Chapter 29. Differences of criteria.
Victoria invited Marina to spend the afternoon at the hacienda and she gladly accepted.
"Would you like some coffee?" offered Victoria. "Maria and I have been making lemon cookies." she said holding the plate out to her.
Marina took one and ate it delicately. She looked a little absent minded.
"Are you all right? You look a little down."
"Yes, thank you Victoria."
"When do you leave for Acapulco?"
"The first boat leaves in five days, we'll catch it and from there we'll cross to Veracruz by land, although first we're going to stop in Mexico where we'll spend at least two weeks with my brother, who wants Ignacio to meet some influential people. From there Eugenio will find out if there are any ships leaving for Spain directly or if we will have to go to Santo Domingo and travel from there."
"Surely you can start again in Spain, and you will have Leandra, Eugenio and your maid, Paloma you said she was also going with you didn't you?" said Victoria, remembering the lady who helped her do her hair on her wedding day and who seemed so nice to her.
"Yes, she wanted to come too. I told her it was a long trip and she could stay here, that my brother had offered to pay her a pension so she could live comfortably, but she insists on coming with me."
"She is a good woman."
"Yes, my friends told me she's too old and I should do without her, but she's like family to me." he thought for a moment. "Well, maybe I shouldn't call them friends after the way they treated me. I'm certainly not sorry to leave them behind." she looked up at Victoria. "You've been a much better friend than they have, and I've only known you for a few weeks."
"I'd very much like you to write and tell me how well you've arrived and what your life is like there."
"Yes." said Marina smiling. "I will write to you, and when you write to me, I will at least hear from you. Your husband and father-in-law have also been good to me. Fadrique thanked them for helping me and asked them if they wanted anything in return, but from what he told me later they haven't asked for anything for themselves. He was very puzzled."
"That's because you don't know them. They always help others without looking for a reward."
"So do you."
"Well, I do what I can. Are you sure I can't do more for you?" said Victoria, sensing something was wrong.
"It's just...I'm not supposed to talk about these things."
Victoria began to suspect what it might be about, so she didn't dare ask, but Marina seemed so lost that she knew she couldn't refuse to talk to her.
"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, but if you want to tell me something I'll listen."
Marina mused with that expression of concentration that Victoria already recognized. "You were recently married too."
Victoria tried to smile without letting it show in her expression that she was fearing the worst.
"I remember that other girl at the tavern, her name is Pilar, right? And you were talking about what happened to me with Ignacio, and you weren't talking like my aunt and other ladies who have given me advice."
There we go, Victoria thought as she nodded.
"It's just that... last night..." said Marina with her eyes shining with tears.
Victoria was indignant. "You must not have been hurt by your husband." she said looking ready to go to the village and do something about it.
Marina was startled to see her reaction. "No, it's not that." she said in alarm. "It's just...it wasn't like before."
Victoria looked at her suspiciously. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean." she said still not ruling out going into los Angeles to hit de Soto with something, preferably blunt.
"On our wedding night nothing happened, because we argued. The truth is that I had drunk too much and I reproached him for not defending me in front of my cousin."
"I see." said Victoria not knowing what else to say.
"But last night I asked him why he didn't want to exercise his conjugal rights, and I tried to act like a good wife and let him do it, but he seemed in a bad mood afterwards."
Victoria made a quizzical face. "Well, it seems odd to me, did you ask him what was wrong?"
"No, a lady shouldn't talk about such things. He mumbled something about a sack of potatoes, rolled over and went to sleep."
"A sack of potatoes?" Victoria said in confusion. "Were the sheets rough or too stiff?"
Marina looked at her with a quizzical face. "No, they were soft." she replied, making a memory.
"Well, I don't know what the problem could be. I'm sure he likes intimacy with you, you said that's all he was looking for the other time, when you got pregnant."
"But that was different."
Victoria was completely lost with that conversation, so much so that she started to get over her reluctance to talk about intimacy with someone like de Soto.
"You've said it before too. I don't get it, how is it different?"
"Well, for my part I now know better than to behave like a tramp."
Seeing Victoria's face, Marina knew she had to keep talking. "A lady should not enjoy her husband's attentions, my aunt even told me to say the rosary while he performed his duties."
Victoria covered her mouth with her hand and opened her eyes as she shook her head. "Your uncle and aunt don't have children, do they?"
"Well, no." said Marina somewhat surprised by the question.
It dawned on Victoria what de Soto was referring to when he spoke of a sack of potatoes. "So you just lay there on the bed without moving until he was done."
Marina nodded with her eyes lowered. For the first time Victoria began to sympathize with the alcalde. Victoria walked over to her and took her hand.
"Listen, others have no right to tell you what to do with your husband."
"But the priests talk about the sin of the flesh and that we must not succumb."
"Not everyone says that. Padre Benitez certainly doesn't."
Marina looked up curiously. "And what does he say?"
"Well... that when a woman marries a seducer it is her mission to keep him away from other women, and for that she has to satisfy his needs."
"I thought husbands got a mistress for that."
Victoria was indignant again. "Wait. You enjoying yourself with your husband is wrong but him having a mistress is right?"
"It's not that it's right, it's that men can't help it."
"But then the mistress would be sinning."
Marina made a confused face. "But I'm not going to be a mistress, I'm going to be a wife. It's hard enough not to sin myself, without worrying about what another woman I probably won't even know will do."
"Ay Dios mío!" exclaimed Victoria in frustration.
"But if the priests say different things, who do I listen to?" complained Marina.
" All right, let's see how we solve this." Victoria began to think about the problem, but couldn't find a solution. Diego came in after a while and Victoria decided to ask him.
"Good afternoon Doña Marina." he said approaching Victoria's guest to greet her. "Good afternoon Victoria." greeted his wife with a kiss on her cheek.
"Good of you to come, we have a bit of a dilemma here."
Something in Victoria's tone of voice made Diego think he was in trouble. Not for nothing did he have a highly developed survival instinct, but it was too late to run away.
"You see, Marina is getting conflicting information."
"About what?"
"About her married life."
Diego tried unsuccessfully not to look panicked. Luckily Marina was again looking at the floor and didn't notice. As Diego had become speechless, Victoria continued to tell him.
"The thing is that the other ladies and her confessor tell her that the wife must... how should I put it..."
"Maintain chastity in marriage." said Diego unable not to help Victoria.
"That very thing, very well expressed. The thing is, it's hard for her to know what she has to do because not everyone says the same thing."
"I understand, it's a concept they discuss a lot." said Diego with a face of not wanting to continue talking about the subject.
"You know what Padre Benitez says, but apparently he's the only one."
"No, he's not, but I admit that most theologians would disagree with him."
"But you do agree with him."
"I certainly do. When it comes to advice from a priest I always look to see who is most compassionate, most willing to understand others and offer forgiveness."
Marina looked up, confused. "In case of doubt shouldn't one do what the bishop says?"
"I believe that in a matter like this everyone must follow his own conscience."
Marina nodded with a blank stare. She wasn't used to not being told what to do, after all all all her life someone had been there to tell her what was right and wrong.
Luckily the rest of the visit they talked about less uncomfortable subjects. Diego and Victoria walked Marina to the carriage and dismissed her from the front door.
"We have to do something to help her." said Victoria very determined. Diego wondered if there weren't some cattle rustlers or stagecoach robbers out there to chase. Fighting crime was much simpler than this, and less embarrassing.