Chapter 37
Once back at the hacienda, Luz picked up on Don Diego's suggestion that she'd go lie down in bed for an hour or so before lunch: she wouldn't have thought this trip to the pueblo would tire her so much! And yet, she had felt rather good earlier in the morning! But the doctor was probably right: she had overestimated her condition and overdid things a bit.
And perhaps did she overdo those few glasses of Rioja too... How much had she had, exactly? She then remembered words she heard Adrien say about good wine: it's when you don't remember how much you've already had of it that you know you've had too much.
Happy to get back to her bed, Luz slipped under the sheets and laid her slightly heavy head on the fluffy pillow with sheer delight. She briefly thought of señorita Escalante and of her almost insistent offer that she'd stay at the inn for lunch and siesta rather than riding back to the hacienda with Don Diego. An offer which Luz had politely declined: if so, how would she had gone back to the de la Vegas' afterwards without making Don Diego or one of his servants come out to the pueblo once again?
Anyway, this offer had sounded quite strange to her, but still less so than the señorita's insistence. Yes, this woman seemed definitely really odd: one moment she was giving you the cold shoulder as if you had personally done her some wrong like killing her horse or something, and the next moment she was treating you like you were family and took care of you like a considerate big sister...
Hmm...yes, Luz definitely didn't know where to stand with her, and wondered which of these two kinds of diametrically opposed treatments she would be on the receiving end of from her, next time they cross path with each other...
But for now, Luz was too heavy-headed or too foggy-minded to think about all this any longer, and soon the bliss of a cottony nothingness seized her mind and body.
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When lunchtime came a maid went to inform Luz that the meal was about to be served, and she found her sound asleep. Don Alejandro therefore decided to let her take her much needed rest and ordered the servants not to rouse her.
After siesta, Felipe had spent much of the afternoon helping in the stables, then once back inside he had originally thought spending some time with Diego: the latter had told him earlier in the morning that he needed his assistance on one of his experiments.
But ever since his return from the pueblo Diego had been very morose and had barely uttered three words during lunch. After siesta he had said he needed to take a ride to get some fresh air, and when Felipe offered to accompany him, he had replied that he wanted to be alone for a while.
It was unusual enough for Felipe to be surprised, and Diego had indeed gone for a ride on Esperanza, unlike some other times when "getting some fresh air" actually meant riding Tornado.
Don Alejandro had just gone outside too, so Felipe was aimlessly wandering in the hacienda, attending to one task and then another, helping here and there when, remembering Señorita Alacen's desire to learn the basics of sign language, he thought it would be as good a way as any to kill time without thinking about Diego's unusual and actually slightly hurtful attitude.
Or if she wasn't feeling up for a lesson, perhaps she'd be disposed to play a game of chess or draughts?
Once in the corridor leading to the room she occupied, Felipe was about to knock on her door and wait for her to open it – as of course he couldn't answer the inevitable "who's there?" or "yes, what is it?" which would necessarily ensue, nor even show that he had heard it – when, just as he reached her bedroom, he heard very regular snores, all the more faint that they were muffled by the walls and the door, but snores all the same; he smiled: truth be told, it really was the first time he'd ever heard a woman snore. Then he blushed a little bit at that thought: after all, that wasn't as if he was used to be near a woman asleep, of course!
Then, wondering what Diego would do if he had one or two idle hours ahead, Felipe found a possible answer to this question and walked to the library where he took a book and sat in front the fireplace.
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When she roused from her slumber and realised she had slept six hours in a row without reappearing to the eyes of her gracious hosts, Luz felt a little bit sheepish.
During supper, Don Alejandro had been as charming and affable as usual, and his future grandson just as well, but Don Diego for his part had been more sullen than ever. He barely said a word in the course of the whole meal and disappeared God knows where as soon as they got up from the table.
Don Felipe had signed that he felt tired and wanted to go to bed early, yet he didn't leave toward the bedrooms but headed for the library.
Don Alejandro had mentioned earlier at breakfast the possibility that Diego offered their guest a tour of their gardens at dusk, a time when with the temperature lowering, flowers gently exhale their scent, preparing for the coming night. But Don Diego had probably forgotten about it, as he was no longer there to act as her guide.
"Oh, that boy, really!" Don Alejandro grumbled, noting that his son had left Luz high and dry. "I'll never manage to know what is going through his head!"
"That's nothing, Don Alejandro," Luz told him to put his mind at rest.
Anyway, she somehow didn't really want to find herself one-to-one with a moody and gloomy Don Diego who clearly had absolutely no desire whatsoever to make polite small talk tonight.
"Still, señorita... I apologise on my son's behalf. But it's only postponed, not cancelled; tomorrow Diego will certainly be disposed to give you a tour of our gardens..."
"Oh, but why wait until then?" Luz exclaimed. "Why wouldn't you stand in for your son right now?"
Don Alejandro looked a little bit surprised at first. Then he smiled:
"It is very kind of you, Señorita," he answered, "to grant some of your time to an old man like me. But wouldn't you rather spend time with young people your age rather than with an old man who may bore you stiff?"
"You certainly don't bore me, Don Alejandro," she replied, "and if I may be so bold as to say so, I forbid you to utter such nonsense: I have known people as much advanced in age as you are and whose company was much more interesting than that of many a young coxcomb!"
"In this case, and if you are not afraid of having to chitchat with an old man who could be your father..."
Saying this, Don Alejandro proffered his arm to her. She clung to it – hung, almost, so that her weight wouldn't bear down too heavily on her injured leg – while telling him:
"Gladly, Don Alejandro! But forgive me for not thinking about this earlier: perhaps you did have other obligations tonight than to keep me company! If so, please don't hesitate to tell me so, I wouldn't want to monopolise you..."
"Not at all, my dear, not at all. Come and I'll present you our rosery, to begin with..."
And he led her outside.
After the rosery, Don Alejandro showed her the patio where they sat a few minutes to bask in the cooler evening temperature and enjoy the rosy sunset. Then in the growing darkness, they made their way back to the front door. Once near the hacienda's gate, Luz thought she caught sight of something, far off, out of the corner of her eye. She stopped and turned outwards to the desert surrounding the hacienda.
"Is something wrong?" Don Alejandro asked her.
"I... I thought... it seemed to me... No, nothing."
Don Alejandro glanced at her slightly incredulously, clearly inviting her to give him a bit more details.
"I thought I saw some sort of shadow move out there. Something dark crossing the horizon. Very furtively. Perhaps a bat. Or a crow."
"Or a fox..." Don Alejandro suggested as for himself.
"No, it was black, I'm almost positive about that. Or dark, at least. But not tawny nor reddish, anyway!"
Don Alejandro had a small and enigmatic smile:
"We sometimes have a different kind of fox, around here..."
But he didn't add anything more enlightening and walked inside the hacienda muttering to himself:
"I really wonder what kind of prey he's hunting, this time."
He then turned to Luz.
"Come," he graciously told her, "let's see if we can get Diego to play a tune on the piano, will you? He's an excellent pianist, you'll see."
"If we can get hold of him at all, you mean!" Luz retorted, laughing.
Reassured to hear that their guest seemed not to take offense at his son's behaviour although it was bordering on discourtesy, Don Alejandro led her to the living room.