Rio Largo

Chapter 14

Trella was napping when a commotion woke her. She lay on her side, staring at the sunlit window, puzzled by loud voices and the patter of running feet. She should rise up and see what was going on, but she did not want to get out of bed. It was cool and comfortable, and she was perfectly content.

Trella’s parents would deal with it. Or her brothers and sister, who were bound to criticize her for meddling in matters that did not concern her. They always treated her the same. To them, she was the youngest and the least experienced, and needed to be protected—or, worse, treated as if she did not have a brain between her ears and certainly could not think for her own.

Trella hated it. She wished she had been born first so she could boss them around as they bossed her. She closed her eyes, intending to fall back asleep, but the insistent clamor would not let her. Annoyed, she stared at the window and said aloud, “Some people have no consideration.”

Suddenly her bedroom door was flung wide, framing her sister. Dolores had a strange look on her face, and seemed to sway slightly. “Get up,” she said urgently. “It’s father.”

“What do you mean?” Trella asked, but Dolores had already turned and run off.

Trella remembered that her father had gone to the Circle T to talk to the Toveys about Berto. She had been as stunned as everyone else by his murder. He always treated her nicely, much nicer than her siblings. When she was small, he would bring her presents. Now he was dead, and one of the cowboys was to blame. She tended to agree with Julio that their father should never have permitted the Toveys to settle there. By rights the DP should own the entire valley.

A loud cry filled the house. A shriek such as Trella had never heard. Startled, she sat bolt upright, her fingers squeezing her pillow until her knuckles were white. It sounded like her mother! But what could tear such a wail of anguish from her mother’s throat? Her mother was always so calm, always so composed.

Trella slid off the bed. A sob punctuated the shriek—a great, racking sob such as only the crushing of a heart could produce. For once Trella did not check her hair and her dress in the mirror. She ran toward the front of the house. Outside, someone shouted, barking commands.

The front door was open. Trella paused in the doorway, absorbing the scene before her; her brothers staring aghast at a prone form on the porch; her sister clutching a post for support, tears streaking her cheeks; her mother on her knees, hands clasped to her bosom; and her father on his back with his arms folded across his chest, hatless, part of his face blown away.

The world around Trella swirled. She reached for the jamb, about to faint. Hands took hold of her, bracing her. Numbly, she realized it was one of the maids. Normally she resented such familiarity from the servants, but now she did not object. She was too dazed. Too bewildered. “Padre?” she breathed.

Her mother gently placed a hand on her father’s chest, and said softly, “Tell me again how it happened.”

Steve answered her. “We were on our way back, crossing the river. Someone shot at us from the trees. Two shots. Both hit father. I caught him before he could fall in the water, but there was nothing I could do. Nothing any of us could do.”

“The bastards!” Julio roared. He shook from the intensity of his emotion. “It was a gringo from the Circle T. It had to be.”

“We don’t know that,” Steve said.

Julio whirled on him. “You were there! You saw the tracks! The direction they went! Back to the Circle T. Kent Tovey sent a cowboy to murder our father just as Berto was murdered.”

“Tovey had no reason to want our father dead,” Steve said. “They had talked things out. They parted as friends.”

“Listen to you!” Scorn dripped from Julio’s voice. “Defending them! Taking their side when our father lies here as proof of their treachery!”

“Julio,” Juanita said, still in that quiet way. “You will show proper respect for your brother.”

“I will not!” Julio cried. “He has always been a gringo at heart. Always preferred their ways. Look at how he dresses! You would not know he had a drop of your blood if you had not given birth to him.”

“Enough,” Junita said in a rare display of sternness. “I gave birth to you, too, and as your mother I require you to show the same love for your family as I do for you.”

Her rebuke caused Julio to flinch in remorse. “I am sorry,” he said contritely. “But the gringos are to blame. I feel it in my soul.”

Juanita touched what was left of Dar’s blood-flecked cheek. She closed her eyes and groaned. Armando started toward her, but she opened her eyes and waved him off. “I can not bear to see the man I love disfigured like this. Dolores, fetch a blanket. Steve, send riders to round up the vaqueros. All of them.”

“But the cattle—” Steve began, and promptly stopped. “Yes, Mother. It will be as you wish.”

“Yes!” Julio savagely exclaimed. “We will ride to the Circle T and wipe them out! Every last gringo!”

“I am calling in the vaqueros to attend the funeral,” Juanita said. “Or would you rather we dig a hole in the ground right this moment and throw your father in?”

“No, of course not,” Julio responded, chastised. “But after the funeral, we will have our revenge, will we not?”

“You worry me, son,” Juanita said lovingly. “You truly do.” She went to stand, and Steve was there, supporting her. “Now, listen to me. All of you.” Juanita paused and gazed searchingly at each of them. “I have lost the man I adored more than life itself. You have lost your father. But we are still a family. We stand by one another.” She waited for a reaction, but no one said anything. “We will lay Dar to rest in the family plot, with the dignity he deserves. Only after that is done will we find out who shot him, and see that justice is done.”

Julio scowled and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, but he did not dispute her.

“Armando, have a casket built, the best our carpenter can make,” Juanita directed. “Julio, ride to San Pedro and bring back the undertaker. He can do things with the body that we can not.”

“Why me?” Julio objected. “Why not a vaquero?”

Juanita walked over to him and gently cupped his chin. “Because Dar is your father, not theirs. Leave immediately. Bring the undertaker whether he wants to come or not.”

“I will tie him and throw him over a horse if I have to,” Julio vowed. He turned toward the steps, but stopped when their mother said his name.

“One more thing. Ask around while you are there. Find out if any strangers have passed through San Pedro recently.”

“Strangers, mother?”

“Just do as I say.” Her dress rustling, Juanita came toward the doorway, but stopped on seeing Trella. “Are you all right, young one?”

“How can you ask that at a time like this?” Trella could not keep her voice from breaking. She was close to breaking herself, and barely able to hold her tears in check.

“I am going to my room to cry myself out,” Juanita said. “You would be advised to do the same.”

A lump formed in Trella’s throat.

“It is not fitting to weep in front of everyone,” Juanita continued. “We should indulge our misery in private.”

“I will do as I please,” Trella said. But she returned to her room, flying on wings of sorrow. Throwing herself onto her bed, she buried her face in the pillows and cried and cried, a torrent of tears that drained her physically and emotionally. Later, spent, she stared at the same sunlit window she had stared at so sleepily earlier, her world turned topsy-turvy.

My father is dead. Trella let the truth of it seep through her. One of the two people who loved her most in the world was gone. He had been a fine father, always treating her kindly, even when she misbehaved. She remembered many a winter’s evening when she climbed into his lap and he rocked her to sleep in front of the fireplace, and many a summer’s night when they had sat out on the porch contemplating the stars.

Trella would miss him. She had not realized until that instant exactly how much. His had been the strong hand that guided their family. He had been the rock on which they all depended.

More tears came. Trella gave them full release. Afterward, she wiped her nose with her sleeve, not caring if she was a mess. These were special circumstances. She would clean up later.

Trella wondered if Julio was right, if the Circle T was to blame. If so, they must die. All of them. A mental image of Nancy Tovey being shot or hung jarred her. She had always liked Nancy. But if the Toveys were involved, then they had to pay.

Next, Trella considered who would run the DP now that Dar was gone. Steve was the oldest. It would fall on his shoulders. Or would it? Trella asked herself. Her mother had never shown much interest in overseeing the day-to-day operations, but that might change. It was not unheard of, a woman running a ranch.

Trella wished Hijino was there. She had not spoken to him since the other night, but she thought about him often, about how handsome he was, and the sound of his voice, how it stirred her. Most vividly of all, she remembered the feel of his lips on hers. She would very much like to feel those lips again.

A soft sound caused Trella to rise on her elbows. She gave a start when her sister unexpectedly sat beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you all right, little one?”

“A stupid question,” Trella flared. Even at a time like this, Dolores treated her like an infant.

“I ask because I care. We need to talk.”

Trella rolled onto her back. Her sister’s face was a wreck, streaked by drying tears. Trella almost giggled at how silly Dolores looked. “What about?”

“We must be strong for Mother’s sake. She will take this hardest of all of us. You and I must tend to matters she normally would, until she is recovered enough to do them herself.”

“Such as?” Trella thought she had some idea, but she wanted to be sure.

“The cooking, the cleaning, the thousand and one things mother oversees. We must take charge of the servants, and not let them disturb her.”

“They’d better not,” Trella said.

“There will not be time to contact our relatives and friends south of the border and have them attend the funeral. It would take weeks for them to get here. We will be the only support mother has.”

“I know that,” Trella peevishly responded.

“You must keep Julio under rein. Have him control that temper of his, and not argue with mother so much.”

“Why me?”

“You have always been closest to him. He will listen to you where he will not listen to me or his older brothers. Talk to him. Make him promise not to do anything rash. We do not want more blood spilled.”

Trella disagreed. “We do if it is the blood of Father’s killer. I am with Julio in that.”

“Do you truly think the rest of us do not want whoever is responsible to be punished? But we must proceed with care. We must be sure before we act.” Dolores bit her lower lip, then said, “Father talked to me before he left. He told me how sad he was over Berto, but that he would not let himself be blinded by anger. He was going to the Circle T to uncover the facts, and he would only act once all the facts were known. We must do the same with his own death. We must not let anger sweep us away.”

“I suppose you are right.”

Dolores smiled and squeezed Trella’s arm. “We have not always gotten along, you and I. We scratch at each other, as sisters will do. But I love you, little one. I love all our brothers, too.”

“And I love you,” Trella said, although it bothered her that once again her sister had referred to her as “little.”

“It is our love that binds us. Our love that will see us through this.” Dolores stood. “I go to see if Mother needs me. Make yourself presentable, and instruct the cook to prepare a light meal. No one will have much of an appetite, but our brothers must be hungry after their long ride.”

“I will take care of it.”

Dolores whisked out. Trella slid her legs off the bed, and moved to the mirror. She recoiled at her reflection. She looked hideous, her face as much a mess as her sister’s. Quickly, she tidied herself, and was about to go to the kitchen when light tapping sounded on her windowpane.

Trella brightened like the sun. She dashed over and opened it, and did not resist when Hijino enfolded her in his strong arms.

“Have you missed me, my love?”

“Perhaps,” Trella said. Then, more sincerely, “If my brothers catch you, they will shoot you.”

“I will only stay a minute. I came to say I am here for you if you need me. You can depend on me for anything. Your slightest wish is mine to carry out.”

“I thank you for your concern.”

Hijino stroked her hair. “I am sorry about your father. It is most terrible.”

The lump returned to Trella’s throat.

“Whoever did it must pay with their life. I will kill them for you, sweet one. I will kill them gladly.”

Trella coughed, and whispered, “Can I see you tonight? After all the others have gone to bed?”

“Under the willow?”

“No. Here. My bedroom.”

Hijino’s smile was brighter than ever. “Need you ask? Have I not made it clear? I am yours to command. I will do anything for you, anything at all.” He tilted her face up to his. “You can always count on me.”