Conquistadora - Esmeralda Santiago [187]
Padre Xavier often prayed for the equanimity necessary to keep from judging his parishioners, but every day presented a new challenge. The men and women who chose to leave their towns and villages in Europe to settle in America were not easily led. Even the faithful sought ways around church doctrine when it tested their circumstances. But people like Severo Fuentes and Ana Larragoity de Fuentes baffled him.
Ana baptized newborns and every so often invited him to say Mass for the workers at Los Gemelos, but she never confessed or asked for the sacrament of Communion. Until this day, Severo Fuentes had not set foot inside his church and was not present at services in the hacienda.
In his twenty-five years in the colony, Padre Xavier had become accustomed to a church for women. Their men fulfilled their financial obligations to the parish but whenever possible avoided church and consistently ignored at least five of the Ten Commandments. Their faith, if they could be said to have one, was in salvation by proxy.
Severo Fuentes Arosemeno and Ana Larragoity de Fuentes treated him as someone who provided a necessary service, but could be and was ignored when not needed. What troubled Padre Xavier most, however, and what now caused him to fall to his knees in fervent prayer, was that Ana and Severo appeared to have no concept of or any concern whatsoever about the precarious state of their eternal souls.
Ana didn’t want to observe the cuarentena, resting and getting to know her baby. For three days Paula and Gloria fed her insipid broths and Conciencia offered her sweetened teas, but Ana refused to be confined in the middle of the zafra.
On the fourth day after Segundo was born, she walked to her study and was appalled by how much she’d neglected during the last weeks of her pregnancy, when she had barely enough energy to walk from one end of the house to the other. Merely looking at the stacks discouraged her. At the top of one, she caught the familiar handwriting on fine paper.
My darling Ana,
Your intrepid spirit took you into the forests of Puerto Rico, but over those same years, I humbly submitted to a conventional life. Now my beloved protectors are in heaven, and you, my dearest, continue to follow the footsteps of your distinguished ancestor. I have tried to be a patient and devoted friend to your son, as you requested. Now that he’s a man and exploring his own world, he does not need me anymore.
One morning some weeks ago I woke up and counted how many years were behind me, and envisioned what might lie before me. You are well settled with your husband and by the time you receive this letter, with a new baby. Miguel is enjoying Europe with no plans to return for some months. After much silence and prayer, examining my life as it has been, is, and could be, I concluded that I do not want to spend the rest of my life alone. I’ve agreed to marry Miguel’s esteemed teacher, don Simón. We have known each other for fifteen years, but we only turn toward each other now, in the absence of our darling Miguel, who brought us together.
My fondest wish was that Miguel would walk me down the aisle, but I will not interrupt his travels on my behalf. Our good friend Mr. Worthy will do the honors. With Miguel’s frequent moves between Madrid, Paris, Rome, and London, it’s entirely possible that he hasn’t received all my letters. What a surprise it will be to find one from señora Elena Alegría de Fernández! When he was a child, he wondered why Simón and I didn’t marry. He will be happy to learn that we have finally done so. I hope you will be happy for me, too, my darling Ana.
Your devoted, loving friend,
Elena
Elena, married! Ana felt a twinge. Until now, Elena had only known one lover—Ana. She wondered if Elena ever thought about the timeless movement and sway of their flushed adolescent bodies. Would she compare their lovemaking with that of her new husband? Might she already have made love to him? Many times in her own life Ana had awakened from the middle of a dream next to Ramón, or Inocente,