A Circle of Time (24 page)

On the way to the cottage, José told Allison how he had discovered Don Carlos's secret: For the first day and a half of his arrival with Don Carlos's buggy, he hid out in the forest, keeping an eye on the estate while he waited for Isa to get his message—the ruby cross—and trying to figure out his next move. He didn't want to contact Magda right away for fear she would worry and try to talk him out of doing anything dangerous. But on the second night of his return, with no sign of his beloved Isa, he realized he needed to confide in Magda and to find out whether she knew of Isa's whereabouts.

When he finally decided to approach his sister, Magda had company—Becky and Joshua, who he later found out were bringing her the ruby cross. He waited until Becky and Joshua were gone, and was sure Magda was alone, before approaching her. That night, Magda told him all that had happened since he had been shanghaied, and brought him up to date on what had happened since Tere had returned from San Francisco with the cross. When Magda explained that Sadie was blackmailing Don Carlos, José had felt in his gut it had to do with him and Isa. He asked Magda for the ruby cross and gave it to Sadie in exchange for her knowledge. Sadie was more than willing to betray Don Carlos. She told José that Don Carlos had paid Ned Thompson to kill him and to get rid of the baby. But Ned was no murderer. Instead, he devised a plan to take care of both matters without bloodshed. José was shanghaied, and the baby became a blessing.

His wife, Ruth, had given birth to a baby girl, Rachel, only one week before Becky was born. Rachel died two days later, and Ruth was devastated. When offered the opportunity, Ned brought her a new baby—one who needed love and nurturing and a home. Ruth raised the baby until Ruth died of consumption. Soon after that, Ned married Sadie. Two years later, Ned died during an influenza epidemic, but before he died, he confessed his secret to Sadie. Though Sadie wouldn't admit it, José remembered her jealousy of Isa. She hated the Cardona Pomales family and saw a way to make Don Carlos pay. She could get rich at the same time.

That night, while Allison was out looking for Joshua, José had returned to Magda's. It was then that he confessed to Magda about his visit to Sadie's and what he'd found out about his daughter. Magda then told him what Allison had said about Isa's fight with Sadie and asked him to keep an eye out for Becky while he was looking for Isa. He had been as eager to find his daughter as he was to find his beloved.

When Allison looked up from her thoughts, she found José's gaze fixed on her. She felt her cheeks flush.

He smiled. “Forgive me for staring, but you look so much like your mother ... when I last saw her. And, after all, it is not every day one meets a fourteen-year-old daughter one did not know one had.”

“I just wish I had guessed earlier,” Allison replied. She meant that she, Allison, should have guessed. But José misunderstood.

“It was probably just as well you did not,” he said. “How could you have confronted Don Carlos on your own?”

“Maybe Tere could have helped.” Allison realized the moment she mentioned Tere that she was her aunt, or rather, Becky's aunt.

“Ah, Tere. She certainly has grown, hasn't she?” he said, glancing at Magda. “She was only a child when I last saw her. Fortunately, as it turned out, because she wasn't able to recognize me.”

“She has grown into a strong-spirited young woman and a good friend,” Magda said.

“I am glad you were well taken care of while I was gone.” Then José turned his attention back to Allison. “While I finish eating, perhaps Rebecca can tell me more about Isa's encounter with Sadie Thompson.”

Allison told José about her afternoon with Joshua as they spied on Sadie, trying to find out why Sadie was blackmailing Don Carlos. She ended by telling him how she had tried to stop Isa, but Isa had disappeared into the forest.

“It was fortunate you prevented Isa from killing Sadie,” said Magda. “Imagine what your lives would be like if she had been a murderess...”

“Very fortunate,” José said somberly. Turning to Allison, he asked, “While Isa spoke to Sadie, did she give any indication of where she might go next?”

Allison felt embarrassed at what she had to confess. “Isa ... Isa hasn't been well. She's been obsessed with finding her baby—me, I guess—and about meeting you. We all thought ... I mean, no one knew ... we thought it was all in her head...”

José nodded sadly. “But now that you know, can you make any sense of what she said?”

“She just said she was going to meet you—” Allison gasped, remembering. “She was going to wait for you at your secret place. She said she'd go to the ends of the earth and wait for you.”

José's eyes opened wide. He leaned forward and grabbed Allison's hand, squeezing it none too gently. “Think carefully, child. Did she say she was going to ‘the edge of the world'?”

“Well ... yes, but I thought it was a mixed metaphor”—the look of confusion in José's eyes made her restate her sentence—“I mean I thought she got the phrase wrong. In English there's an expression: going to the ends of the earth. It means—”

“Sí, sí,
I know what it means,” he said, waving away her words. “I do not know how I could have forgotten. The edge of the world was our secret meeting place:
al borde del mundo.
She named it that because when you stand at the edge of the cliff, it feels as if you are standing at the edge of the world. That must be where she is. I must go to her.”

At the mention of the word
cliff,
Allison's heart seemed to stop. The blood rushed from her face. “Cliff? What cliff? Magda, could it be—”

In a rush of Spanish, Magda asked her brother about the cliff. Then she turned to Allison. “It is the same cliff—the one you call Devil's Drop.”

Allison felt the room spin. She leaned into the table, gripping the edge until her knuckles turned white.

“Rebecca?” said José. “What is wrong? Magda, help her. The child looks ill.”

“No,” said Allison, sitting back, “I'll be all right. But you must hurry. The earthquake ... the cliff ... Isa ... you must get to her before dawn.”

“What is she talking about, Magda? What earthquake?”

“José, Becky has a premonition—a very strong one—that there will be an earthquake this morning, and that anyone near the cliff ... will be killed.”

José threw back his chair and in two steps was at the door. He turned to Magda. “I must go. Take care of my daughter.”

“No, wait!” cried Allison. “I have to go with you. I have a terrible feeling that that's where Joshua is, too. Looking for me.”

The sky was still dark when they arrived at the edge of the forest, above the road that snaked along the ravine. Allison was hot and sweaty and wished she could rip off the heavy skirts that weighed her down. José was wheezing badly.

He led her along a winding path down the side of the hill and to the cliff road. They had to walk about a half mile up the mountain to reach the V of Devil's Drop. As they drew near, they heard yelling around the other side of the V but could not make out the words.

José began to run. Allison followed. When they turned the corner, Allison gasped.

Beside a tall rock formation at the edge of the cliff, almost blocked from view of the road, stood Isa. Her pale blue dress flapped about her legs and her long hair waved behind her as she leaned into the wind toward the ravine below. At that angle, standing so stiff and still, her arms at her side and her face straight ahead, she looked like a ship's figurehead leaning into oncoming waves. The ruby cross dangled from her neck, gleaming in the moonlight.

A few yards away, pleading and crying out to her, stood Don Carlos.

“Madre de Dios,”
whispered José. He dropped the coil of rope that Allison had insisted they bring and stood as stiff and still as Isa, a look of terror on his face.

“Isa,
mija,
I beg of you, do not do this,” cried Don Carlos. The wind was so strong it tossed back his words and sent them hurling toward José and Allison. “Think of your mother, Isa. Think of what this will do to her.”

At that, Isa yelled back, “Mamá betrayed me. Mamá does not deserve my love.”

“No, Isa, your
mamá
did not betray you. It was me. Punish me, if you like. But not your mother.” He paused, struggling for more words. “Think ... think of Tere, how she loves you.”

“Tere shall be better off without me. I will never go back with you, Papá. Never! I'd rather be dead than locked away in that room for the rest of my life. You took away my José and took away my baby. But you will not have my freedom. ” Isa raised her arms.

“No!”
screamed José and Allison together. They ran to join Don Carlos, afraid to go closer for fear of startling Isa and causing her to fall.

Don Carlos spun around. He looked at José, then at Allison. In quick succession, his expression was transformed from one of horror, as if he'd seen a ghost, to one of supreme relief. He fell to his knees, covering his face with his hands to hide his weeping. “Help her. Help my daughter.”

“Get up, old man.” José spit out the words. “Tell her I am here. I don't want to make things worse by shocking her.”

Don Carlos stared at him, confused. José grabbed the man by the arm and yanked him up. “Tell her!”

“Isa!” Don Carlos cried. “Wait, José is here. And so is”—Don Carlos glanced at Allison—“your daughter.”

“¡Embustero!”
she screamed. “You are nothing but a liar! You are trying to trick me, but it won't work. I'll never go back with you!” She pulled back her arms.

“Rubia!
Mi amor,
it is me—José. I sent you the ruby cross. I told you I was coming. Now I am here.” José stepped forward so she could see him.

At the sound of his voice, Isa lowered her arms. Slowly, as if afraid of what she might see, Isa turned.

José held out his arms. For a moment, she looked as if she might faint. She closed her eyes and tilted back her head. Then she looked back at him, lifted her arms, and rushed forward. In her haste, she stepped on a stray rock that lay on the narrow, two-foot-wide ledge, and her foot twisted sideways. She lurched to the side, into the rocky wall, and slid to the ground, landing halfway off the ledge. Her legs dangled in midair.

As José and Don Carlos leaped to her aid, Allison reached out and grabbed Don Carlos's arm. “The ledge is too narrow for the two of you. Let José—let my father help her.”

Don Carlos ripped his arm from her grasp. “She is my daughter. It is I who should rescue her.”

Allison's eyes blazed. “Haven't you done enough already ... Grandfather?” With those words she turned her attention to Becky's parents.

José was kneeling beside Isa, clutching her dress by the waist. He hoisted her up and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her golden-red curls. Isa clung to him, sobbing and laughing. After a few minutes, José helped Isa up and walked her carefully away from the ledge, bringing her face-to-face with Allison.

“Ven, mi amor,”
he said, one arm still wrapped around her waist, “I want you to meet our daughter, Rebecca.”

Isa's eyes, already red from crying, spilled more tears. She brought a trembling hand to Allison's face and whispered, “It was you all along. You are my baby.”

 

With the succession of dramatic events, Allison had completely forgotten the time. When she remembered, she gasped. “José, the earthquake! And Joshua. We still haven't found Joshua.”

“What is she talking about, Velasquez?” asked Don Carlos, who until then had been standing off to the side. “What earthquake?”

“Rebecca had a
presentimiento
... about a great earthquake—this morning.”

Don Carlos rolled his eyes. “You Velasquezes are all the same. Already, this young one is thinking of premonitions. ”

Allison felt her face burn. “I know what I'm talking about! There will be an earthquake—soon. Just after daybreak. José—Papá—please believe me. We have to find Joshua and get out of here—to lower land. A meadow or something.”

José's eyes held the intensity of the night before. He placed his hand on her cheek. “I believe you. Where do you think Joshua is?”

“I—I thought he might have come here, looking for me. I ... told him I'd had a vision of me being here at this cliff during the earthquake ... and falling...”

José glanced around. “But you can see he is not here. We have been here at least half an hour—”

“Maybe he's hurt,” said Allison, silently praying she was wrong. “Maybe he can't get to us.”

José placed his hands on her shoulders. “What do you want us to do?”

Allison struggled for an answer. Finally, she lowered her head in resignation. She couldn't risk endangering all of them.

“We have to go,” she said. “We can't stay here much longer. Maybe we can search along the way.”

José picked up the coil of rope, and they began their descent along the mountain road. Allison led the way. Don Carlos took the rear, struggling to calm his white horse.

“He has been unusually skittish all morning,” Don Carlos explained. “I do not understand it. He is usually a well-behaved animal.”

“Animals can sense things,” Allison replied. “He knows an earthquake's coming.”

Don Carlos snorted and shook his head. Allison ignored him.

Dawn was beginning to brighten the dark sky. As they passed the V of Devil's Drop, Allison noticed a piece of wood lying beside the edge of the cliff. It looked like the branch she had been reaching for when she slid down the cliff to the ledge. The hair on her arms rose.

“Wait,” she said, cautiously approaching the edge. As she drew near, she noticed freshly exposed earth, as though the ground had recently been disturbed. She lay on her stomach and slithered to the edge.