Conquistadora - Esmeralda Santiago [14]
“She’s the one who found the Flinter report,” Inocente said.
“She studied the history,” Ramón added. “Her ancestors—”
“She has family there?”
“Well, not anymore. Years ago.”
“Most of her family’s fortune,” Inocente broke in, “was made in the West Indies.”
“They were traders and plantation owners who returned as rich men. Ana knows what to expect,” Ramón said, with a hint of pride.
“We’ll come back to Spain with practical experience for running a business—,” Inocente continued.
“—and we’ll be much better able to manage Marítima Argoso Marín,” Ramón concluded.
“Who will run the business in the meantime?”
“You can continue to work with the managers and agents,” Inocente said.
“You’ve had a full, accomplished life,” Ramón said. “We’re young and strong but haven’t done much with our lives. Haven’t you told us so yourself? We wish to make our own way, Papá.”
“And Papá,” added Inocente, “we wish to make you proud.” Leonor wouldn’t hear of her sons leaving Spain. “We’ll die alone,” she cried when Eugenio presented her with the proposal. “I wish to be near our sons, to be a grandmother to their children. I don’t want another outpost. I’d like a proper home. Is that too much to ask, after years of living in tents and cottages?”
A compromise was reached; they’d all go to Puerto Rico. Eugenio postponed his dream of a ranch for horses and fighting bulls in Spain. He, Leonor, and Elena would move to the house in San Juan. Eugenio would manage the shipping business from the capital and spend holidays at the finca in a nearby town, like Rodrigo used to do. Ramón and Inocente would take over the sugar plantation on the other side of the island. After five years, they could all return to Spain to enjoy the income with occasional visits to the island or, better yet, sell the much-improved properties. That Ramón would marry Ana, and Inocente Elena (when she came into her inheritance) meant that a potential source of strife would be avoided, since the future sisters-in-law were best friends. Eugenio congratulated his sons for their foresight.
The plans were made without looking at a detailed map. They knew that Puerto Rico was 180 kilometers long by 65 kilometers wide, and the distances seemed short in comparison with Europe. In spite of the fact that, as a soldier, Eugenio knew that even one kilometer on poor roads could take hours to traverse, he wanted to please his wife. He wanted to be near his sons. He’d always been a military man, but he agreed to retire from the cavalry to become a landowner and businessman.
He burnished his sword and saber and slid them into their polished scabbards. He pinned his medals and ribbons on a velvet cloth Leonor made for him. With the ceremony their rank deserved, he folded his uniforms, brushed his plumed hats, rolled his sashes, and stored them in a cedar chest. With a last look before he closed and locked a lifetime of memories within, Eugenio said good-bye to his career and prepared to begin a new life for himself and his family in Puerto Rico.
VICE VERSA
Over the next six months, Leonor often reminded her husband and sons that sailing to the Indies was their idea and that she agreed only because she couldn’t change their minds. To emphasize her opposition, she insisted that Eugenio accompany her to lay wreaths on their parents’ graves, and to say good-bye to living relatives in Villamartín, the village where they grew up. She had a premonition, she said, that she’d never see Spain again.
Ramón and Inocente went in the opposite direction. In mid-June 1844 they escorted Elena by steamship up the Río Guadalquivir to Sevilla, where she’d help Ana prepare her trousseau for the wedding six weeks hence.
Ana, Elena, Jesusa, and a gaggle of comadres, cousins, and neighbors sewed, embroidered, and packed crates, chests, and boxes for hours on the uppermost floor of the house. Ana and Elena were in a constant frenzy. Ramón and Inocente didn’t want to interrupt important business, so they left