Page 138 of The Enchanted Land

She looked at him as if he were crazy.

Seth winked at Jake and then swooped Lupita into his arms and ran with her to the house.

Jake’s chest puffed with pride. “That’s my boy,” he declared.

They had a lot to talk about at dinner. Lupita didn’t tell the entire story, but she said that Morgan and Seth were together again. Jake entertained them with more stories of Morgan’s pregnancy. “We was scared to death she’d fall down an arroyo. The way she was built, she’d still be rollin’.”

Seth shook his head. “I just can’t imagine Morgan like that. Are you sure you aren’t exaggerating, maybe just a little?”

“Well, let’s just say that after the seventh month, she quit usin’ the back door.”

Seth frowned, not understanding.

“It was too small. She had to go in and out the big front door.”

They all shared in the laughter.

Seth spent two days on the Colter ranch. Jake and Paul ran the place competently, and he could find no fault with any aspect of their management. Seth told them of the more complex problems of running the Three Crowns. “You could put the Colter ranch in the house, maybe just in the dining room.”

“The little girl’s sure gonna hate givin’ all that up, ain’t she? All them servants and all?”

Seth didn’t want to discuss with anyone—even himself—the possibility that Morgan might not want to return with him. She and Adam had been happy at the Three Crowns without him, and she might want to stay there. If that’s where she wanted to stay, then he’d stay with her. He needed to be near her, and his son.

On the morning of the third day, he hitched the wagon and prepared to leave. Lupita packed an old Indian basket with food for him to eat along the way, and several boxes more to take to Juan Ramón. Seth tied a milk cow to the back of the wagon, a gift to the farmer who had helped when Adam was ill.

After goodbyes, the three watched him go. “I don’t understand all this to-in’ and fro-in’. Why don’t the three of them come back here and live, where they belong?” There was no answer for Jake.

Seth stopped in Santa Fe and bought Adam a little metal toy train from one of the passengers on a wagon train. People were still streaming out to California.

He decided to buy some fabric for Morgan, and as soon as he walked into the store, he saw Marilyn Wilson.

“Seth! How are you?” she purred. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.” She possessively took his arm and rubbed her overly ripe breast against it.

“Hello, Marilyn.”

She missed the coldness in his voice. “You’re just as handsome as always. I heard you were in California. I imagine that’s real excitin’.”

He looked her up and down. Her dress was a gaudy taffeta of red and green stripes. Her hair wasn’t too clean. “You would probably like the gold fields.”

Again, she missed his tone. She was encouraged by his looking at her body. “I guess you knew about my shop. My daddy bought it for me.”

“No, I didn’t know.” He could hardly look at her without remembering the lies she’d told the night of Montoya’s party. If I had known, he thought, I would not have come in here.

“But your… Mrs. Colter”—she spat out the words—“was here.”

“Was she? She never mentioned it to me.”

“Oh? Well maybe she also forgot to tell you about the man she was with. Very good-looking. And the little boy—he seemed to resemble the man. She was probably just taking care of him, although she did say he was her son.”

Seth laughed at himself. How could he ever have believed this woman’s lies? “Gordon is a friend of ours and Adam is my son.”

“Well, Seth, love,” she had her hands on his arm, “if that’s what you think. Of course, Joaquín left town about the same time as your wife, and I’ve always wondered—”

“Good day, Marilyn.” He left the store. He felt dirty for ever having touched the woman.

After Seth left, Morgan began to spend all her time with Adam. She fed every meal to him, allowing no one else to feed him. At night, she awoke frightened and was frantic until she was sure Adam was all right. During the day she’d sit for hours, just staring at him while he slept, holding his hand.

Roselle constantly tried to get her to go outside. She was pale and had lost weight. After the first few days, she wouldn’t allow Carol to clean Adam’s room; she wanted to do it herself. She didn’t go to the kitchen to cook any longer, but gave Roselle instructions about what to prepare. Adam had lost his appetite, and Morgan needed to coax and plead with him at every meal.

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