Paloma and the Horse Traders (27 page)

She looked around the sparse room, wondering if
she could find a brush, and found something better. She pointed it
out to Marco, who was closer. “Over there. Is that a
note?”

He got up, reached for the folded paper, and
spilled out a handful of gold coins. He read the note and started
to smile. “Maybe Claudio isn’t so far off the mark. It’s addressed
to me. Listen: ‘Señor Mondragón’—ah, the penitent sinner!—‘I am
returning the team to José Vasquez in Pojoaque.’—well, well—‘It was
easy to steal back your money from Lorenzo, for he is a heavy
sleeper. Tell Paloma I am a fool and that I love her.
Claudio.’ ”

“
I would like to wring his neck,”
Paloma said, then managed a smile. “I would!”

“
I don’t doubt it,” Marco told her.
He went to their room and returned with her hairbrush. “Turn
around. I can do this for you, and then I think I had better get my
carcass to the horse barn. We still need to find out what Great Owl
is up to.”

She closed her eyes when he began to brush her
hair. She knew she had the power to weep and rail and carry on and
keep him from this scout for Great Owl, but she understood his
duty.

“
How long?” she asked when her hair
started to crackle and he stopped.

“
Two weeks, perhaps a little more. I
know you will feel safe here with Eckapeta and my guards. I want to
know where Great Owl is. Winter is coming, and I doubt he will act
before spring.”

She stood up, and staggered, but he was right
there to steady her. “Crying makes me red-eyed and dizzy,” she
said. “I think I will not weep anymore over Claudio, that
rat.”

He laughed and clapped a brotherly arm around
her shoulder as he steered her toward their room. “That’s my
girl!”

Paloma stopped at the door. “I am
wondering … why did Great Owl sell Graciela for money? He
didn’t want to barter, did he? I am naïve, indeed, but why do
Comanches want money?”

“
I have wondered that myself,
because I have seen many barters for captives. There is only one
reason I can think of, and that is partly why I want to find that
rascal. It didn’t occur to me any sooner than last night, but I
think he might want to buy guns from the French. The governor told
me of such suspicions—a word here, a word there.”

She absorbed that bit of unwelcome news. “And
then?”

“
That’s the rub. Is he planning to
shoulder aside Kwihnai, or destroy the cloudland Utes, or try to
gain their alliance against us? And if there are French in our
Spanish domain, where are they? The whole thing makes my head
ache.”

He helped her dress, because she couldn’t seem
to concentrate on anything.

She borrowed one of Marco’s hair ties and
gathered her hair low on her neck, not taking time for a bun. It
was easy enough for her to go calmly into the kitchen, greet her
children, and help Graciela give them their breakfast.

“
Mama, you scared me,” Soledad told
her as the little one sat on her lap.

“
I didn’t mean to, my love,” she
said. “It’s just that my brother has left without saying goodbye
and I was so sad.”

In that wise way of children, Soledad stared at
little Claudio. “When he is naughty to me, I might not cry if he
left.”

Paloma laughed and hugged Soledad. “I remember
times like that, too, with
my
brothers.”

She smiled at Marco over Soledad’s head. “And
you, señor, had better prepare your little army. If Eckapeta,
Emilio, and a host of excellent archers and guards cannot manage in
your absence, then we are too cowardly to live in Valle del
Sol.”

There was no denying the relief in his eyes or
his good humor. “Señor, is it? Should I sleep in the horse barn
when I return?”

“
Only if you prefer smelly barns to
me,” she teased back. “I will miss you most awfully.”

She meant both statements, and reminded him
again an hour later when she and their little ones knelt on the
hard ground by the gate while he made the sign of the cross on each
forehead and blessed them to be safe. Then she was in his arms with
no tears, and a whacking great kiss that made Joaquim Gasca laugh
out loud, and Toshua turn away, because he was a
gentleman.

Children in tow—Soledad and Claudito both
looking like thunder clouds because they wanted to ride with
Papa—Paloma climbed the steps to the parapet. The little family
watched the three horsemen until they were small specks against the
enormous sky.

In
which Claudio is more penitent than usual and Lorenzo is equally
firm

L
eading Marco’s stolen team
of matched bays, Claudio did not look forward to catching up with
the horse trader and Rogelio. Lorenzo would certainly thrash him.
Several years had passed since his last beating by either Lorenzo
or the late unlamented Paco, but Claudio knew how Lorenzo felt
about commerce, legal or otherwise.

Maybe it was the haircut, or the barbering, or
even the bath. All Lorenzo did was frown at him. Since it was
Lorenzo, this was no ordinary frown, and probably would have
totally cowed an entire generation of gently raised children from a
big city like Taos. As it was, Claudio only felt relief.

At least until Lorenzo opened his mouth and did
not even mention the team in tow. He went right to the matter of
Paloma. “Claudio, you fool,” he said, his voice still
conversational, which of itself made the hair on Claudio’s back
stand on end. He would have preferred the shouting Lorenzo, the man
he knew. “You have a wonderful sister, an honorable
brother-in-law—even if he is a bit picky about the law—all the food
you could want, and I saw how that slave Graciela looked at you.”
Lorenzo gestured around the wider world of New Mexico. “Why on
earth are you following us?”

Graciela looked at me?
Claudio thought,
startled. He halted the team of bays.
Dios
, but they were
trained well. “I don’t know that I want to stay at the Double
Cross. Besides, I feel the need to return this team to Hacienda
Rumaldo.”

“
Since you gave the money back to
Señor Mondragón—”

“
And
you
told him the team
came from Pojoaque Valley,” Claudio challenged. No sense in holding
back now, since Lorenzo hadn’t beaten him to a pulp yet. “Imagine
Marco’s embarrassment, and probably his lifelong irritation, if he
took these lovely beasts to Señor Vasquez and earned a blank stare
in exchange, because they aren’t his? Or were you just planning not
to return them?” Claudio looked down at his saddle horn. “Lorenzo,
things get complicated when we do either right
or
wrong.”

Lorenzo stared at him for a long time. Claudio
thought he might be choosing his words with extraordinary care. It
wasn’t even noon yet, and Lorenzo continued to surprise him. Maybe
that bath had washed the crusty stuff around the trader’s
conscience. What about his own conscience?

“
Claudio, you’re turning into an
amazing amount of trouble,” Lorenzo said.

“
Me
? Paloma’s the problem,”
Claudio said in his defense, though it sounded weak to his clean
ears.

Lorenzo ignored his outburst. “We’ll return the
team to old Señor Rumaldo’s pasture, although I don’t doubt for a
minute that someone else with fewer scruples than we have will just
steal them again.”

Claudio smiled at Lorenzo’s artless
declaration. “We are horse traders and we do a little
paso
doble
all around the law. One step here, one step there.” Might
as well admit it. “I think I’m getting tired of the dance.” Claudio
waited a moment. “Are you?”

“
No!” Lorenzo declared, even though
Claudio thought he heard the tiniest hesitation. “What I
am
doing is getting tired of
you
, Claudio. After we return the
team and someone less principled steals them, Rogelio and I are
going to escort you back to the Double Cross.”

“
And if I don’t want to go?” Claudio
challenged.

“
Rogelio and I will either garrote
you with a nice thin piece of wire and dump your stupid carcass
here for the buzzards, or we will tie you up and drag you back to
Paloma. Your choice.”

“
That’s no choice!”

“
I knew you would see it my
way.”

* * *

As far as Paloma could tell, the only advantage
in having Marco gone for any length of time was the opportunity to
eat more cooked onions that usual. Even before they were married,
he had warned her of what happened to his inner workings when he
ate too many cooked onions. She liked them, so his absence meant
more onions in the food.

That wasn’t enough reason to wish him away,
however, so mostly she felt glum waking up in the morning with no
man beside her. True, she could lie in bed with her hands behind
her head and think about things, but she missed Marco.

True, there was more room in the bed for Soli
and Claudito, if they woke up early enough to join her. She knew
they missed their father, too, although she had to smile on the
first morning when Soledad looked under the bed and peered inside
the massive clothes press, then crawled into bed with all the
resignation of a Christian martyr and none of the grace.

“
You know Papa never hides in those
places,” Paloma said to her daughter as she cuddled her
close.

“
I was hoping,” Soledad said with a
small sigh that went right to Paloma’s heart.

Even Emilio’s offer to drop the gate in the
acequia
and leave a little water to splash in met with a
sorrowful shake of Soledad’s head.

After one long day of unhappiness, a
consultation with Perla followed by a visit with the beekeeper
resolved at least some of Soledad’s misery.

“
If this doesn’t cheer her up a
little, then there is no remedy,” said the practical Perla to
Paloma and Eckapeta as they watched Soli stare out the kitchen
window. “Come, child,” the cook said. “You need to pay a visit to
Cipriano.” They looked out the window together. “See? There he is,
talking to Sancha. And see what is in his hand?”

“
Honey?” Soledad asked, perking
up.

“
Yes! Bring it here and you and I
will make something wonderful.”

Soledad darted out the door, forgetting that
she was a lady and should walk everywhere. Perla looked at Paloma,
and her glance bordered on conspiratorial.

“
Would that we had a remedy for what
ails Sancha,” she said in a low voice.

“
What can you mean?” Paloma
asked.

“
Señora, Sancha has been moping ever
since Lorenzo rode away.”

“
Lorenzo?”

Perla came closer. “At this very window, Sancha
took a good look at Lorenzo while he was bathing in the
acequia
.” Perla rolled her eyes, which made Eckapeta
laugh.

“
Bigger than Big Man Down There?”
Eckapeta teased in turn. “Eh, Paloma?”

They were all laughing when Soledad walked back
into the kitchen, her eyes on the full jar of honey in her hands.
Solemnly, she held it up to Perla, who, still smiling, poured it
into a well-seasoned pot and swung it back over the low coals. She
handed Soledad another jar. “Take your Mama with you to the spring
house and measure me just this much cream,” she said, putting her
finger against the jar more than halfway up.

“
Mama, what is she planning?”
Soledad asked as she skipped alongside Paloma to the spring
house.

The stone-lined room, set three feet below
ground level, smelled sharply of curing cheese and curdled cream.
Paloma measured out the cream and handed it to Soledad. “Perla will
want you and Claudito to stretch out some honey sweets.”

Soledad gasped, her eyes wide. “Mama! All this
because I am sad?”

“
Yes, you scamp! I expect you to be
much more cheerful when the honey is pulled and cut into little
bites.” She kissed Soledad’s hair, breathing in the fragrance of
summer sun and thinking how quickly August had faded
away.

The mother in her had something else to say.
“And don’t start to think that if you are sad we will make candy
every time.”

“
I will never do that, Mama,” Soli
declared, eyes wide, voice solemn.

“
Never?” Paloma asked,
amused.

Soli gestured for Paloma to bend closer. “I
might try it on Papa just once.”

“
You are a scamp!” Paloma said,
giving her a gentle swat on her skirt. “I will warn
Papa.”

Soledad mustered all her dignity, which
apparently was considerable for one so young. “A girl has to try,
Mama.”

“
I suppose she does, dearest,”
Paloma said, remembering a few such moments with her own mother.
Suddenly Paloma missed dreadfully the wisdom Mama could have shared
with her own children. “I believe I did, once or twice.”

“
Did your mama give you a
swat?”

“
Certainly! Now hurry on before I
give you another.”

Her heart full, Paloma watched Soledad skip
ahead, happy now, even though the cream jar was in some danger.
Standing by the spring house, her hands pressed together, Paloma
whispered, “Mama, if only you could see my dear ones.”