Conquistadora - Esmeralda Santiago [157]
The Argosos’ friends knew the dreadful story of the identical twin brothers who came to Puerto Rico to seek their fortune but found death instead. Some of the vecinos had met Ramón, Inocente, and Ana during their stay in San Juan years earlier, and the young men, especially, left lasting, favorable impressions. The vecinos attended Mass following the death of each brother, visited and comforted the Argosos after the tragedies, and took particular interest in Miguel.
The neighbors didn’t believe that his grandparents and godmother were raising Miguel just because Hacienda los Gemelos was so remote that he couldn’t get a good education there. Puerto Rico was crawling with unemployed émigrés from wars and conflicts in Spain, France, Italy, Venezuela, Mexico, the United States. Hundreds of tutors and governesses competed for posts with wealthy families in San Juan and the hinterlands. Even the most remote hacendado could find one or two teachers until their children were twelve or thirteen, when they were sent abroad to complete their education. Obviously, there was more to the story than the Argosos were willing to disclose, and the vecinos asked one another the same thing: What kind of mother never came to see her son and didn’t send for him during school vacations or holidays?
Miguel wondered the same thing. Whenever he mentioned Hacienda los Gemelos, Elena assumed he missed his mamá, and told him something about her. “She’s not very tall,” she once said, “but so strong! And a magnificent horsewoman. That’s why you’re such a good rider.”
When he told Abuelo that he was a good rider because his mother was so proficient, Abuelo grunted.
“Your father and uncle were expert horsemen before they met your mother. Don’t forget that I’m a colonel in the cavalry and taught them, and you, to love horses and to ride well.”
As he grew up Miguel learned not to mention his mother or Hacienda los Gemelos, especially around Abuela, who squinted and pressed her lips so hard that they disappeared into her mouth.
He was not allowed to forget either his mother or the hacienda, however. Every Sunday evening Miguel had to write to Mamá while Elena knitted nearby.
“Remember to mention that you have the highest mark in drawing, and include one of your sketches,” Elena prompted.
He hardly remembered Mamá, but whenever he thought about her, he felt acute anxiety.
“Why does she always write that I belong with her at Hacienda los Gemelos?” he finally asked one night as he wrote another letter when he’d rather be with Andrés and Luis José near San Juan Gate, where a new regiment from Spain was disembarking.
“Because your mamá misses you so much, mi amor,” Elena said. “She loves you very much.”
“Then why doesn’t she come to see me?”
“I’m sure she wants to. Of course she does. But your darling mamá has many responsibilities at your hacienda, and she can’t be away for long. Maybe you should go for a visit.”
“Maybe.” The idea was not appealing, but Elena’s sky-blue eyes lit up at her own suggestion.
“I’ll go with you. We can go by ship. Why don’t you ask permission from your grandparents, amorcito?”
Clearly Elena was excited about going to Hacienda los Gemelos, and Miguel liked to please her. But he was afraid to ask Abuelo or Abuela. What if asking to go to the hacienda would sound to his grandparents as if he didn’t want to be with them? He was reasonably certain that neither Abuelo nor Abuela liked Mamá, and if they thought he did, then they might not like him anymore and not want him to live with them in the beautiful big house on Calle Paloma just steps from his best friends in the world.
A few days later, Miguel wanted to show Elena his sketches