Authors: Connie Mason
Unhitching the horse in order to lead him, Julie started forward. Before she had taken half a dozen steps the first pains struck and something she dreaded from the moment she left the
rancho
occurred. Julie was going into premature labor! Fear seized her. A fear so great she was overwhelmed by the thought of what might happen to her and her child alone in the wilderness. She could not lose Rod’s child. Not now. Not ever, she vowed stubbornly. It was all she had left of him.
Breathing deeply, which seemed to ease the pain, Julie fought to conquer her terror. Spying a large rock nearby she led the horse to it and carefully positioned him so that she could mount him if she used the rock as a mounting block. Timing the contractions, Julie waited for the last one to subside, then began slowly pulling herself onto the horse’s back. Once, twice, three times she failed, and tears of frustration and pain blurred her vision. But she refused to panic for she knew failure was tantamount to a death sentence for her baby.
On the fourth attempt she managed to drag her burdensome body atop her patient mount and head him in the direction of the mission and help. To Julie’s befuddled and pain-wracked mind, it seemed like hours before she reached the gate. With the last of her dwindling strength, she managed to pull the bell cord before she passed out.
The morning after Julie crept undetected out into the night, Rod, tired, saddle-sore and dirty entered the
hacienda
in a jovial mood. The roundup was nearly completed and the branding could be accomplished without his supervision. The
vaqueros
were perfectly able to carry out that chore without him, which was just fine with Rod. He hadn’t seen Julie to really talk to her in days, and guilt over his unintentional neglect was bothering him mercilessly.
Most women appeared ungainly and awkward during late pregnancy but not Julie, Rod thought fondly, picturing her dainty form swollen with child yet no less graceful and lovely in his eyes. He deeply regretted the fact that he had little spare time of late to pamper and cosset his wife as she so richly deserved, but he fully intended to make up for his lack of attention during the next weeks. Julie would have his undivided attention, Rod vowed, for he had already informed his
vaqueros
that he would not accompany the trail drive this time but would remain with his wife to see her through the birth of their child.
All was quiet when Rod entered the
hacienda.
He found Teresa in the kitchen and she informed him that Felicia was at her lessons and Julie had not made an appearance yet this morning.
“Is she ill?” Rod asked worriedly. It was not like Julie to lay abed.
“No, Don Rodrigo,” Teresa assured him. “Dona Julie is not ill, although she seemed rather tired and distraught yesterday. That’s why I let her sleep later than usual this morning.”
“Then I’ll not disturb her, Teresa. I need to clean up anyway before I’ll be fit company. See that a bath is prepared for me.”
Much later, after Rod had bathed, shaved and rested, he entered Julie’s room through the connecting door intending to have lunch with her, but found her already gone. At first he thought it strange that he had heard no movement or any sign of activity from within his wife’s room but soon forgot his anxiety as he went in search of Julie.
He found Felicia had returned from her lessons but no sign of Julie. At the sight of Rod, Felicia flew into his outstretched arms. “I have missed you greatly, Rodrigo,” she said shyly. Some time ago Rod had asked her to call him by his first name.
“I have missed you also,
niña,
but now I am home to look after you and Julie. Where is she?” Rod asked, his dark eyes searching for and not finding his wife’s rotund figure.
“She is still sleeping.
Tia
Teresa told me not to disturb her.”
A tremor of premonition twisted Rod’s guts and stone-like lumps blocking his throat made swallowing difficult. “She is not in her room,
niña
.”
“You must be mistaken. She has to be in her room.” Threads of panic were spun about Felicia’s heart as she looked at Rod with stricken eyes.
Abruptly, Rod spun on his heel and raced to Julie’s room, Felicia close behind. As he knew it would be, the room was deserted, the bed neatly made as if it had not been slept in. Slowly and methodically Rod and Felicia made a thorough search of the
hacienda,
with no success.
“Perhaps she is with her father?” suggested Felicia hopefully.
“Of course,” Rod agreed with alacrity. “Why didn’t I think of that?” Though his sense of relief was enormous he could not quell the prickle of fear snaking along his spine.
Julie was not with Carl and Ramona. Nor was she anywhere in the immediate vicinity of the
hacienda.
When his search took him to the stables, Rod was shocked to find the horse and buggy Julie sometimes used missing. Upon questioning the servants, he learned that no one had seen Julie after she had retired for the night the previous evening. Only Teresa was able to shed a single clue as to Julie’s sudden disappearance.
“Dona Julie was upset yesterday,
señor
,” she told Rod. “She was not herself at all.”
“How so, Teresa. Please tell me everything you know.”
“When I found her in the garden at lunch time yesterday, she seemed distraught and began asking strange questions.”
A strangled look settled on Rod’s handsome features. “What kind of questions?”
“About Dona Elena and … and … her child.”
“
Por Dios
! Not Elena again! If she had a hand in this I will kill her. Go on, Teresa, what else did Julie say.”
“Not much,
señor.
She wanted to know if Dona Elena was expecting a child when she left the
rancho
.”
“What did you tell her?” Rod asked, comprehension dawning.
“The truth,” shrugged Teresa uneasily. “Dona Elena was with child when she left here, what else could I say?”
“Did you explain that Manuel was the child’s father?”
“She gave me no opportunity. Dona Julie told me she wished to hear nothing more of Dona Elena.
Did … did I do wrong,
señor
?”
Rod sighed heavily. “You are not to blame, Teresa. I fear my wife has been lied to again by Elena. After I speak with
Señor
Darcy, I will leave immediately for San Luis Obispo, If either Elena or Manuel has been here, I will find out one way or another.”
Felicia began to sob softly and Rod went immediately to his little sister. “Don’t cry,
niña.
I will find her. She can’t have gotten too far, not in her condition.”
“But why would she leave, Rodrigo? Didn’t she love us?”
“I don’t have the answers, Felicia, but I soon will. Julie would never leave us without provocation. You must remember, a woman with child is very vulnerable, oftentimes fanciful. I have been too busy of late to pay the kind of attention to her she deserves. I’m afraid Elena has once again plotted vengeance against me in a way guaranteed to hurt me the most.”
Carl Darcy begged to accompany Rod but Rod insisted his father-in-law remain behind to protect the women and see to the running of the
rancho
in the event he should meet with difficulty and be unable to return immediately. Reluctantly, Carl agreed, but only after Rod promised to let him know the moment Julie was found or he had any idea of what happened to her. By the time Rod gave orders to the
vaqueros
concerning the branding and packed a saddlebag for any emergency, it was sundown before he rode out for the village. Julie already had several hours headstart.
Rod’s first stop was the mission where he questioned
Padre
Juan and satisfied himself that Julie hadn’t sought sanctuary with the good
padre. Padre
Juan told Rod exactly where to find the Roja’s
casa
and he set off immediately to confront Elena. If Elena had been to see Julie … but no, he didn’t even want to think about that.
The small
casa
Rod stood before was a far cry from
either the Delgado or the Montoya
hacienda.
He could hear a child crying from within. Rod hardened his heart against the pitiful sound and began pounding on the door. When no one answered after several minutes of knocking, Rod took matters into his own hands and flung the door open, surprised to find it unlatched. No one was in the main room and Rod resolutely followed the sound of a baby’s frantic cries into the bedroom.
Rod was ready to do battle but was completely unprepared to find Manuel Rojas sitting numbly on the bed holding a wailing child in his arms. When Rod unexpectedly burst in, Manuel’s features failed to register the least surprise.
“Where is she, Manuel?” Rod questioned angrily. “I’ll find her no matter where she is hiding.”
“She is gone, Don Rodrigo,” Manuel replied, his shoulders drooping in defeat.
“Gone! Gone where?”
“Who knows.”
“Are you telling me she left her child behind?” Rod would have believed anything of Elena but somehow the thought that she had gone away and left her child was repugnant to him.
“
Si, patron,
” Manuel nodded sadly. “Elena promised we would leave here, all three of us. She said she would devote herself to me and our child. But I should have known Elena could not live the life I was able to provide.”
“Surely you didn’t squander all the money I gave to her?”
“Money? I don’t understand,
señor.
I know nothing of money.”
“When Elena left the
rancho
I gave her enough money to keep her in comfort for years to come.”
“Ah, that explains much. I should never have agreed to help her. I never wanted to harm Dona Julie. But … Elena can be very persuasive.”
“I know,” flushed Rod, recalling vividly his own experiences with Elena. “You had better start from the beginning. If either of you laid a hand on my wife, your life is forefeit.”
“We did not harm Dona Julie, not physically, that is. The plan was all Elena’s but that does not absolve me from guilt in the matter.”
Rod burned with impatience but steeled himself to listen until Manuel finished speaking. At the end his self control was nearly shattered when he learned the full extent of Elena’s perfidity.
“How could you stand by and allow Elena to hurt my wife in such a vile manner?” he shouted, clenching his fists in barely suppressed rage. “My wife is eight months pregnant! How despicable of you to use your own child to bring her harm! She left me thinking I neither loved nor wanted her. Only God knows where she has gone and what condition she is in. Are you certain she came here last night as Elena arranged?”
“
Si.
Elena saw Dona Julie at the French doors looking in. We did not proceed with Elena’s plan until we knew for certain she was watching.”
Rod fought the urge to kill Manuel outright. Only the child in Manuel’s arms prevented him. Did he have the right to make an orphan of an innocent child? “I ought to kill you, Rojas. Thank your son that you still live.”
“I did wrong, Don Rodrigo. It is no more than right that you should punish me. Especially for my part in arranging with Pedro to take Dona Julie, knowing what might happen to her.”
“I suspected Elena engineered Julie’s abduction from what Julie told me, but I had no idea how it was done,” Rod said grimly.
“Pedro is my cousin,” Manuel confided. “Elena promised him gold if he would get rid of Dona Julie for her. Murieta was gone, leaving Pedro free to accept Elena’s offer. Elena wanted Dona Julie out of the way permanently.
“
Dios!
exploded Rod. “I should have killed Elena instead of turning her out of the
rancho.
Had she not been expecting a child—” His words drifted off.
“I wish to make amends for my mistake,
señor.
Let me help you find her.”
“What makes you think I would believe you, Rojas?” Rod blasted wrathfully. Learning the truth concerning Julie’s abduction from one of the perpetrators only served to further enrage him.
“I swear on the head of my son,” Manuel vowed solemnly.
Rod exhibited surprise at Manuel’s obvious love for his son. “I may be
loco
but I believe you, Manuel, and will accept your help. My own
vaqueros are
ready to take to the trail. But don’t expect me to forget and forgive so easily. What will you do with your son in our absence?”
“Elena left without a thought to his welfare,” Manuel spat scornfully. “When I awoke this morning, my wife was gone and my son crying from hunger.”
“The child must have a wet nurse,” Rod said. “Take him to
Padre
Juan. He will find someone to care for him until he is old enough to be weaned.”
“
Si,
” agreed Manuel gratefully. “I will take him immediately. Then we will find Dona Julie.”
Rod wished it was that simple. While Manuel was gone he considered his options. Where would a pregnant woman who had just suffered an emotional shock go? If only Julie had come to me, Rod thought in retrospect, all her doubts and fears could have been laid to rest.
Carefully, Rod pieced together all the facts and came to the conclusion that Julie would have only one place to go … to her friends in San Francisco. Brett and Polly would offer shelter should either think Rod mistreated his wife. As far as he knew, Julie took nothing with her, neither money nor food. Distraught as she was, she probably gave little thought to the danger
she faced. If he left immediately he could probably overtake her before she got too far. He could travel much faster on horseback than Julie could in a horse and buggy. By the time Manuel rejoined him and they rode back to the
rancho
to inform Carl of all that had happened, night had descended. As much as he ached to be on his way, Rod decided it best to wait until first light to leave. By that time Julie had a day and a half head-start.
The farther north Rod rode without finding any trace of Julie, the greater his fear became. When he unexpectedly came upon the remains of the still smoldering wagon train, icy panic twisted his gut into knots. It was obviously the work of bandits, Rod surmised, as he surveyed the dead bodies scattered about the wreckage. Just thinking that Julie might have met the same fate shattered him. Many of the bodies lying amidst the smoking ruins were charred beyond recognition, and with sinking heart Rod realized he could not leave the scene of such brutal carnage without burying the dead.
Immediately he and Manuel began their grisly task. The most difficult chore facing them was finding a spot level enough to dig a common grave. Once the site was selected, Rod found a shovel in the rubble and began digging, leaving it to Manuel to gather up the mutilated bodies. Hours later it was done but the two men were too exhausted to ride on so they built a fire and camped beside the road for the night.
After their meager meal had been consumed, Rod curled up in a blanket and prepared to bed down next to the fire. Rod was never certain what made him glance over at Manuel. The Mexican was bending over the fire intently examining several objects in his open palm.
“What have you there, Manuel?” quizzed Rod curiously.
Manuel stuttered guiltily. “I … I thought it a sin to
bury the dead with their valuables, Don Rodrigo. There is enough gold in these rings to provide a good living for me and my son. Are you angry,
señor
?”
Rod was prepared to berate Manuel roundly for robbing the dead but thought better of it. The bandits had stolen nearly everything of value and if they had missed a few baubles there seemed no reason why Manuel shouldn’t have them for his trouble. “No, Manuel, I am not angry. Keep your treasure.”