A Moment in Time (17 page)

Jake carried a small trunk while Simon managed a large carpetbag. Alice smiled as the boy struggled to hoist the bag up to the carriage. She quickly leaned forward to help.

“That looks heavy,” she said, giving him a smile of approval. “Good thing you’re so strong.”

Simon nodded and climbed up behind the bag as Alice pulled it inside. “I can carry a lot when I’m not wearing this coat.” He pulled at the traveling jacket in discomfort. “Mama said I had to wear it on the train, ’cause that’s what a gentleman does.”

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that gentlemen out on the ranch dress a little different,” Marty told him. She gave him a wink and Simon smiled.

“Can I ride a horse?”

“Of course you can,” Marty declared. “The question is, do you know how?”

Simon frowned and plopped down between his mother and sister. “No. I never got to ride.”

Marty reached over the seat and chucked him on the chin. “Don’t pout. We have people aplenty to teach you. You’ll be a natural in the saddle before you know it. Your sister is even learning to ride.”

The boy grinned, and it warmed Alice’s heart to see how naturally he related to Marty. She could only hope that somehow, some way, she might find the same openness with him. Of course, he had been the one to initiate their embrace, and he mentioned they had her picture and Mother had told him about her. Had Mama kept Alice a part of their family all these years? It gave Alice a great deal to ponder.

It wasn’t long before Jake had the trunk secured and had reclaimed the driver’s seat. “Are we set for home?” he asked, calling over his shoulder. Everyone nodded their approval.

“Good. Then we’re off,” he said and snapped the reins.

Alice sank back into the leather upholstery and said very little. Marty and her mother chatted as if they’d known each other for a long time, while Simon was intent on watching the sights and people around them.

I don’t really know either of you. You
are flesh of my flesh but complete strangers. How could
that have happened in such a short time?

The thought really bothered Alice. Then doubts crept in. She had never really known her mother. At least not in the way she thought she had. The woman Alice knew would never have gone away and left her daughter behind. It was a stone in her shoe to be sure, and like a pilgrim set upon a
hundred-mile journey, the rock only served to rub a wound deep and painful.

Robert gave the expectant mare a pat on the rump. “You’ll be a mama soon.” He left the stall and had just grabbed up some oats when Marty located him. “We’ve got Alice’s family settled in the Montoya house,” she declared. “Hannah said to tell you supper will be in an hour.”

“Sounds good. I just wanted to check the paint. She’s due to foal most anytime.” The brown-and-white-blotched horse whinnied softly as if to agree with his comment. He poured the oats into a small feeding trough and then returned the bucket to the wall.

Marty put her hand to her belly. “I wish I were.” She laughed. “I know I still have months to go, but I would be a whole lot happier to have my baby here safe and sound.”

Robert put his arm around Marty’s shoulder. “Ma says the baby will be here before you know it. She’s lookin’ forward to spoilin’ him, too.”

“Oh, has she decided it’s a boy?”

He chuckled. “I don’t think so. I recollect her calling him a her a time or two.”

They walked together toward the house, but Marty stopped without warning. “I wanted to talk to you—alone.”

“Me? Why?” Robert was surprised by the sudden change in his aunt’s tone.

“I guess I’m sticking my nose in where it doesn’t belong, but I wanted to ask you about your plans to marry Jessica.”

“I don’t have plans to marry Jessica.”

She looked at him with a stern expression. “That’s not what I’ve been told.”

“Me either, but it’s the truth,” he said, trying to make light of the situation. “Folks have been sayin’ that for years, but it don’t make it so.”

“And does Jessica know this?”

He shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I’ve tried to tell her.”

“And what does she say?”

“She changes the subject or makes like it’s not a problem. But it is.”

Marty’s expression softened. Her head cocked to one side. “And why is that?”

“Because I have feelings for someone else.”

He wasn’t sure it was the right time to share that information, but if anyone would understand, it would be Marty. His aunt had always had a way of making him feel at ease, and Robert realized he probably should have talked to her about Alice a while ago.

“Alice?” Marty questioned, as if reading his mind.

Robert nodded and glanced overhead at the thick white clouds. “She’s got to me, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“You always have been one to take up for the disadvantaged. Are you sure this isn’t just another case of your wanting to fix an injured critter?” She smiled and crossed her arms. “’Cause a woman is a whole lot more complex than a cat with a broken foot.”

Robert chuckled. “You still remember that?”

“How could I forget? You were only six and so very worried about that animal. I didn’t think you’d ever let it walk on its own again. Just kept carryin’ it around with you all the time. And, as I recall, the cat wasn’t any too pleased about it.”

“I suppose it had something to do with being confined in that crate,” he replied. “But I know Alice isn’t a cat. She’s
a beautiful woman, and yes, she has been hurt, but I . . . well . . . I love her.”

Marty shook her head. “Then heaven help you.”

“What would you do if you were me, Aunt Marty? Everyone knows about Jess, and I don’t want to hurt her.”

“It’ll only hurt her more if you don’t put an end to it. Being in love with someone else while you’re expected to marry another is never a good foot to start out on.”

“Sometimes I just want to sweep Alice up and run off with her.”

“Then do it. But set things straight with Jessica first, or you’ll always regret it.”

With breakfast over and the men off to their chores, the women of the house began their routine. Alice had taken to helping with the ironing and was busy at work in the kitchen when her mother decided to join her.

“You seem happy here,” Mother said, taking hold of a nearby chair. She studied the ladder back of the simple piece for a moment. Running her hands along the top rung, she cleared her throat. “I hoped maybe we could talk now.”

Alice knew that Hannah and Marty were busy outside and wouldn’t be back in for a while. “That would be fine.” She put the iron back on the stove. “Would you like to sit?”

“Yes.” Mother took a seat without further prompting. “I find that I’m quite exhausted.”

Alice noticed that her appearance was that of a woman who’d been days without sleep. Her color was pale and her eyes seemed more sunken today. “Did you not rest well?”

“Well enough.” Her mother smiled. “I think the weight of everything is just coming to rest on me.”

Alice took a seat across from her mother and folded her arms against her body. Suddenly she felt very vulnerable and wasn’t at all certain she could say the things that had been on her mind.

“Alice, I know I hurt you in leaving. But you need to understand why I had to go.”

“I’m listening.”

Mother looked up and met her gaze. “It wasn’t ideally what I wanted. I had hoped that things could be worked out another way.” She twisted her hands together. “I don’t know where to start, but it’s important you understand that I always loved you, and I wanted you with me.”

“But not enough to take me with you when you snuck out that night.” Alice hadn’t meant to reply in such a manner, but now that it was out there she didn’t try to take it back.

“You’re right to be angry with me. I was angry with myself.” She gave a heavy sigh. “I knew you were the light of your father’s eye, and he would always treat you well. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be said about me or even Simon. You see, your father was a very jealous man. He always seemed to fear someone would come and steal me away from him.” She smiled sadly.

“I suppose it was because I was very popular when we courted. I had many suitors, and your father had little patience for his rivals. When you were born nine months after we married, I thought he would finally realize there was nothing to fear, that I was his and we were a family. But, Alice, that wasn’t how it was.”

Alice frowned. She knew her parents were given to arguments but had never understood why. Now she tried not to form any opinion on the matter before her mother could share her story.

“Your father was involved in some underhanded illegal affairs. I think you know that now, given the things Marty said to me about the envelope you were looking for and the missing gold certificates.”

“I know that he was used by someone to deliver forged certificates.”

Mother shook her head. “He was the one forging them, Alice. He was in the middle of everything that was going on. He had cohorts, to be sure, but your father was nobody’s fool.”

“You’re saying he willingly did wrong?” Alice leaned forward. “I find that hard to believe.”

“I know you do. You always loved him so dearly.”

“I loved you, too,” Alice threw back. “I thought you loved me.”

“I do love you, Alice. I do.” Her mother reached out to touch her daughter’s hands, but Alice quickly pulled away.

“How can you say that after what you did? You left without warning, and I never heard from you again.”

A heavy sadness seemed to wash over the older woman. “I wrote you letters. I wrote a great many. Your father wouldn’t let you see them or even acknowledge them, from what I know now. He wrote to me and threatened me—he threatened to see me jailed if I so much as tried to come back and take you away. I felt so bad that I even offered to return to our marriage, knowing that it would be a living hell. But he told me no. He didn’t want me back.”

“I can’t believe that,” Alice said, shaking her head. “Papa loved you and Simon. Simon was the son he wanted.”

“As I said earlier, your father was a very jealous man.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Alice knew she was letting her temper get control of her. She tried to
calm down, but with her mother’s next words there was no hope of that.

“Your father didn’t believe Simon was his son. He thought I had betrayed him with a business associate.”

Alice felt sickened and wasn’t sure what to say. Her mother seemed sincere in what she was saying, but this just couldn’t be the truth.

“I don’t . . . I don’t believe you.”

Tears formed in her mother’s eyes. “That’s exactly what your father said to me when I told him that I had never been with anyone but him, that Simon was his son. He knocked me to the ground and walked away, never willing to discuss the matter again.”

Alice wanted to scream that it was all lies, but in the recesses of her memories she recalled her father’s indifferent treatment of Simon. She had always believed that it was nothing more than favoritism, and since it benefited her, she had given it no other consideration. Especially in light of the way her mother always seemed to compensate and show Simon extra attention.

“Your father wasn’t the man you think he was. He was tied up in all sorts of deals and had all manner of evil friends. I feared for our safety, but even more so, I feared your father and what he might do. That’s why I had to go. I had to protect Simon from your father’s wrath.”

“But you didn’t see fit to protect me.”

“Alice, I knew he would never hurt you. He lived for you. He adored you. There was no question in his mind as to your heritage. But you need to know that I never intended to leave you behind. I had planned to come back for you the next day. I thought I could go to the school and take you from your classroom. I planned for the three of us to board a train for Chicago and stay with a distant cousin there. By putting miles
between us and your father, I hoped he would see the error of his ways and make changes. I never intended for it to be the end of our family.”

Unable to hear another word against the man she loved, Alice jumped to her feet. The chair spilled over backward and made a loud clatter against the floor.

“I don’t believe you. This isn’t true. It can’t be! You would have me believe my father was some sort of criminal, but he wasn’t!”

She left the room without waiting to hear her mother’s reply. The things her mother said rang over and over in her ears. And though she longed to refuse them, they burrowed deep into her mind and taunted her.

Mindless of where she walked, Alice crossed the barnyard and made her way down the long drive toward the main road. She fought to control her emotions, but tears began to fall.

I can’t
believe my father would be so cruel. I can’t
believe he was so devious and . . . so evil. Surely she’
s just making this up to make herself look better.
After all, Papa can’t defend himself
.

But even as she considered this, Alice remembered that he had lied to her about her mother and Simon being dead. She glanced heavenward with a single word on her lips.

“Why?”

“Looks like it’ll be anytime now,” Brandon Reid told Robert as they considered the laboring mare. “Legs are out and well positioned. Front legs are white.”

“I hope the foal will be a beauty like her mama.”

Brandon eyed the horse. “She is a fine animal. One of the best paint quarter horses I’ve ever bred. She comes from good stock. I’m sure you’ll be pleased with her offspring.”

Robert gave the mare another look and then smiled. “You know, I’m gonna go get Alice. She’s never seen anything like this, and I know she’d enjoy it.”

“You know how persnickety horses can be in giving birth. You get an audience in here and she may hold off for hours.”

“I know, but . . . well . . . Alice will just sit back quiet. She’s not like some women who’d be all fussy and chatty.” Robert headed out of the barn toward the house. He knew Alice had planned to iron that morning and would be set up in the kitchen, so he came in through the back entrance.

“Alice?”

“She’s . . . not here,” Mrs. Chesterfield replied.

Robert found the older woman at the table. She’d been crying. “What’s wrong? Is Alice all right?”

She shook her head. “She’s upset with me. She stormed out of here about twenty minutes ago.”

“Did she say where she was going?”

The woman again shook her head. “I don’t imagine she had any particular place in mind so long as it was away from me.”

Robert wanted to say something comforting to the woman, but he was more concerned with Alice’s welfare. “I’ll find her. If she does come back, let her know I’m looking for her. We have a mare about to foal, and I thought she’d like to see it.” He didn’t know why he felt the need to give her the details of what was happening. Somehow, he hoped it might soften her discomfort to focus on something else.

He left the house and looked around the yard for some sign of Alice. He noted his mother and Marty working in the garden, but Alice wasn’t with them. Rounding the barn, he glanced out across the front grasslands and spied Alice walking up the long lane to the house.

Mrs. Chesterfield had said Alice was upset with her. Robert
couldn’t help but wonder what had been said in their exchange that would send the normally even-tempered young woman off alone. He decided he’d say nothing about it. In time, maybe she’d tell him.

“Alice!” he called, giving her a wave as he made his way down the drive. “I’ve been lookin’ for you. Belleza is about to foal, and I thought you might like to witness it.”

She picked up her pace and made her way toward him. Robert could see that her eyes were red-rimmed, but he said nothing. “It might take a while or it might be quick. With a mare you can never tell.” He held out his hand.

Alice looked at him oddly for a moment. “I would like to see the new baby, but I have a lot of work to do.”

“Ma and Marty will understand.” He didn’t wait for her to take his hand, but took hold of her arm. “Come on.”

They made their way back to the barn, and Robert tried to figure a way to get Alice to talk to him about what had happened. “That little brother of yours sure has taken to Will. He’s followin’ him all over the place.”

“He seems to enjoy the ranch setting,” Alice said after a few seconds.

“And what about your ma?”

She shrugged. “I guess so.”

They reached the barn and Robert knew there’d be nothing else said on the matter. “Mr. Reid is here. You met him at the roundup, remember?”

Alice nodded. Brandon approached them. “She’s just dropped the foal.” He looked worried and Robert couldn’t help but tense.

“What’s wrong?”

Alice looked at him in confusion, but he didn’t take time to explain. Instead, Robert made his way alone to the stall.
There in the hay was a most incredible sight. A pure white foal. Belleza was working to lick the baby’s face. Everything seemed perfectly fine.

He turned in confusion. “What’s wrong, Mr. Reid? Your voice sounded . . . well . . . you look like there’s something to worry about.”

Alice and Brandon joined him at the stall. “I don’t wanna buy trouble,” Reid began, “but I’ve seen this kind of thing before, so I have my concerns.”

“What kind of thing?”

“White foal. You can see the skin is pinkish and the eyes are blue.”

“I don’t understand.” Robert looked again at the foal and shook his head. “Looks like they’re gettin’ on just fine.”

“I’ve seen this a couple of times before. There’s no way of tellin’ right away,” Reid answered, “but usually this doesn’t bode well for the foal. Somethin’ happens with the paints deliverin’ whites. Not sure why, but we’ll know soon enough.”

“Know what?” Alice asked before Robert could.

“If we need to put it down.”

“Kill it? A newborn?” Robert looked at the man in confusion. He completely respected Brandon Reid’s knowledge of horses and knew that he wouldn’t say such a thing lightly.

“The next twenty-four hours will tell us what we have to do. Most of the time, though, it seems these paints have problems with white foals not bein’ able to digest and pass waste.” He watched the baby try to get to its feet. “We’ll just have to wait it out.”

———

Alice didn’t like Mr. Reid’s prognosis of the foal’s situation. She knew nothing about horses, but it seemed horrible
to imagine that a newborn might be killed. She reached out and touched Robert’s sleeve.

“Don’t let him harm the foal.” Her pleading tone was barely audible.

“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt that animal,” Mr. Reid replied. “However, if the foal can’t process food, it’ll be in a lot of pain. The waste will just pack up inside, and then it will die a slow and painful death. I won’t have that.”

“Neither will I,” Robert said, patting Alice’s hand. “You wouldn’t want that, either.”

“Of course not. But . . . I mean . . . isn’t there something we can do?”

“Pray,” Mr. Reid suggested. “Pray for a miracle.”

And that’s exactly what they did. First Robert suggested they pray together. Mr. Reid offered up a prayer asking for wisdom and God’s will to be done. Robert added that he hoped that will would include the foal being healthy. Alice silently prayed that the baby would live and that God would somehow help her to deal with the information her mother had given her earlier.