Conquistadora - Esmeralda Santiago [107]
“It’s your plantation, of course, and you can do as you please with it. But Ramón and Inocente thought of Los Gemelos as their legacy to Miguel. He was born here. This is all he’s known.”
“He’s four years old, Ana. What does Miguel know about legacies and the future?”
“Nothing yet, but someday he’ll ask what his father and his uncle stood and died for.”
“And you’d have him believe they stood and died for a piece of land with rotting buildings on it? You’d have him believe that his father and uncle stood and died for a few pigs and chickens, some mules, a couple of old mares?”
“Is that all you see here?”
Eugenio strode to the window and kept his back to her for so long that she thought their conversation was over. “Luis Morales has made me a generous offer, one I’m disposed to accept.”
“Whatever it is, it’s not enough. Your sons and I put everything into Los Gemelos, and now that it’s on the verge of being a profitable business—”
“Having looked at your ledgers, and considering Luis’s offer, the sale will be a very profitable business indeed.”
Ana shook her head, remembering fat don Luis strutting around the batey as if he already owned it.
“You need not worry, my dear. You and Miguel will be well looked after. I promise you’ll want for nothing.”
“But what I want, don Eugenio, is to finish what Ramón, Inocente, and I started. I owe it to them, and to Miguel.”
Eugenio walked to the window again, clearly exasperated, but didn’t turn his back this time. “Ana, think for a moment. How do you propose to raise a child on your own, in the middle of nowhere, far from the only other family he has? Where will he go to school? What society will he be a part of? If he’s injured, will it take hours for the doctor to get to him, as it did with Ramón? What if there is another insurrection? Aren’t you afraid?”
She thought a moment before answering. “Yes, of course there are times … at the beginning, after Inocente’s murder, and last year, during the uprisings I was afraid, but I knew that if I gave in to it, I couldn’t live with myself.”
Eugenio chuckled. “You talk like a soldier.” She smiled back. “But, Ana, a plantation needs a man to handle the workforce, slave or free, a man to negotiate with vendors and customers, a man, Ana, not a young woman with a child.”
“Severo Fuentes has been an excellent mayordomo. I’m confident that he can—”
“And how do you think it will look for you to stay here, alone, with Severo Fuentes?”
She hoped that her blush didn’t show. “He’s been nothing but respectful.”
“I’m sure he has, when your husband was here. But I’ve seen how he looks at you.”
She blushed deeper, angry now. “Don Eugenio! What are you implying?”
“Nothing, my dear. Forgive me. I’m merely pointing out the reality of your situation. You’re young and unprotected. He’s a young man, and ambitious. How long, do you think, before he figures out that, if he married la patrona, he could be the patrón?” He sat again and leaned toward her. “Leonor and I have made the ultimate sacrifice, Ana. Two sons, dead. And, no, don’t defend yourself. I don’t blame you. I do not blame you,” he repeated, to make sure she understood. “You’re young, and someday you might wish to marry again and perhaps you’ll have more children. And that’s your prerogative. But Miguel is the last Argoso, and I intend to raise him under my roof, with my values and, yes, even my prejudices and perhaps some of my vices. That’s my prerogative, you see, as the patriarch of this family.”
Ana stood as if to leave but instead sat again, her gaze on the floor, weighing what to say next. “What if you sold Los Gemelos to me?”
“My dear, I’ve looked at your books. You can’t afford—”
“Perhaps you could extend a mortgage.”
“A mortgage? Secured by?”
“Secured by Miguel.”
Eugenio stammered, unable to form the words.
Ana continued speaking quickly, to make certain she