Chapter 20

Wednesday, just before noon, Cowboy, who had been back for hours from his overnight foray into town, had noted a lone rider coming in on the trail from the Leander Hills and had waited by the door, just watching.

For once, Cowboy was genuinely surprised. “Miz Gabriela? Ma’am, why are you here? Where’d you get Shadow’s horse?”

She jumped down and walked quickly to Cowboy and grabbed his arms. “How is he? How’s Emil, Cowboy?”

“Better, Ma’am. Still can’t see, though. Broken ribs still hurt bad. Ringin’ in his ears, but he can hear, well enough. Bruised and burnt. But better. You’ll be cheerin’ ‘im up.”

“Will you take me to him?”

“Of course.” He called to a boy who was sitting at the fountain with some friends and had him take Malik’s roan.

Inside the great room, they encountered Christina. “Gabriela? Gabriela, what are you doing here?”

“I came to see Emil.”

“Whoa! While I can’t say I’m surprised, exactly, you’re still a surprise.”

“May I see him?”

“Of course. Just remember, he has broken ribs.” Then she put a restraining hand on Gabriela’s arm. “Y’know, maybe I better warn him. If you walk in on him cold, he’s liable to convulse. Don’t expect you want your visit to start by causing him pain.”

“Yes. You’re right. Please tell him I’m here.”

“Maybe you’d like a cup of cool water or to dab some on your face, before you go in.”

“Yes, that would be nice, I suppose.”

“Cowboy, take her to the summer kitchen. Then, when she’s ready, bring her in.”

“Thank you, Christina.”

Christina hugged her. “Welcome, Gabriela. I’m glad you’re here. I think Emil will be, too.”

Christina knocked on Emil’s door frame. “It’s me, Emil.” He was puffing on a cigar. “You better not burn any holes in my sheets.”

“Cowboy left me this dinner plate for an ash-catcher. Said it would be hard for me to miss.”

“You just be careful,” she said, then paused. “You have a visitor.”

“Send ‘im in.”

“Came from quite a distance.”

“Oh, wait. Hide my box of cigars,,, under the bed. I’ll see who it is before I decide if he’s worth one.”

“Not a he. A she.”

“Are we playing a guessing game, now?”

“No. I’m just tryin’ to ease up on who it is.”

“Fine. You have me going’. Do I have three guesses or how does this work?”

“I don’t want you hurtin’ your ribs when you find out. You ready to hear this calmly?”

“This better be good, Christina.”

“It is. Be calm, remember. It’s ... Gabriela.”

“Gabriela!” he he started, leaning forward. He braced his arms against the bed and winced. “She’s here?”

“Cowboy took her to get a drink of water. She’ll be right in. I convinced her it would be better on your ribs without too much surprise.”

“Reckon you’re right. Here, take this plate and the cigar. I know I look like hell. Does she know I’m blind?”

“She knows. Reckon that’s one reason she came.”

“She just showed up?”

“On your roan.”

“Ah, I forgot about my horse. What an ass I am.”

“Here she comes.”

He could hear her moving into the room. “Gabriela?”

She walked up to the bed and stood there. “I’m here.”

“Gabriela, I...”

Christina said, “If it were me just came near a hundred miles, I’d be kissin’ ‘im.”

Gabriela looked at Christina.

“Gabriela, it’s what you came all this way to do. Just be careful of his ribs.”

Malik said, “Christina, don’t be so fresh. Gabriela has—” But Gabriela was kissing him.

And then, he, her.

And it went on. Both were frantic to embrace the other, but his injuries caused all but the most superficial touches to be impossible.

Christina left the room, closing the door behind her.

Cowboy said, “Maybe he’ll be more generous with those cigars, now.”

There was a shriek from inside Malik’s room, blended with a husky cry. Cowboy and Christina just looked at one another.

Then Gabriela shouted, “Emil!”

Emil yelled, “Holy god!”

Cowboy headed for the door, throwing it open in and rushing in, Christina on his heels.

Gabriela, still leaning over the bed, called, in a shaky voice, “He can see!”

“I can! I can see! We were, ahh, well, we were ... kissing, pretty, uhh, intensely, and it was like uh, like something ... just snapped loose!”

Gabriela went to her knees next to the bed, crying. Christina crouched next to her and put an arm around her shoulders. Gabriela reached for Malik’s hand.

“Oh, Emil...”

“Yes, Gabriela, yes. Thank you, thank you. Oh, I ah, I just was so, ah, so ... I thought I might never see again. This is so ... And, you, Gabriela. It was you.” Fresh tears washed Malik’s eyes.

Cowboy, still in the room, closed the door.

Malik looked at his friend and grimaced. “Oh, no, Cowboy! I was sure my memory of you was faulty, but you really are that homely. Give me your hand, my brother.” Malik held his hand out and Cowboy came to the bed and clasped his hand and just held on.

Gabriela leaned over the bed and kissed Malik again. He released his grip with Cowboy and put his arm around her neck.

Cowboy and Christina moved toward the door. Malik said, “No, don’t leave. I ... this needs more people, not fewer. Where’s Andy?”

Christina said, “He’s on overwatch with one of the irrigation crews.”

“Well, you two sit down. Oh, may I have more water? I’ve spilled mine.”

Christina took the pitcher and said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Cowboy, would you bring that chair over next to me for Gabriela?”

“Of, course.”

“Gabriela, I can’t believe you’re here. But I’m so lucky you are. Did you get my letter?”

She sat in the side chair Cowboy had carried over. “Just yesterday. It was very charming and was very you. It helped me decide to come here.”

Christina came back in with the pitcher, three more glasses, and a bottle of tequila. “If anyone cares to...,” she said, holding up the bottle.

Gabriela took a cup and held it out. “Just a splash.” Christina poured and Gabriela took it in one gulp.

Christina said, “Emil?”

“No, no. The thought brings back the sick feeling from the laudanum.”

Both Cowboy and Christina tossed back small shots.

Emil said, “Gabriela, how did you hear I’d been hurt?”

“I didn’t. I mean ... I came because of another problem I had at my ranch.”

Cowboy said, “What is it, Miz Gabriela?”

“Cowboy, I’m Gabriela. No ‘Miz’ need be used.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I was brought up to show respect to my elders—”

“I’ll give you ‘elders,’ you no-account horse trader.”

“You didn’t let me finish, ma’am. To show respect to my elders and beautiful women.”

Christina burst out laughing while Gabriela just shook her head.

Christina said, “Cowboy, you are the biggest ... Mister Kelly would say you’ve kissed the Blarney stone.”

“Slept with plenty of stones, but never kissed ‘em.”

“Cowboy Tsosie!” Christina demanded. “Does your mother know you speak in such a fresh and disrespectful manner in front of ladies?”

“She’s who I heard that from, Miz Christina.”

“Don’t start ‘Miz-en’ me, you mangy coyote.”

“Be serious, you two. Gabriela, what problem is there at your ranch?”

“It’s, well ... I suppose it flared up because of your visit, as brief as it was.” She turned to Christina, who had drawn up a chair next to her at Malik’s bedside.

“They barely stayed overnight, Christina, I mean Emil and Cowboy. They did have supper, but then they slept in the stable and left before sunup. Even so, Jim Johnson, our foreman, more of a family friend, well, he seemed to take exception. Perhaps he could see what was in my heart, but I didn’t even know then.

“And you were right, Cowboy, Jim had developed romantic feelings for me. He began to court me. He seemed almost desperate in his court. And I could not ... it was ... it was difficult. The man has been a friend to both my husband and me. Close to Anna, too, for all that. But I just ... I simply had no romantic feelings for him. But, still, he was a friend.

“One evening, I tried to explain things. It went badly. He sneered at my attraction to you. I denied it, I really hadn’t understood, then. My feelings for you were all wrapped up in Anna’s death and seeing her grave and the ... other things. So I told him you were not on my mind. He pressed his court and when I told him it was impossible he ... he ... took hold of me, tried to ... he began to ... maul me. I kept telling him to stop, shouting it. He wouldn’t. I got hold of the water pitcher that I’d set nearby. It was, nothing special, maybe even a little ugly, had theses garish flowers painted on. But,” tears began to flow down her cheeks, “but Anna had given it to me for my birthday, when she was only six. She saw it in a store in Corpus Christi. She’d gone with Brandon and Jim, while I stayed at the ranch. Anna loved the colors, had insisted I would love it, too. Brandon bought it to indulge her. Anna was so proud when she gave it to me.” Gabriela was openly crying.

Malik pulled a clean, white handkerchief from under his pillow. “They remind me of you,” he confessed, and he handed it to her.

Now Christina began to shed tears.

Gabriela, finally catching her breath, went on. “The pitcher was on an end table, still mostly full. I broke it over Jim’s head. I don’t know if it was the blow to his head, or the cool water, or because he knew how precious that pitcher was to me. But he stopped where he fell, sitting on the floor, on the water-soaked rug. We were both crying. He got to his feet and left, never said a word.

“The next morning, when he didn’t come in to breakfast. I sought him out, found him in the stable. I told him I was going away for a while, maybe for a month or six weeks. I told him to pull himself together and accept the situation for what it was. I acknowledged his many years both as a family friend and as an able manager. I told him that, if he’d stay on as foreman, I would give him a quarter share of the ranch. Truth is, I’d been thinking of doing that even before all that happened. I told him, though, I would never be more than a friend and business partner. He’d have to accept that absolutely. He said he’d have to think about it.