Fox for Hire
8 - Afterward

Chapter 8: Afterward

Margarita De la Vega was awakened by a strong, cold wind gusting through the little rear balcony door. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised she thought, easing herself out of bed so as not to disturb her sleeping husband. Yesterday afternoon she had noticed the steward Arturo limping as he made his way across the sala. When she asked if he had been hurt, he smiled and replied, "No, Señora, I am not hurt. It is merely my prophetic knee."

"Your what?"

"My prophetic knee," he repeated. "It has never failed to let me know when bad weather is coming. This time I would say …" here he bounced up and down gently on his left leg "…mmm… rain, and a lot of it."

She padded over to the doorway and looked out across the back courtyard. It was not much past dawn, and the distant hills were still obscure. Grey sky, grey wind, grey rain. Well, Arturo, your knee was certainly correct. She pushed the doors shut and fastened them. Although the wind was now blocked, their room was still cold. She stepped to the fireplace, picked up the poker, and began to stir the bed of coals. Adding a handful or two of kindling coaxed up a few flames, so she carefully set a handful of small branches and then a larger log onto the fire, and stepped back. When she was sure the new wood had caught, she carefully added a second log to the pile. She lingered another minute or two until she felt the warmth working its way into the room. Then she replaced the poker and moved to rejoin her husband in their bed.

She sat gently on the edge of the bed and gazed at him for a moment. His breathing was deep and peaceful. A lock of his dark hair had fallen loosely across his forehead and she could almost see the bright, mischievous boy who had played so many pranks on the residents of the pueblo and on the De la Vega servants. She was tempted to push the hair back into place but then she thought No, let him sleep. Paco was back safely with his father, but Diego had done a lot of hard riding over three days to bring that about. Not to mention the fight with the Chumash giant. She had noticed a slight slump to her husband's shoulders at dinner, and afterwards he had postponed the nightly chess lesson until the following morning. Halfway through his glass of wine before the sala fireplace he appeared to be dozing off, so she had suggested he retire early while she put the children to bed. This suggestion was accepted immediately.

She quietly (or so she thought) shifted and swung her legs up onto the mattress when Diego opened his eyes, raised his head to look at her and said, "Querida, is anything wrong?"

"No, nothing, Diego. I was just tending the fire. Go back to sleep. You and Zorro have had a busy few days."

"Sí, we have. But it was worth it. The Brenes are a family again."

Just then the drumming of rain on the roof grew louder, and she automatically looked up at the ceiling. "Do you suppose their cabin is good enough to withstand all this?"

"From what I saw of it, it appeared to be well made. Señor Brenes may not be a rich man but he struck me as a very capable and thorough man. He would never raise his son in a shabby dwelling."

"Well," she sighed, "I hope you are right, and I hope Paco can come and visit Roberto again soon. I think they were good for each other."

"So both of our families are well protected," he declared. Another gust of wind rattled the balcony doors. Diego reached out and patted the mattress. "It is still chilly in here, Querida. Come and be warm beside me." She slid close to him beneath the bedclothes and he put his arm around her. Soon the two of them were asleep, secure in their love of their family and in their love of each other.

- FIN -

A/N: I'm afraid this turned out to be more of a kid's story than I had intended. Having given young Alejandro a role in "A Hero's Heartache" and Isabella a dance with her grandfather in "Best Served Cold" I thought I should do something for Roberto. I've always been impressed by George Lewis' silver hair and beard, so I decided to make use of them.

And no, I'm not planning to write a story for each child. It's just harder to come up with plots these days.

But I hope you all enjoyed this one.

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