Paloma and the Horse Traders (2 page)

On Paloma’s shy advice, they avoided his former
office, which had become the temporary home of his dear Comanche
friends when they visited. “I think Toshua and Eckapeta are saying
goodbye in there now,” she whispered to him.

“
Tipi time, eh?” he teased, and gave
her a little pat on her thankfully not so skinny rump.

“
You’ll get your time,” she
promised, and was true to her word. Once all the servants had been
formally convened for his parting words and blessing before a
journey, and their children slept, Paloma loved him with that
ferocity he adored, reminding him that she didn’t like being left
behind and that she would miss such moments until he
returned.

“
It’s just a quick trip,” he
reminded her, when she curled up close to him, not bothering to
hunt for her nightgown. “I wish I had time to break two horses to a
team, but I don’t. Rumor says the horse traders are bringing some
good horseflesh to Taos.”

“
You won’t drink too much,” she
admonished.

“
Do I ever?”

“
Well, no, but a wife has to give
advice,” she replied, ever practical.

“
You’re not going to warn me about
wenching?” he teased.

“
Of course not.” She kissed his
chest. “You know where you sleep best.”

No argument; he did.

She chuckled; she knew him. “No
gambling?”

“
Maybe a little. I’m hoping Governor
de Anza will be in Taos, at least to open the fair. Letters are
well and good, but I can tell him how matters stand in Santa Maria.
Kwihnai has kept his word, and we have had no troubles from the
Comanches for nearly four years.”

And yet. No sense in worrying Paloma, but in
the last few weeks Marco had felt a certain unease, maybe because
Toshua stood longer each night, looking to the east. When
questioned, the Comanche merely shrugged.

“
Should we not go to Taos?” Marco
had asked Toshua only yesterday.

“
We will go, but we will not
linger,” Toshua had replied.

When pressed, Toshua had admitted his own
concern. “I see many horses in my dreams,” he had said, then shook
his head, as though to ward off foolishness. “But aren’t we going
to Taos to find horses?”

“
Are there riders on these dream
horses of yours?” Marco had asked. “It’s just a horse
herd?”

“
No riders,” Toshua had replied,
almost a little too quickly to suit Marco.

His fingers in Paloma’s pillow-soft hair, Marco
tucked away any misgivings. He knew Toshua would never leave the
Double Cross if there was something in the wind, both for his own
wife’s sake, and Paloma, whom he called his little
sister.

Marco’s eyes were starting to close now. He
knew from sweet experience that one or the other of them would
touch and stroke in the middle of the night and there would be more
of this love that made him the happiest husband, father, and
juez
in his district, perhaps in all of King Carlos’ New
World possessions. Time to sleep, except he had a
question.

“
Will Eckapeta stay here while
Toshua and I are gone?” One never knew about Eckapeta. She might
surprise them a day later on their journey by joining them, or she
might return to her people on the Llano Estacado. Lately, though,
the attraction of little ones to caress and tend had kept her close
to the Double Cross.

“
Eckapeta says she will teach me to
bead.”

“
What will you make, my
love?”

“
Probably a mess. I do not have deep
wells of patience these days.”

He silently agreed with her, just thinking of a
typical hectic day on the Double Cross. Feeling Paloma relax in his
arms, he smiled into the darkness, happy to be the author of her
satisfaction. His eyes closed, as testament to her own mattress
skills.

But first, he had to ask his usual question. He
assumed he would get the usual answer. He asked it before every
trip, in order to sound like a thoughtful fellow. He understood
marriage politics as well as the next husband.

“
Anything in particular you would
like from Taos,
mi corazon
?”

“
Actually, there is,” she told him,
which made him open his eyes in surprise, since she never asked for
anything. “You’ve been so busy this past month that I don’t think
you noticed.”

“
Noticed what?”

“
Aha! I didn’t get my box of monthly
supplies from the storeroom,” she said, her voice muffled against
his chest. He knew she was shy about some things.

He may have been lulled into a near-coma by
Paloma’s love, but he was not a slow man, by any means. He
tightened his grip on her shoulders and hugged her closer, even if
it was August and hot. Was it possible for a husband to feel even
more blessed and grateful? Did the law even
allow
such
happiness?

“
When, Paloma?” he whispered into
her hair.

“
Let’s see: it’s August now, and in
July we did find a few quiet moments.” She laughed outright. “Your
servants probably admired your diligent attentiveness in the
hayfield. Some diligence!”

He remembered that afternoon when Paloma came
along with the house servants, taking food to the men in the field.
She had stayed behind, and one thing led to another, as those
matters often did.

She was counting on her fingers now. “I’m
thinking April, when the lambs and calves are born,” Paloma said in
her quiet way. “I really need another servant to help with Soli and
Claudio, since I will be even busier.” She rested her head against
his chest again, and he felt the dampness. “I have prayed to Santa
Margarita.”

“
And she listened?” he
asked.

“
I know she did,” Paloma told him.
“Her feast day is July twentieth, in case you have forgotten, and
that was when we were in the hayfield.” Her low laugh vibrated on
his chest. “She knew we wanted more than one child from our bodies.
It was not too much to ask.”

“
No, it wasn’t. I’ll find you
another servant,” he promised, “someone good with children, since
our other servants have their own duties.”

Marco put his hand on Paloma’s belly, touched
to find her own hands there already, cradling and protecting a baby
so tiny that no one but its parents was aware of its
existence.

“
Horses and a servant,” he
whispered. “Paloma,
te adoro
.”

In
which big and little Mondragóns are not pleased

W
ith a creak of saddle
leather, Marco bent down from Buciro to give Paloma a final kiss.
“I don’t like
adios
,” Paloma whispered into his neck.

“
It’s only Taos, and I will behave,”
he told her. “We’ll be there in three days, maybe four, if we
dawdle.”

“
Go with God then, husband,” Paloma
said as she stepped back. She raised her hand to Toshua. “And you,
my friend and brother.”

Toshua nodded. He bent down and touched her
head, then touched Claudio in her arms. “Eckapeta will watch over
you now.”

The Comanche must have noticed the unease she
thought she hid so well, because he smiled, a rare occurrence.
“I’ll keep Big Man out of trouble.”

He exchanged glances with Marco, who laughed,
telling Paloma all she needed to know about just how soon Marco
would be bare and in his loincloth, once they left the Double
Cross.

Marco’s expression turned tender. Paloma looked
over her shoulder to see Soledad in Eckapeta’s arms, struggling to
get down and follow her dear papa. Marco blew his daughter a kiss,
then turned his attention to Paloma again.

“
Be easy. Take care of yourself and
the little one we cannot see yet.”

She knew she would do as he asked, because
their servants would insist upon it. She had discovered early in
her marriage that Marco never kept a secret. Before she was even
out of bed that morning, he had been up, taking their joyous news
to Sancha and Perla first, and relying on them to spread it
throughout the Double Cross before breakfast. Before her master was
even out of sight, Sancha would be bullying Paloma to lie down and
prop up her feet.

The prospect had its appeal. Paloma relished
the idea of being firmly coerced into rest by Sancha, the family
housekeeper who had come with Felicia, Marco’s first wife, and who
extended her devotion to Paloma. Even now, with the sun still low
in the east, she was already tired. How did a baby no bigger than
her smallest finger command her whole body? God’s
mystery.

She watched the men ride to the open gates,
just the two of them, because Kwihnai had kept his promise and
reined in his warriors in return for the gift of smallpox
inoculation that Marco and Paloma had taken east to the Texas
plains nearly two years ago. Still, two men seemed too few, when
one of those men was the husband she adored. Paloma calmed her fear
by considering the two riders, both of them warriors seasoned by
warfare but governed by caution.

My darling leaves his guards for us
, she
thought. She gave Marco the medium-sized curtsey that custom
dictated, the best she could do with their son in her arms. In
turn, Marco made the sign of the cross over her and their children
and blew her a kiss. The kiss was not part of the ritual, because
most Spaniards were circumspect people. Paloma smiled and waved,
thinking how they had changed after their months in the Comanche
winter camp in the sacred
cañón
. Marco kissed her in front
of the servants now, which would have astounded his parents.
These are modern times
, Paloma thought, pleased with her
man.

When Marco and Toshua rode through the gates,
which shut behind them, Soledad started to cry. Startled, Claudio
turned around in her arms to stare at his sister. His lips began to
tremble.

“
No, son,” Paloma said and gently
turned his face into her breasts. She watched as Eckapeta put her
hand over Soli’s nose and mouth and gave her head a little shake.
After a gasp to breathe and a shuddering sigh, the child went
silent. Eckapeta set her down, knelt beside her, then gathered her
close, so there would be no hard feelings.

In another moment, Soli wriggled out of
Eckapeta’s loose grasp and walked purposefully toward Paloma. She
clung to her mother’s skirts, then tugged on them until Paloma set
Claudio down beside her. In another moment they were cross-legged
and playing with blocks on the veranda, the crisis over.

After making certain that Perla’s little
grandson would sit with her children, Paloma walked with her dear
friend into the house. “I wish you could cheer me up as fast,” she
said.

“
Just think! You have your whole bed
to yourself for a while,” Eckapeta said. “No one to steal your
blankets or put cold feet on your legs.”

“
But it’s August and hot!” Paloma
couldn’t help her tears, which more than her late monthly told her
she was with child again. “I miss him already!” she
wailed.

With an amused expression on her pockmarked
face, Eckapeta gave her the same treatment she had administered to
Soledad. She pinched Paloma’s nose shut and put her hand over her
mouth. The little shake of her head was accompanied by a kiss on
the cheek. Paloma brushed aside Eckapeta’s hand and laughed, her
own crisis over.

There was no point in trying to restore her
matronly dignity; Eckapeta knew her too well. Paloma sat down on
the carved chest just inside the house. “It’s not just for me,” she
said. “I know how uneasy my husband is when he and I are not in the
same place. He tries not to show it, but the fear remains. I doubt
it will ever leave him entirely.”

Eckapeta sat beside her. “Then you will have to
stay very busy until he returns,” she said. She stood up, took
Paloma’s hand and pulled her up. She gave her a little push in the
direction of the kitchen. “Sancha will keep you busy, and
I
will watch my children.”

Paloma felt tears well in her eyes again. “In
the Indian way, are they your children?” she asked, feeling shy in
the face of such love.

Eckapeta only nodded, because her eyes were
filling, too, which touched Paloma right to the center of her body.
She swallowed, then threw all dignity to the wind as she wrapped
her arms around the Comanche, a gesture her own mother, dead at
Comanche hands, never would have understood.

Eckapeta returned Paloma’s embrace. “Toshua and
I gave up our daughters to the Dark Wind, which scarred my face.
Our son was captured by Apaches on his first raid.” She buried her
face in Paloma’s hair and rationed out one sob. “They paid, because
Toshua’s vengeance was terrible, but I felt no relief.”

She held herself off from Paloma, her face so
serious, her eyes searching for something deep inside Paloma. “Know
this: I will defend your children to the death because they are
mine, as you are mine.”

They touched foreheads, then Eckapeta released
her. “Get busy now! And listen to Sancha when she orders you to
rest while our little ones are sleeping. Go on.” She gave Paloma a
gentle swat for good measure.