Delia's Gift (Delia 3)

I nodded. It was my plan now to play along. My chance would come later,

I thought, and maybe he was telling the truth about Ignacio this time. A little more hopeful, I left his office and decided to take a walk outside. I headed directly for the stables. Now that I had given birth, no one cared about my being around the horses. I saw Amigo and Señora Bovio’s horse in the corral, but Gerry Sommer didn’t appear until I was almost there. He stepped out of the barn and hurried in my direction.

“Delia, how are you? I couldn’t get much information about you out of anyone here.”

“I’m not surprised. I’m much better. I have my last doctor’s visit day after tomorrow,” I said.

“That’s great. What are you going to do then?”

“I’m not sure yet. I would like to go to nursing school. Adan Jr.’s been brought home from the hospital,” I told him, and looked back at the house. “I want to wait to see how he is before I decide anything.”

“Home from the hospital? That’s nice. I didn’t know. Like I said,” he added, “no one tells me anything.”

“Me, neither, I’m afraid. How’s Amigo?”

“You know,” he said, looking at the horse, “sometimes I think that horse is part human. He was not the same after you collapsed out here. Look at him.” He nodded toward the corral laughing. “He’s anxious for you to get over there.”

When I approached the corral, Amigo stepped close enough for me to reach out and touch him.

“He knows who’s good people,” Gerry Sommer said, coming up beside me.

“Where do you ride him when you do?”

“Oh, there’s a trail back there. It goes off the Bovio estate and through the wash, a gully for runoff whenever there’s a big rainstorm.”

“And then where does it go?”

“Well, if you kept going, you’d end up in what’s known as the Indian Canyons of Palm Springs.”

“Is it far to the city of Palm Springs?”

“Maybe two miles,” he replied. “It was one of Adan’s favorite rides, especially in the cool evenings. I went with him a few times. There’s a riding academy not far from the canyon, and they have some trails along it as well.”

I looked in the direction he had indicated. Perhaps Adan and I would have taken that ride, I thought.

I watched Gerry Sommer water and feed the horses. He talked about Adan and the time he would spend caring for Amigo, exercising him, and brushing him down.

“Adan and Amigo were as connected as I’ve ever seen a horse and its owner,” he told me. “That horse has been in mourning ever since. You’re the first thing that’s brought some life back into him, Delia. Come around as much as you want.”

I promised I would.

The following morning, after my breakfast, I tried again to see Adan Jr., and again, as if she were waiting for me to do just that, Mrs. Newell appeared to turn me away.

“Didn’t you understand what I told you yesterday? Are you really this stupid?”

“I was hoping…please, Mrs. Newell,” I begged. I thought that begging might satisfy her enough to grant me some time with my own baby.

“I told you. When I believe it’s safe for him to have visitors, I will permit it, but not until then,” she said, and went into Adan’s room, locking the door behind her.

I stood there debating whether or not this was the time to challenge her, to pound on the door and scream. I had no doubt, however, that Señor Bovio would support her and do just what she threatened and throw me out.

Later that afternoon, Señor Bovio came to my room with the revised document. I read it and nodded.

“Would this mean I can visit him now?” I asked.

“Of course not. That’s a medical decision, not a legal decision,” he replied. “Are you signing it?”

“It’s still a very big decision, señor,” I said. It was my only bargaining point. “Would you be kind enough to let me sleep on it a day or so more?”