I’m not making excuses for Flo, but you have to remember she’s a grown woman.”
“I’m remembering a lot,” Todd said grimly.
But he had seen that I would not let myself be intimidated, and in the end, grumbling, he apologized for losing his temper at me.
The whole unpleasant business could not be pushed out of the way
and forgotten as easily as that. Had I ever thought it could be? We heard news of Flo. She had been seen in San Antonio with Lucas Cord. Someone thought he recognized the two of them in Amarillo. Perhaps Lucas realized her presence only brought the bounty hunters snapping too closely at his heels, for he apparently abandoned her in one of the wild Kansas cow towns.
It was Mark who told me the story, hoping to forearm me before I heard it from Todd, who was almost beside himself with rage.
“It’s an ugly business, Rowena! God knows why he encouraged her to run to him, unless he wanted to make a public spectacle of Todd Shannon’s stepdaughter.”
“You think it was only for revenge? All of this?”
“What else could it be? He used her and then discarded her as publicly as he could. I’m sorry, Rowena. It seems as if I am always the one to give you unpleasant news. He put her up for auction in a cheap saloon and lost her in a poker game to a professional gambler.”
I could hardly believe such callousness, but the report had come from a detective of the Pinkerton Agency. And having got rid of Flo, who must have become an encumbrance, Lucas Cord vanished again.
“Couldn’t the detective have done something?”
“He heard the whole story from a man who was present.” Mark shook his head glumly. “By the time he started making a closer investigation, no one could tell him where she’d gone. They said she left town with the gambler.”
Fifteen
During the weeks that followed the news of Flo’s sordid escapade Todd became like a man obsessed. Mark confided that he felt he had to walk around his uncle on tiptoe; I avoided visiting the palacio as much as possible.
The Wildest Heart Page 21