Page 84 of The Enchanted Land

Lupita stepped between Jake and Morgan. “Jake, we have known one another a long time and I’d hate to use this, but one step closer to her and I’ll shoot you in the leg.” Lupita’s eyes were hard. “She has a right to be heard, a right to tell her side of what happened.”

“She has no rights! She almost killed him!”

“I mean it, Jake. Not one more step. Now you two sit there and listen.” She gestured with the gun to the couch.

“Lupita, this isn’t going to work. You can see they hate me. No matter what I say, they’ll never believe me.”

“The note! We saw the note you wrote Seth. How could you run off with that Montoya when you had Seth?”

Morgan had turned to the bedroom, to get her bags. She just wanted out of the house, away from these people—two men who hated her unfairly and a woman who was ready to shoot someone for her. Jake’s accusation brought her back to reality. It was the same as the night Seth had come to her room. She had begged him to listen to her, but he had been too selfish to bother. That night began to come back to her … all of it. She whirled on the two men.

“I’ve had enough of the Colter men to last me the rest of my life! You accusemeof treachery? Did it occur to you that your precious Seth ever did anything wrong? Yes, I wrote a note to Seth, a note I thought was going to save his life. Yes, go ahead and look at me in disbelief.

“I don’t know why I bother with you. Yes, I do! I am sick of being accused of things I didn’t do.

“The night of the party, I waited and waited for Seth. I hardly talked to anyone; all I wanted was for him to come to me.” Morgan laughed.

“When he did come, he threw himself into a rage because I had dared step outside with Joaquín. You were right, Jake, when you said it was foolish to want Joaquín rather than Seth. I never even considered Joaquín. Never. I loved Seth and no one else. After Seth stormed out, I followed him. Joaquín went with me—to help me find him, he said. After several hours of riding, Joaquín took me prisoner in a strange house, tied and gagged me.”

The first flush of Morgan’s anger was gone now, leaving her weak. She sat down, staring at the empty fire-place. When she continued, her voice was quieter. “Joaquín said he’d kill Seth unless I wrote the note. He said that if Seth believed I’d run away, he’d hate the Colter ranch and sell it to him.”

“Why? Why would Montoya want this little place?”

Morgan didn’t look up. “Something about water rights. He said Seth could cut off the water from the Montoya ranch at any time.” She missed the looks of confirmation exchanged between Jake and Paul.

“But after I wrote the note, he came back to tell me that he had killed Seth. I knew then that Seth had died hating me.” She was silent for a while.

“What happened?” Jake’s voice was gentle.

Morgan looked up at him and smiled an ironic smile. “Oh, very little, actually. Joaquín paid a Frenchman to remove me. The Frenchman took me and three other women across the country and sold us to a brothel owner in San Francisco. She auctioned us off to the highest bidder, after what you might call an unveiling ceremony.”

Morgan laughed. Her speech became higher and more rapid. “I was lucky. A man bought me and was good to me. He never touched me. I was happy, after all the horror.

“Then Seth appeared. He was alive. He came to my room. He made love to me. I was so happy, happier than I’d ever been in my life. I told him how much I loved him. Then the accusations started. He believed Joaquín, not me. He would not listen to me at all. He wanted to know why Joaquín had left me. He found out about the brothel, but he thought I had worked there as a whore. He … he…”

Lupita was on her knees in front of Morgan, gathering her in her ample arms. “Get out and leave her alone. She’s been through enough. And I hope you both feel what I think you feel.”

Sheepishly, the two men rose and walked toward the front door. Then Jake turned and went back to Morgan. He gently pushed Lupita away and took Morgan in his thin arms. His voice was husky. “We’ve all done you a wrong, Morgan. I know Seth and I know his father. Under their calm faces, they’re jealous men, often given to yelling first and then asking questions. I’m right sorry we made the same mistake.” He pulled away from Morgan and looked at her, his hands on her shoulders. “Can you forgive us? Will you stay here with us?”

Morgan smiled at the old man. “I don’t know, Jake. I hadn’t planned to come back to the ranch. Frank insisted that I…”

“Of course she’ll stay. We have a baby on the way. A little boy just like Seth.” Lupita smiled broadly.

“It’s a girl,” Morgan answered her. “A nice, sweet, little girl.”

“A baby!” Paul was astonished.

Jake recovered from his own astonishment. “Yes, a young ’un, you numbskull. Morgan’s going to have a baby. We’ll teach him to ride a horse, brand cattle…”

Morgan laughed. “It’s going to be a girl and I’d like to get her into the world before you start teaching her how to ride a horse.”

“He’ll learn to use a rope, too, just like his pa.”

“Shewill learn to make pastry, just like her mother. Lupita, I’m starved.”

Everyone laughed together. “Babies need lots of food for growing. Let’s feed this one.”

It was a happy group that sat down to dinner. Lupita quietly put the gun back in the cupboard where she always kept it for emergencies. It was good to have laughter in the house again. If only Seth would come back. She offered a silent prayer to her favorite saint for his safe return. “Maybe he will come before the baby is born,” she whispered.

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