Chapter 5

The trip to Los Angeles went pretty much as predicted: we never saw any pirates. The problem encountered was that the duenna, Sra. Ortiz, was seasick for very nearly the whole trip. Rosita wound up caring for her, and that cut into our time together. On the other hand, Sra. Ortiz could not leave her cabin for most of the journey, so that we had a lot of time together without her to listen in.

In any case, Rosita’s English improved markedly, as did my Spanish. I could now speak comfortably with the officers and crewmen of the ship, and that I made a point of doing whenever I could without interfering with the operation of the ship. I could even speak to Sra. Ortiz, and she warmed up to me as I helped care for her in her misery.

By now, I had no trouble admitting to myself that I was in love with Rosita, but I did not know how to go from there. I would have liked to know what she thought of me, but I was too shy to ask. I knew that marriage of women in her class was always negotiated with the senior male member of the family. I did find out that was Juan, so I was going to have to wait until we got to Los Angeles before I could follow through on my suit for her hand in marriage. At least, I would not have to go back to Mexico to cover that detail.

I was encouraged because Rosita, whom I was still addressing as Miss Hernandez, as custom required, did seem to brighten up whenever she and I could get together, especially away from Sra. Ortiz. Dammit, I was going to talk to Juan as soon as possible. I was lovesick to the point of being eaten alive!

We finally got to Los Angeles, and I was able to escort everybody to Juan’s estate. Actually, my escort duties were no more than a formality because Juan had sent enough carriages to meet all of us at the ship. We were delivered to the estate, and I rushed to see my family to tell them about Rosita. Mama and Papa were happy for me, and Jenny was ecstatic. I was able to eat supper with my family, and it was a pleasure to be able to eat the kind of food that I had been raised on. The food at the Hernandez estate in San Juan was good, but I had become desperate for roast beef and cabbage and that sort of thing. The cook had finally learned to fix them the way Mama and Papa liked the food, so I was in hog heaven while I ate.

I guess that I was a bit obvious about it, but Jenny told me later that I could not talk about anything else but Rosita. They did not act bored, so I guess that it was not too bad an imposition.

The next morning, just after breakfast, Juan sent a messenger to ask me to meet him for a trip to Osteen’s office. He was going to tell him that the experts had finally arrived, and there was one problem. Osteen was going to have to provide a translator for each of the men, since none of them spoke English. That shouldn’t be a big deal, and the experts should be able to begin work tomorrow.

We took the usual carriage into town, and one of the first things Juan asked me was, “So, what do you think of my sister?”

Oh, my God, talk about being caught by surprise! I had figured that it would take me an hour to work up to this point. I was so surprised that I said the first thing that came to mind. “I think that she is a wonderful person, and I want to marry her.” Ouch! Have I put my foot in my mouth clear up to my hip?

“Excellent, she has the same opinion of you. Let us meet this afternoon to work out the details of the marriage contract. You can expect a large dowry, you know.”

I mumbled something, and he took it for agreement, so I did not press my luck, but quit when I thought that I was ahead.

Fortunately for me, we arrived at the office of Jake Osteen before I had to say much more. We went in, shared a bottle of Mexicali Delight, and got down to business. Juan wanted his experts to look over the Osteen brewery before they committed to a price, but he was sure that Osteen was going to have to come up with a better quality water. They decided that the four experts would come in tomorrow, assess just what needed to be done, and report back to Juan. At that point Juan would work up a price for their services. That should take no more than a week. Osteen was happy with that, so we left.

Back at the estate, Juan asked me to join him in his office. Once there, he broke out a couple of bottles of Mexicali Delight for us to consume while we discussed the marriage contract. “Orville, please start calling me Juan since we are going to become brothers in a few months. Yes, Rosita is as anxious to marry you as you are to marry her, and I am the broker for this deal.” You should have seen his grin when he said that.

“Did you know, Orville, that you would have to become a Catholic before you can marry Rosita. Ah, I can tell from your face that you were not aware of that. Well, do not worry about it. The conversion and baptism can be done in only a few minutes by a friendly priest, and I know several of them. Mostly, all you will have to do is to say yes at the proper times.

“Now, let us discuss the dowry. I propose to give you 5% of the Hernandez Brewery and 5% of this operation here in Los Angeles. Of course, you will also control the 33.3% of the same two facilities that are currently owned by Rosita. I own 50% of the same facilities, so you will become the second largest stockholder in the brewery and distribution system. I think that we can work well together, and make Mexicali Delight gloriously profitable. Does this offer meet with your approval?”

“My God, Juan, this is almost unbelievable. From you, I believe it, but from anyone else, I would think that there was some sort of trick involved. Your generosity is overwhelming!”

“That is because I like you, Orville. Also, I am convinced that you did save my life when you did not know who I was. That kind of generosity appeals to me. I am only eight years older than you, so we can have a long and happy life being what amounts to partners in this business.

“Frankly, my brother is happy being a wastrel and a do nothing. As long as he gets enough money to think of himself as a rich man, he is happy and will go along with anything I propose. That is why I keep him stuck in San Juan where he can do no harm.

“I would move my mother here to Los Angeles if I could work out a way for her to travel here in reasonable comfort. She feels so isolated in San Juan that I worry about her mental and emotional health. Certainly, Manuel does nothing to help her with that.”

“Do you think that your mother could withstand the rigors of a long overland trip? If she could, we could bring her to Los Angeles by wagon. What if Rosita and I traveled to San Juan to escort her back to Los Angeles in a special wagon. I am sure that I could command an adequate bodyguard for the trip. We could let her travel in a reinforced carriage and spend the night in a wagon specially built for the purpose. What do you think?”

“Oh, dear Jesus, what a wonderful idea! See, Orville, you are paying your way already by coming up with solutions to problems that have plagued me for years. Yes, I will put some people to work building such a carriage and wagon. The excuse will be that this will let her be here for Rosita’s wedding, and that would be the prize that will get her to agree to come. Of course, you realize that this will delay the wedding. Can you put up with that?”

“Certainly. I cannot see the round-trip taking more than four months, and I am sure that this will be very attractive for Rosita, too. It seems to me that every woman would want her mother to be at her wedding. While we are on the trip, you can have people working on the multitude of details that a wedding ceremony entails and do not need direct input from Rosita.

“How soon can you have the wedding contract drawn up so that I can sign it?”