Reactions (A Time to Love 18)

by DJ Dubois

The Cannons and Montoyas balance living with maintaining their guard. A telegram brings a warning. A "delivery" to the Chaparral tosses a gauntlet down in front of John and Victoria. Another confrontation further threatens the balance between the two sides of the border. And in the middle of all of that, Penny goes into labor! r and r!

1. Mercedes Observes

Reactions (A Time to Love 18)

DJ Dubois

April 2021

Notes Part 1: Just a bit of fair warning here. This installment starts an arc with *a lot* of turnover in it. At least one thing in this one is going to disturb folks. Remember what I hinted at on the HC Facebook Group? What Sebastian and Manolito did at the end of "The Lion Sleeps" was going to have reactions from the Santiago y Amistads. You also have the turnover in power in Mexico City. Juarez lost his presidency to Diaz. Diaz's interests will affect things profoundly as you will see. The writers and producers buried and forgot about these things. In the historical past, it would not have been that easily swept aside. In the HC storyline, it was unrealistic to antagonize a neighboring rancho to the Chaparral and expect everything to be "hunky dory" so to speak. While Mexican politics do surface from time to time, I guess I'd expect more of that.

Well in short, the SAs are back now that they have allies…. Gulp! And their bile leads to more upheaval… Double Gulp!

Notes Part 2: The High Chaparral belongs to NBC and its copyright holders. Please send comments to dante0220 .

Introduction [Rancho Rivertree, Arizona Territory, May 1880]

Doña Mercedes Vega de Montoya writes….

It has been a year since Blue, Penny, Manolo and I were married. What a year it has been! Our rancho grows. We have a big herd. Manolo makes peace with the Apaches. Miguel has his church and soon a school in Tucson. Papa came north with Doña Maria. They have Rancho Vega north of the city. Penny is only a few months away from having her child. The railroad brings such goods to town! ¡Ay caramba! Victoria cannot believe the dresses from St. Louis and San Francisco!

We have our pain too. Don Sebastian's betrayal cuts at Papa, Manolo and Victoria deeply. Papa's pleas for justice against the Granadas go unheeded by El Presidente Juarez. The Granadas send Comancheros across the border to raid John's herds. The ranch hands shoot some of them. The ladrones keep coming. Manolo and Papa insist on stout stone walls around our haciendas. I wish John and Victoria would build one too.

¡Qué lástima! I hoped that we would not require such walls. We cannot trust the wooden fence any longer. We shall do our best. We hope God can do the rest.

Still the Granadas were up to further schemes as well….