Conquistadora - Esmeralda Santiago [72]
Ana would refuse. Severo was certain. Ana was enthralled by the land, its mystery and romance, just as he was. Sometimes, when they all sat together on the porch after dinner, a warm breeze would ripple through the leaves and Ana would close her eyes and turn her face in its direction as if toward a lover’s kiss.
Her small size made her seem delicate, but from the very first he saw her courage and determination. She rode like a man, with authority and strength, uncomplaining about her mount or the rough terrain. She displayed no squeamishness at the rustic conditions and worked as hard as any white man. Even when she was huge with child she was out in the gardens, or in the barns, or seeing to the fowl in the henhouses, the livestock in the pastures, the hogs in the sties. He chose Flora as her attendant because the maid was skilled, but more important, because she was cheerful. Severo wanted Ana to have someone to keep up her spirits.
After two meetings with the Argoso brothers, Severo concluded that their pride was too tied up in their success for them to be good companions for Ana. They were overly preoccupied with proving to don Eugenio and doña Leonor that they’d made the right decision in coming to Los Gemelos. At the same time, they took chances that more experienced men wouldn’t. Encouraged by don Luis, they were buying every contiguous piece of land they could get. They didn’t take into account that the more land they owned, the more brazos they’d require. The hacienda just wasn’t producing enough for their extravagance.
The damage done by years of neglect was of more immediate concern. Grinders operated by a barely functional windmill supplemented by yoked bulls pressed the cane. Severo suggested that the windmill be replaced by a steam engine, and went so far as to show them various models that could be ordered from the United States and could be made functional before the next harvest. The brothers demurred. The boiling house was crumbling, and the barns and work buildings might easily come down the next time a hurricane blew through the island. The brothers argued that the price of sugar was down, and that planters were selling their lands and moving on. Ramón and Inocente wouldn’t invest in the infrastructure of the plantation while there was land for sale. It was foolish, Severo thought but, of course, could not say aloud.
Severo whacked a sapling close to the ground with his machete and smiled. When he first met them, it hadn’t occurred to him that the brothers were sharing Ana. In San Juan, and in Spain, too, he surmised, they took pains to dress alike so that it would be hard for people to tell which brother was which. At Los Gemelos, however, they weren’t as careful. Sometimes one shaved and the other didn’t, or one wore a blue waistcoat and the other a brown one. Severo observed Inocente’s more choleric, sarcastic temperament; Ramón was more even-tempered and sentimental, easier to manipulate.
It was Flora who, just weeks after she met them, confirmed that the brothers took turns with Ana. Severo gave Flora a length of yellow cotton for this information and promised her more if she found a way to prove it. She’d receive nothing, however, if anyone else heard about what she’d told him. So Flora paid attention and reported which twin was with Ana when, and how she could tell whether it was Ramón or Inocente.
As he watched Ramón, Inocente, and Ana, Severo’s suspicions became a certainty. They were too comfortable around one another. She was as familiar and open as a wife toward Inocente, not observing the affectionate-but-respectful distance due a brother-in-law.
Severo finished clearing the weeds and saplings and mounted his horse. Burro seemed confused about where the trail started downhill, so he guided him toward an opening in the brambles. In a few minutes the bell would toll, the workers would trudge to