Carmen Navarro Chapter Fourteen: Happily Ever After
Two days passed in relative calm and both the day of the wedding and the arrival of Padre Sánchez at the Rancho Montoya to perform the ceremony occurred.
"Manolito?" the padre drew him aside at the hacienda that morning. "My son, I understand you and Buck Cannon have had urgent matters with which to contend."
"Yes, Padre, we have. The stallion, Toronado, was stolen."
"And Valencio Ruiz shot. Yes, I have heard all about it. It has interfered with your preparations for this wedding, I know. And you have neglected, understandably so, something most important."
Panic flared. Mano, puzzled, asked, "What Padre? What is there to do?"
"Your confession, my son."
"Chihuahua, Padre, that could take hours. Days. There is no time, Father! The wedding is in two hours."
Padre Sánchez smiled. "We can make it short, my son. Let us repair to somewhere private, your uncle's study perhaps?"
"All right." Mano asked leave of his uncle. Priest and sinner took chairs across from the new Lion's massive carved Spanish oak desk.
"Father, I have sinned greatly. It has been, ah, years since my last confession," Mano opened. Since I was a niño, he thought. The truth was he could not remember.
"I know this, my son. Make it short. Think in broad categories only." Padre Sánchez smiled.
Mano shut his eyes and bowed his head. "Bless me Father, for I have sinned," Mano began with a sigh. "I have known other women, married and unmarried. I have led women into adultery. I have made promises that I have broken. I have killed, although only when it was justified. I have cheated at cards. I have become drunk. I have told lies. I have stolen, large amounts and small amounts. I have stolen horses, my sister's dresses, her favorite hat...I have…" he opened his eyes in alarm, then pounded his forehead with a closed fist. "Dios mío, Padre, I cannot name them all. The more I mention, the more I remember." He sighed, closed his eyes, and continued, "I have taken the Lord's name in vain. I have failed to attend mass. I have acted with disrespect to my father, my sister, my uncle. I have…" his voice trailed off. "Too much to forgive, Padre." He stopped, looked at the priest and shook his head. "Too much."
"No, my son, there is never too much to forgive," Padre Sánchez smiled. "The holy scriptures tell us that if we confess our sins, our Father is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do not worry."
"Padre, what shall my penance be?"
"My son, for one, you must not let so much time elapse between confessions."
"Sí," Mano agreed.
"And, you must see that your children are raised in the Church."
"Of course, Padre."
"And you must begin to attend mass on a more regular basis, with your wife."
"I will try, Padre."
"And you will treat this woman, your future mother-in-law, with respect."
Mano looked at him and blinked. "My mother-in-law…"
"Honor your mother-in-law, my son," the padre continued, his mouth curving upward into a slight smile. He sighed, "From what I have seen and heard of the Doña Dolores, this alone may suffice for a lifetime of penance."
"Es cierto," Mano replied with a chuckle. Padre Sánchez joined in and the two men embraced. "Thank you, Padre," Mano said, a few seconds later, adding, "Er, Padre?"
"Yes?"
"This respect I must show, it does not need to extend to my new brother-in-law, does it? If so, I cannot do this. I can only promise that I will try not to kill him."
"That will suffice," the padre sighed and then spoke again. "It is good, my son. And she is good, your Carmen. Do not forget this."
"Do not worry, Padre. This I will never forget," Mano paused. "Besides, remember, she owns many guns."
"And she can shoot," the padre added. They laughed again.
At five minutes before eleven that day, Mano, Buck, and Padre Sánchez, the priest clad in black cassock and white stole, stood in an alcove at the front of the Montoya family chapel, watching the guests filter in. Liveried servants, including Pacquito Ruiz, the son of Rodrigo, acted as ushers but seating, except for the immediate family for whom rows at front were reserved, was open. Mano smiled as he noticed the Butler brothers and Pedro Carr at the back of the church. Vaquero, Roy, and Teresa, the baby asleep in her arms, sat in a pew. And then came Ruiz with his son, Rodrigo, his wife, and family. Pepe and his wife, Señora Cardona, also slid into a row. Their attendance had been Mano's special request. Even so, Pepe's mind raced to the many things which had yet to be done for the wedding breakfast and later, the fiesta. Well, the others could handle it this time, he supposed. It is an honor for us to be here.
Buck stretched his neck and patted the pocket of his black leather vest. Yep, the lasso was still there and so were the gold coins, which jingled. His starched white shirt was stiff around the collar and anytime he put on a string tie, it was too dang tight, but it weren't for long. Mano don't care if he's in that fancy black suit or vaquero gear, Buck thought, eyeballing his friend. But Mano, too, moved his neck from side to side too, just to relax. The collar of his ruffled white dress shirt seemed a bit snug.
Guitar music filled the church and Mano smiled as he saw Reno, clad in a white shirt borrowed from the servants, strumming in the back. Victoria had pressed him into service; the mariachis would not be arriving till later, for the fiesta.
"But Manolo, we must have music in the chapel!" she had declared.
"All right, hermanita! La música it is."
Carmen, knowing what the day meant to Victoria, had not cared. She would have married him in a barn, he knew. Ay, Manito, you do not deserve her. And you definitely do not deserve her family. But then, neither does she, he thought.
"I know what you're thinkin,' amigo," Buck whispered. "An' yore right. You don' deserve her."
"Gracias, Buck."
In floated Victoria on the arm of her uncle. She held a fan and wore a rich satin dress of emerald green crowned by a lace mantilla. She looked lovely. Mano smiled and winked at her as her shining eyes found his. New dress, hermanita? he thought. Bueno. And I will never steal this one, he laughed to himself. John followed them down the aisle, stiff and uncomfortable in a starched white shirt and string tie, but even he smiled when he caught Mano's eye.
"John looks almos' purty, don't he, Mano?" Buck whispered and Mano bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. "Cain't say the same fer yore brother-in-law," Buck added.
Don Carlos and his wife already occupied the second pew reserved for the Vargas family. Don Carlos's head shone, the few strands of long greasy hair he combed each day insufficient to conceal his baldness. His appearance was not helped by the purple bruise under his eye, the place where Buck had socked him two days before...and the red welt left by his mother's ring as she had struck him, too.
In strode the Doña Dolores, Hector in tow. Her eyes scanned the church and her mouth remained inverted—like a crescent moon upside down. Well, at least her mouth is shut, thought Manolito as a chill again ran through him. He did not like this woman. But Hector gave him a slight smile and Mano remembered again that Veracruz was some distance away.
At this, the padre stepped forward, assuming his position in front of the altar while Mano and Buck followed, stopping at the priest's left where Victoria had instructed them to be.
Reno paused in his playing while the men took their positions. Then he varied the tune as Mano saw Carmen's two nieces walking in, both in white lace dresses. The younger and sillier, when she remembered to do so, scattered flower petals from a beribboned basket. The elder and more serious held a satin pillow upon which rested his grandmother's ring. Victoria had insisted on this as well, bringing the ring from her collection of family heirlooms at the High Chaparral. A jeweler in Hermosillo had sized it for Carmen, checking the setting and replacing a few missing stones.
"But this is your ring, hermanita!"
"Carmen must have this, Manolo. She is part of the family and so is this ring!"
Mano stopped arguing. But he knew Carmen would have been content with a simple silver band. I do not deserve you, my love, again he thought.
Reno paused his playing, watching Mrs. Cannon. At her nodded signal, he strummed a flourish on his guitar to announce the bride's appearance. Mano saw her first. His eyes softened and his lips formed a smile as he watched her step into the arched doorway, her chin tilted up with pride and her eyes, sparkling, finding his. A sensation of warmth swept over him. The small congregation arose and Carmen, awash in ivory and lace and carrying a fan, seemed to glide in, escorted by her nephews who flanked her. This was her wish, so angry was she at her brother that she would not hear of his walking her down the aisle. And as for Hector, he was only her mother's husband and he had enough to contend with in that role. The boys did well, staying just behind their aunt and avoiding stepping on her long skirt. They both breathed audible sighs of relief as they left her at the altar to sit with their parents. The little girls remained in front. They wanted to see Tía Carmen marry Tío Manolo, even though the younger one could not stand still and wiggled throughout the service.
"My children, welcome!" Padre Sánchez exclaimed, inviting the couple to kneel and the congregation to sit down. And thus commenced the marriage ceremony of Don Manolo Sebastian Velasquez y Soto de Montoya to Señora Carmen Sofía de Vargas y Padilla de Navarro...de Montoya.
"My son, you may kiss your bride!" Padre Sánchez announced at last, and Mano, smiling, lifted his hands, allowing his fingers to caress Carmen's face. He tilted her chin upward and their lips touched for the briefest of moments...which after a few seconds turned into a kiss of great passion as she returned his embrace. The congregation applauded. Carmen and Mano smiled as they ended the kiss and turned to face their guests. Victoria's eyes shone. Carmen's flashed.
"Oh John, if Papá could only see this!" Victoria exclaimed.
"Yup," John pulled her close.
Tío Domingo smiled his usual tight-lipped, enigmatic grin.
A wedding breakfast for those in attendance followed, served on the veranda. Immediate family members were subjected to photographs inside the hacienda and would be served in the grand dining hall afterward. The photographer—again, Victoria's idea—had come from Hermosillo with an assistant and it seemed to take eons between shots with the setting and resetting of angles, shutters, and flashes.
Years hence, Mano and Carmen's eldest daughter, Victoria Sofía, would treasure the photograph of her parents taken this day—the one in which her handsome papá, standing, and her beautiful mamá, sitting, looked into each other's eyes with undisguised love, her hand in his. Her sister, Antonia Dolores, would prefer the one in which her parents faced the camera head on, her papá's hands on the back of the chair in which her mamá sat, prepared to face life together. In both pictures, smiles crept onto their faces even though the photographer had suggested they remain solemn so that the pictures would be clear.
The pictures were clear nonetheless.
Between pictures, Mano and Carmen circulated among their family, hugging the nieces and nephews and treating Don Carlos and the Doña Maria with icy formality. The Doña Dolores offered her hand to new her son-in-law, and he took it and kissed it. Surviving that ordeal without being poisoned, he smiled at her. He shook Hector's hand.
"Congratulations, you two!" Hector exclaimed, slapping him on the back.
"I suppose you could be worse," Doña Dolores added. And did she...wait...did she give him a wink or had he imagined it? A wink or else he had just been marked by the mistress of Satan, Mano reflected. He chuckled. What was this woman? I should have liked to have seen her with Papá, he thought. Now that would have been most interesting.
"Oh, Mamá!" Carmen shook her head and also laughed, realizing that her husband had started to appeal to the old lady for whatever reason. It was best not to question anything her mother did or felt.
Buck had already pounded Mano on the back and accepted an embrace and kiss from the bride when John grabbed his brother-in-law by the shoulder and pumped his hand with vigor, slapping him on the back and then exchanging polite kisses with Carmen. "Welcome to the family!" John boomed, deep voiced, as Victoria beamed.
Victoria hugged them both with joy yet remained careful not to muss her dress or the bride's. John's eyes twinkled as he handed the couple a telegram which read. "FROM WILLIAM CANNON. STOP. ST. LOUIS, MO. STOP. CONGRATULATIONS. STOP. SEE YOU BOTH CHRISTMAS. STOP."
"Hey, bueno, Blue!" Mano exclaimed. "John's son," he told Carmen who already knew this. "Sounds like he is coming home."
John nodded and Victoria's eyes sparkled.
Tío Domingo stepped up to shake Mano's hand and the two men embraced.
"Gracias, Tío, for everything," Mano said.
"My nephew, and now, my lovely niece," Don Domingo's eyes fell upon Carmen. He kissed her hand and they exchanged light kisses on the cheek. He liked her and she, him. Seeing his uncle ooze charm, Mano reflected it was a good thing Tío was no longer young. Not that this seemed ever to stop him. "My nephew and niece, when it comes time for you to retire this evening," Don Domingo continued, "you will find the servants have placed your things in the largest of the guest rooms, at the end of the hall."
"Oh?" Mano asked.
"Yes, with the help of your sister, we have undertaken a little...ah...redecorating. And this is to be your room whenever you stay at the Rancho Montoya which is," and he paused for a second and looked at them both, "as you know, your home."
"Gracias, Tío. That is most generous of you," Mano exclaimed. "We'd better, ah, wait until later to see it." Carmen, delighted, kissed her new uncle again.
Domingo blew a smoke ring and smiled. He knew Mano would be pleased with the chests and bed ordered from a craftsman in Hermosillo and assembled in secret by the servants. Two wardrobes had also been moved into the room so they could each store their clothes. The linens and bed coverings were new. A place to start their lives. For a man who had lived much of his own life alone and by his wits, Domingo was surprised to realize he now found it comforting and even enjoyable to be surrounded by family. Well, most family, he thought...his glance diverted to Don Carlos for a moment.
As they watched the Vargas clan being photographed, Victoria sidled up to her uncle.
"Tío, you have done so much to make this day special for Manolo and Carmen."
"You, too, my beautiful niece, have been hard at work."
"Yes, and they are perfect together, are they not? She is everything he needs."
"Yes. It does seem so."
"And you, Tío, are responsible for introducing him to her!"
"My niece, the governor's ball was the occasion. We are most fortunate that they ever even met."
"Yes, Tío. I have been wondering, now that I know the reputation and character of Don Carlos Vargas and his history of gambling...just how did it happen that they were even invited to this ball? The governor of Sonora does not know them, does he? They are not friends?"
"Oh, I suspect not, my niece."
"Then how came it to be that… Tío? Is there something you are not telling me? Manolito said you were the first to point her out to him."
"Was I? I do not recall."
"Tío! You arranged this meeting, did you not? You asked the governor to invite them to the ball!"
"Mi hita, would I have such influence with the governor?"
"Oh Tío! I love you!" Victoria kissed him on the cheek. "Papá would be so pleased."
Don Domingo only smiled and blew a ring of smoke from his ever present cigarillo.
Victoria instructed the musicians to stop playing at ten that evening, and the villagers and guests began to trickle out of the courtyard of the Hacienda Montoya, returning to their homes and lives from the wedding fiesta which had begun that afternoon. Wine had flowed freely and the food had been endless. Don Manolo and his new wife had spoken to each in attendance, Carmen marveling at her husband's command of the names of the families present. He seemed to know them all and even many of their children.
Throughout much of the evening, the Doña Dolores had held court inside the hacienda, offering critical assessments of the food, the wine, the guests, the lack of dignitaries present, the sun and the moon...until Hector whispered to her that if she did not cease, he would drag her upstairs and lock her in their guest room. His smile did not reach his eyes. The Doña grew silent.
As the last of the villagers departed, Manolito looked at Carmen. "Shall we, my love?"
"I thought you would never ask, mi corazón." she answered, her brown eyes flashing. They were ready to be alone and this first night together would feature none of the awkwardness an inexperienced young couple might feel or fear. Victoria and John watched as the new Señor y Señora Montoya slipped discreetly upstairs.
"Victoria, you helped her before the wedding. Do you need to..."
"Oh no, my husband," she interrupted, coy. "My brother made it quite clear that he would handle matters."
"Oh, yup. I guess so." John smiled, kissed his wife, and pulled her close.
"Oh John, I am so happy!" Victoria returned his embrace, eyes shining.
Carmen's maid, waiting outside the bridal chamber, was also happy. She bowed her head to conceal a knowing smile when Don Manolo said with a grin, "Señora, perdón. Pero esta noche, yo voy a ayudar a la Señora Carmen, sí? Gracias." With a glance at the smiling bride, the maid scurried away downstairs as the couple entered their room.
"Ay caramba! Tío Domingo!" Mano exclaimed at the massive carved four poster bed, more magnificent than he had imagined. Flowers filled the room and ivory linens covered the bed. He was speechless.
Carmen stopped before a vase of roses, inhaling their fragrance. She turned to her husband, who latched the door behind him and smiled.
As she moved to him, his lips touched her forehead and he began to assist her in unpinning the mantilla and loosening her black hair. For them, it was the start of one of a thousand little private rituals that married couples—should they choose the right person to wed—come to enjoy.
None can copyright the characters of "The High Chaparral," for that has been done, but the authors do claim the creation of others, especially Carmen Navarro (whose first name comes from a David Dortort script proposal), Rancho Navarro, the entire Vargas and Santos clans, Valencio Ruiz, Teresa Lauder, and Delgado, whose appearance, we trust, may remind our readers of an older Henry Darrow.