Part 13 (1/2)
”Hope refuses to die,” she said, her voice tight. ”But I am not a fool. There has been no word since Baudin carried them off in chains. He might have had them shot and buried them in a shallow grave on the other side of the mountains. Or left their bodies to feed the crows.” Her voice caught and she ducked her head to hide the shameful tears.
Justin moved his mount so close to hers that the horses were almost touching, and stretched out his hand to clasp hers. He held it for a long moment before letting go and moving away. ”I can only imagine how difficult this last year has been for you. But from what I've seen, you are doing admirably. Your father would be proud if he could see you now.”
”I'm trying to become the ruler San Gabriel needs. I don't know what I would have done without Athena.” Sofia's mouth twisted. ”I rely too much on her. A year ago, the main thought on my frivolous mind was whom I might marry. Athena did her best to teach me more serious subjects, but I didn't take those lessons seriously until Pap and Alexandre were taken. Now I listen when Athena teaches me how to carry the responsibilities of a queen.”
He gave her a sidelong glance. ”I suppose your father would have arranged a political marriage for you?”
”Since I wasn't the heir, Pap was willing to let me choose my own husband within reasonable limits. I couldn't marry a poor n.o.body, of course-it would have to be a husband who would bring some benefit to San Gabriel-but I would have had more choices.” She made a face. ”Now I'll likely have to marry some beastly grand duke with warts and three chins.”
Justin laughed. ”Surely, there are better grand dukes than that!”
”I hope so!” Turning serious, she said, ”How my husband looks is not important. What matters is finding a man who will not try to take over San Gabriel because I am a mere weak woman. I'll marry Grand Duke Toad if he respects the fact I will be queen and this is my country. He will be my consort, not the king.”
”Such a man will be difficult to find,” Justin observed. ”Men who are born to power often crave greater power.”
”I know.” She made an exasperated gesture with one hand. ”And I don't even know how to go about looking for a suitable husband! I will discuss it with Colonel da Silva when he returns to San Gabriel. He is an intelligent and worldly man. I'll probably make him my chief minister. He will have some useful thoughts, I'm sure.”
”A prosperous foreign merchant who is uninterested in power would be a good choice in some ways,” Justin said softly as he glanced at her, his eyes intense. ”But, of course, that would be impossible.”
Emotion pulsed between them, hot and demanding. If I were free to choose, I would choose this man and never regret it. The knowledge was vivid and undeniable. She would think it absurd, except that her mother and father had felt the same certainty when they met.
Perhaps love at first sight was a mark of the pa.s.sionate Gabrileno temperament, except that Justin was British and she saw the same certainty in his eyes. Maybe that ability to love in an instant came from his Portuguese grandmother.
But her mother had been the well-dowered daughter of a Spanish n.o.bleman, a good match in terms of worldly rank and wealth. Sofia was a royal princess with the weight of her small kingdom on her shoulders, while Justin was a foreign merchant. Though she was popular, most Gabrilenos would be horrified by such a match. It would damage the country, and that she could not allow.
Trying to keep her tone light, she said, ”Quite impossible, alas. I shall be required to wed one of the Archduke Toads of the world.”
”There are sometimes royal love matches. I hope you have one,” he said, his eyes filled with regret and acceptance. Turning back to the quinta, he remarked, ”It appears that Senor Carnota has done a good job of rounding up neighbors.”
”That will save us some time,” Sofia said, hoping she sounded normal. Today's oblique conversation was as close as she and Justin could come to discussing the impossibility of becoming more to each other. Her duty must come before personal happiness, and that reality hurt her heart.
Yet there was some comfort in knowing that he also cared for her. That comfort would have to be enough.
Chapter 20.
A week of riding across San Gabriel, distributing food and a.s.sessing needs, had restored Athena's control. She wished she hadn't broken down and told Will about Lady Wh.o.r.e, one of the worst nightmares in her private chamber of horrors, but she trusted him not to reveal it to anyone else.
Though he'd reflexively claimed that illegitimacy and her mother's reputation didn't matter to him, he'd clearly been shocked by the picture she'd painted of social ostracism for him and any children they might have together. He was too much a gentleman to withdraw his offer, but by now he must be feeling relief.
A week of observing the problems of others had put the situation in perspective for Athena. She'd visited homes that had lost sons and husbands to the war, and hovels where the inhabitants were near starvation, but always she had been greeted with warmth and welcome. Her bruised heart was a mere bagatelle by comparison.
After visiting virtually every hamlet and farmstead in San Gabriel, she turned her small party and unburdened pack mules and headed back to the castle. She now felt capable of treating Will Masterson as a friend and no more.
With luck, he'd soon be heading for home and she'd never have to see him again.
As Will and Tom Murphy surveyed the churning waters of the San Gabriel River, the batman asked, ”How old do you think this bridge is, sir? Might the Romans have built it?”
”I suspect that the bridge would still be standing if it was Roman work. My guess is that it's three or four centuries old.” He glanced at the younger man. ”You've worked on your share of bridges. Which were the worst?”
”The ones where the French were shooting at us as we splashed around in the mud!” Murphy said feelingly.
Will grinned. ”Hard to argue with that. As bridge-building projects go, will this one be difficult or easy?”
Tom's eyes narrowed as he studied the banks and the flow of water. ”It should be easier than most,” he said cautiously. ”The stone piers on both banks are intact, and now that the spring snowmelt has gone down, another stone pier in the middle of the river is visible and that will give good support for the center section of the bridge.”
”The middle pier will make the job enormously easier,” Will agreed as he calculated lengths and designs. ”The beams we pulled out of the royal barn are st.u.r.dy and long, close to sixty feet each. Half of them can be used to stretch from this bank to the middle, and the other half will reach from the middle to the far bank. How should we go about this?”
”Use the barn beams to make two sixty-foot-long pontoons,” the batman said promptly. ”Luckily, we also salvaged plenty of planking from the barn and it should be enough to make the pontoons really solid.”
”Which is important for a bridge that needs to last indefinitely, not just months. How should we get the pontoons in place?”
”To begin with, someone will need to swim out to the middle pier and pull over some heavy cable to connect the bank to the pier.”
”Are you volunteering to do that, Sergeant?”
”No, sir, you're a much stronger swimmer!” Tom retorted. ”Once there are cables in place between all three piers, the first pontoon should be slid in the water upstream and floated down, then raised to rest on the center and east-bank piers. Once that pontoon is secure and planked over, we can carry the second pontoon to the middle, then haul it over to bridge to the west bank. Will that work?”
Will nodded approval. ”Very good. Do you think railings should be installed on the sides?”
”With people and carts and livestock crossing, definitely some sort of railing to keep them from falling off,” Tom said. ”Sheep aren't very clever. Be a pity to lose them to the river.”
”Do we have enough wood for railings?”
”Not just now, but we could put uprights every couple of yards across both sides of the bridge and string rope between them from one end of the bridge to the other,” Tom said thoughtfully. ”Two levels of rope at least. Three if there's enough strong rope. Not as good as a solid railing, but it could be put in place quickly.”
”That will work,” Will agreed. ”How long do you think it will take us to rebuild this bridge?”
”Sir, are you giving me an examination?” Tom asked suspiciously.
Will chuckled. ”Of sorts. If you decide to stay in San Gabriel, it will be useful to have a skill, and I think that a good builder could be well employed here.”
”Would I be able to stay here without being considered a deserter, sir?” the younger man asked, surprised. ”I enlisted for twenty-one years so I'd get a pension if I lived long enough, which I didn't expect to do.”
”With the war over, I can make it right for you to return to civilian life, though you won't get any pension.” Will thought about that ”privilege” Justin had explained to him. Yes, Major Lord Masterson could make it easy for a young soldier to stay in San Gabriel if he wished. ”No reason for you to travel all the way back to Britain, unless you wish to return to Ireland?”
Tom sighed and his accent became more Irish. ”It would be a fine thing to see the green fields of Ireland again and no mistake, but there's not much for me there. My mum is dead, my father has probably drunk himself to death by now, my brothers and sisters don't know how to read and write, so I've not heard from any of them in years. I don't know what I'd do with myself there.”
”While San Gabriel has Maria Cristina.”
Tom blushed. ”It does indeed, sir.”
”She seems like a lovely young woman,” Will said encouragingly.
”That she is, sir. You might not know this, but the French killed one of her younger brothers when they invaded. Senora Oliviera has been hinting that another son would be welcome. Senor Oliviera seems to like me, but he'll not let Cristina marry a man who can't support her properly.”