“Once I had seen you, you were my medicine dream. You were… but I haven’t killed your dragon for you yet, have I?”
“I think you will, in the end. And then you will see…”
Elena’s soft voice floated up to us, and I turned away at the same moment that Luz closed the shutters, very gently, but with a controlled kind of force.
Our eyes met, and her face was haggard, her lips compressed.
“So now you know why Lucas and I are not married. Why he will never marry any woman! Did you think that he brought you here for himself?”
“He brought me here for Ramon. Perhaps also out of some idea of revenge. I was engaged to marry Todd Shannon, or didn’t anyone think to tell you?”
Luz’s small face seemed to crumple. “They told me nothing! But they never do. I only thought… I know that Lucas has other women, but that is when he is away from the valley. Here… but what does it matter? He took me from Montoya, and said he wanted me as his woman, but he treats me as if I were a little sister! And she—she laughs, and encourages us to be together. ‘Why don’t you take Luz out riding with you? You and Luz…’ she says. ‘You are young, you ought to have fun… take her to Mexico with you…’ She is so sure of him, you see! And then he brought you…”
Suddenly I wished that I hadn’t heard that curiously revealing naked dialogue under the window nor Luz’s unashamedly honest confession of the frustration that made her so wretched.
I had been so determined to remain a spectator; now I found myself angry, for her sake.
“If they have not told you anything else, at least you must have guessed that I am not exactly here of my own accord,” I said dryly. I suddenly remembered Julio’s sardonic, subtly sneering words. “Such devotion between mother and son!”
What we had heard could have been a conversation between lovers. Was that why there was so much tension in this house, and so many undercurrents?
I felt sorry for Luz, who had been foolish enough to fall in love with a man who loved his mother too much to have room in his affections for any other woman.
“Are you going to marry Ramon, then?”
Luz looked at me curiously, although I thought there was a trace of tears in her eyes.
“Quite frankly, I would rather choose the man I am to marry! But you may be sure I have no designs on Lucas Cord. I’m sorry, Luz, but I can neither like nor trust him. In fact, I think I have conceived a tremendous dislike for him! Even Julio is more of a gentleman.”
Contrarily, she sprang to Lucas’s defense. “You don’t know Lucas then! I know what people say of him, but he is kind. It is not his fault that Elena has him bewitched. Julio is married, and Ramon—oh, Ramon is kind too, but he is not as much of a man as his brother is! It was Lucas who found this place and brought them all here. It is he who provides all that we need.”
I faced her squarely.
“Well, then, if you are in love with him, why won’t you do something about it? Why do you let him continue to walk all over you? And see you as a sister? Elena Kordes is an attractive woman, and she’s strong, but you are not his mother, and if you set yourself to it…”
“You do not understand!” She turned away from me, and flung herself across her bed. “How could you? You have not been here long enough!”
“Perhaps you have been here too long,” I answered her coolly. “Sometimes it takes an outsider to see things as they really are, you know! Do you expect to get what you want without making any attempt to achieve it? I’ve been only here a few hours, it’s true, but already I’ve learned that you are infatuated with Lucas, that Ramon is already on the verge of becoming infatuated with me, and that Lucas Cord has eyes for nobody but his mother.” She turned her head to look at me, her eyes startled, and I continued thoughtfully. “The only person here who remains something of an enigma is Julio, but I daresay I will come to understand him soon enough.”
“How can you stand here and speak so calmly of all this?” Luz demanded, and I noticed that she was about to cry. “I watched you tonight, and I could not help noticing how easy you find it to talk, even if most of us are strangers to you! The only time you became angry was when Lucas said…” she bit her lip and continued in a quieter voice, “I thought that perhaps it was Lucas you might have preferred, and you were angry because he ignored you.”
“I have many reasons for being angry with Lucas, but his ignoring me is not one of them! In fact, it would make my enforced stay here much more pleasant if I did not have to see him at all!” I bit back other words that sprang to my lips. There was no point in antagonizing Luz, after all. It might be much more convenient if I could persuade her to be my friend, or at least to confide in me. There might come a time when I would need help, for I was already determined that I would leave this valley without being forced into any marriage, no matter what devious methods I might be forced to resort to.
Luz had sat up, and continued to stare at me wonderingly. “You are so very different from the way I had imagined you would be. I think you have been used to doing as you please.”
I shrugged. “I have always had an independent nature, I fear. A fact which many people have deplored. But I hope that I am also realistic. And so should you learn to be, if you mean to get what you want.”
“All I want is to be married to Lucas! And to leave here with him. I would not care where he took me. Or even… well, there are times when I would not care if he married me or not, as long as I knew he wanted me!”
It was obvious that Luz needed someone to talk to, and I think she would have confided all her unhappiness to me at that moment, if I had let her. But I knew that I must be careful, and so I was evasive for the moment, yawning elaborately, as if the subject of Lucas bored me.
“Sometimes the best way to make a man notice you is by changing. By being a little more reserved—or better still, making him jealous! But after all, it’s none of my business, I suppose. I have always made it a point never to interfere in other people’s affairs.”
“Oh, well, I suppose you are sleepy!” Luz’s voice was wistful as she watched me cross the room and begin to comb out my hair before the one mirror we were supposed to share. “Will you talk with me again tomorrow? I am usually up early, to help with the breakfast, but after that…” her voice brightened. “Perhaps they will let us go riding together, if you would enjoy that. I could show you the rest of the valley. It is quite beautiful, yo
u know. And I would very much like it if you would tell me something of the big cities I have heard so much about, and the people who live in them. Ramon has told me a little, of course, but he is only a man; he does not understand what a woman would like to know.”
I smiled at her in the mirror. “It’s a bargain, then. And if you’ll wake me early enough, I will even help you with the breakfast. Since I am here, I suppose I might as well make myself useful!”