Fathers and Sons Chapter Nine: Good for the Soul
Ten days of hot, dusty, dry work flew by. Cattle were moved and the land readied for the new herd. In their off hours, Mano and Buck had made alterations to John's corrals as well.
"Corrals look good, Mano," Buck said, shaking his head. "Nuff space for the mares. Fillies look happy."
"Sí. I have also prepared a stall for Toronado in the barn."
"Have ya told Big John 'bout our guest a comin'? Wan' me to do it?"
"No. This I must do. I need to talk to them both anyway."
"Yeah. You do," Buck nodded. "You shore do. You ain't been no fun ta be aroun' since we got back from yore daddy's. Mano, you ain't even wanted to go check the 'herd' in Tucson! Somethin' mighty wrong with that!"
Mano smiled. What was wrong? Dave Redmond? Papa? He was not used to brooding. The heaviness had become too much. He approached his sister and brother-in-law late that afternoon.
"John, I have a matter I wish to speak with you about, and with you too, Victoria."
"Oh? Fine, fine, let's go into the study and close the door. Bit more private there." Victoria's eyes widened, but she said nothing-just looked at her husband and then at her brother and followed as they walked into the study. Big John closed the door.
"Sit down, Mano, sit down. We don't have to do this standing up, do we?"
Mano smiled a tight smile, "No, John, of course not." He sat in a cowhide chair, while John settled behind his desk and Victoria perched on its edge beside her husband.
"Bueno. You have probably been wondering about my behavior lately."
"Er, no, Mano…"
"Yes, we have," interrupted Victoria, direct as ever, his sister.
"The incident at Stokertown with Dave Redmond stirred something within me and made me question myself, my motives, even my sanity." Mano hurried on. "My friend, or I thought he was my friend, Dave, had made a success of his life and was like an adopted son to the old man who ran the town, Mr. Stoker. Dave could not see this. He could not see that his success was due to his own hard work, that he had a business skill worthy of praise from Mr Stoker.
"Dave decided he was just flattering the old man, and with this flattery would come an inheritance. He thought he would truly take the place of Mr. Stoker's son and he would be left all the wealth and power the old man had. This was not the case. Mr. Stoker saw Dave's abilities and felt it would be better to let Dave make his own way in the world, so that the satisfaction of gaining wealth and status would be even greater. Dave felt this unacceptable and started stealing from the gold shipments of Mr. Stoker."
"Yup," John grunted. "Got greedy. Seen it too many times."
"Sí. The old man got suspicious and became a threat. My arrival in town as a suspected bandito was a gift to Dave. He saw that he could set me up to be hanged, not just for robbery, but also for the murder of Mr Stoker. He had committed this murder and arranged for me to be on the scene, incriminating myself, just as the town marshal walked in. As a plan it was foolproof. I was shaken. Shaken in my faith in myself and saddened that a man could not see the love of his father, even if that father was an adoptive one. The waiting in the cell with the gallows being built outside the window was not pleasant. Knowing no one would believe in my innocence...my thoughts about my own life made everything worse."
"Mano…"
"No, Victoria, please. Allow me to finish. As I was saying, I was thinking that my own father would quite easily believe that I had become bad enough to be hanged as a bandito and even a murderer. His disappointment would be confirmed. I have flouted his authority; I have refused his name and rank; I have turned away from his wealth and rejected all responsibility. He would assume I had turned my nature inside out and become truly evil, which I in no way had done. I realized he did not know me. Perhaps I did not know myself.
"Then I was able to escape the hangman and come back here, where at least I feel at home. I was not happy with myself, with my situation, and could do nothing to change that."
"Manolo, really, it is all right, you do not have to say more."
"Victoria." Mano's sharp voice sliced through the room. John looked at his wife and her brother, shifted in in his chair, leaned back, tilted his head, and stroked his chin. Let him talk, Victoria, he thought.
"I know. I am not your mother, only your sister," she quipped, and Mano smiled a thin smile.
"John, you sent me to see Papá for the cattle and I thought I would get the opportunity to talk to him. To explain that I am not like Dave Redmond. To tell Papá that I value his name, his rank, his wealth, the rancho, all of it, even though I do not want these for myself. That I honor him! But I did not have a chance to do this. He would not even talk with me. He did everything to show that he has no feeling for me at all, that I am just a 'saddle tramp' as he says. And it is this which has hurt me most of all. So, I need to make a success of my little rancho. I must show Papá that I am not the irresponsible youth who ran wild after the death of our mother and that I do care about his good opinion."
"So what are you gonna do about it, Mano?" John asked, his tone matter of fact.
"Ay yi yi! This is what I do not know."
"This is just a suggestion, Mano, but why don't you have this conversation with your father? You could go down with the boys in the morning. Collect the herd and bring it back here. If you wanted to stay down there and spend some time with him, that would be fine with me. I can spare you for that. Fathers and sons need to be honest with one another." John's rueful expression made it clear to both Manolito and Victoria that he was thinking of Blue.
"John, that is my problem. How do I get his attention?"
"Mano, how did you get my attention?"
"I just said…. oh, I see. Yes, you are right John. I need to speak plainly and ask him to listen." His smile spread. A weight seemed to lift. "I can but try, eh?"
Victoria rushed to him and threw her arms around his neck, planting a kiss on his cheek.
"What?" he grinned
"Hermanito mío, I love you." she whispered in his ear.
"But while you're down there, you'd better not be telling Don Sebastian my plans for his herd!" John admonished with a wry grin.
Mano's smile grew wider and he started to chuckle, which soon turned into a belly laugh. John and Victoria joined in, filling the room with laughter. This is the best medicine thought Mano, truly the best medicine, laughter and love.
"Ah, Juano," Mano added when the mirth subsided. "I have one more thing to talk to you about…it, uh, concerns a certain stallion belonging to my father..."
Just after dawn the following day, Mano, Buck, and a crew of eight mounted up to ride for Sonora. John had taken the news about Toronado and the mares well and seemed pleased for his brother and brother-in-law.
"Cain't believe my brother forgive us that last hundred dollars we owed him," Buck said, "Don't sound like Big John."
"I think perhaps my sister persuaded him," Mano replied.
"Yeah. I jus bet she did. That Victoria is a angel for shore."
Sam's instructions to Joe, Pedro, Ira, Reno, Arrigo, and three of the older hands were clear: Stay outta trouble in Mexico. Sam wished he was going with them but Big John had not wanted the ranch without its foreman, with so many hands gone and Buck and Mano likely to take longer getting back.
One quick overnight camp in which they took turns on guard duty, and by late morning of the next day, the Chaparral men rode between the twin lions, through the white stucco arch, and into the courtyard of Hacienda Montoya, where they handed the reins of their horses to Don Sebastian's men. Mano brushed off as much trail dust as he could before walking into the home of his father.
"Hola, Pepe! Is my father in?"
"Don Manolo! Sí, he is in his study. Shall I announce you?"
Mano smiled, "No, Pepe, gracias. I shall surprise him." He walked through the hall and knocked once on the study door before entering.
"Adelante!" Don Sebastian was still uttering the word as his saddle tramp son approached his desk. "Ah, Manolito, to what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Papá, I am pleased to see you, too." Mano walked around his father's massive desk and chair and dropped a kiss on the top of the astonished old man's forehead.
"Eh, what is this?" Don Sebastian, startled, regarded his son with wide and warm eyes. He pushed himself upright, clasped his son by the shoulder, took his son's right hand in his own and shook it, smiling as his son was then smiling.
Buck had not gone in with Mano, but stayed with the men as they were shown to the back of the house, where the servants rushed to set out food and drink in the shade of a colonnaded veranda. He wondered what Mano had to say to his old man, but it weren't none of his business and the boys needed supervisin'.
Mano found them about an hour later. The hands, refreshed, having eaten and drunk their fill, lounged in the shade, talking, laughing, swapping jokes and stories. Buck saw him coming, stood, and walked to meet him.
"Amigo, how are ya doin'?"
"Compadre, I am doing just fine!" Mano's face seemed relaxed, looking like it used to, Buck thought, a wide smile creasing his face. "Oh, and Papá has been paid for the rest of the herd. I have the receipt for John."
"Well that's good, amigo, real good!"