Will Tells About Meeting Mary (Book One, Chapter Seven)

Chapter Seven

    Will smiled. “Well, my life wasn’t only about catching the Gomez Gang. I’d been nursing a romance of my own in Roma. Part of my daily routine as the deputy in Roma was to meet the stagecoach whenever it came into town. This started as a security measure, since we wanted to know who was coming and going from the town. It turned into something of a tradition for the sheriff to meet the stagecoach and greet new people to the town, though. As time went on, other sheriffs started doing the same thing. 

“Abigail Charles, one of our most venerable citizens and our town’s seamstress, told me one week that her daughter was scheduled to be arriving on the stagecoach. The girl had been born in Roma and then moved to New York, where she went to school and lived with relatives of her father. She had gone on to go to college at Syracuse University, and was now in medical school. She was coming home to visit for the first time in many years. Abigail was a particular friend of mine, and I’d known her husband Levi before he died.

“I knew Mary immediately. She had Abigail’s green eyes, and had the look of a city girl. She was also the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. She was dressed for the city, in very feminine traveling gown. I noted that she hadn’t worn any jewelry, though, and took this to mean that she understand the dangers of being robbed on the road. She had her long, light brown hair tied up, with sensible boots on her feet. She got off the stagecoach and looked around with a great sense of joy, her eyes flying everywhere at once. I wondered if she remembered the area or if this was her first impression of Roma.

“I waited first for Abigail and Mary’s brother, Randolph, to greet her – they had both come with me to meet the stagecoach – and then marched right up and introduced myself. I’ll never forget the way I felt when her eyes turned to meet mine. I felt as though she saw straight through to my soul, and decided immediately whether she would like me or not. She must have decided that she did, for she smiled, curtseyed, and took my hand. She had brought her friend, Victoria, with her, and I walked with them back to Abigail’s home. To be honest, though, I didn’t want to let the girl out of my sight. I was already infatuated with her. Abigail must have seen that, because she asked me to stop in the next day to show them around town, and of course I agreed.

Elizabeth Tells Will How She Met Roberto (Book One, Chapter Six, Section 2)

    “First, though, I went to school. I started going to Waco Female College in Waco, Texas, in 1871, and graduated in four years. I specialized in English literature and writing, which was my particular passion. I made very good grades and stood out as one of the most accomplished students in my class. When I graduated I found work immediately – as a teacher back in San Antonio. I taught for only one year, however.”

“What happened?” Will asked breathlessly.

“My life changed, and I moved on,” Elizabeth answered, a merry twinkle in her eye. “I had been teaching for several months when my family decided to attend a large barn raising and party in the area. Of course my friends and I decided that we would go alone – it was a chance to dress up, dance, and meet eligible men in our area. We donned our finest party gowns – which were nothing to see, I can assure you, as we teachers were very poor – and turned out for the barn raising. The men worked on the framing and walls while we girls talked, drank punch, and chose possible mates. I would never have guessed that I was looking at my future husband that night.

“Roberto was there on a business trip from Mexico. He was from an old and established Mexican family, who owned a cattle and horse ranch just south of the border. He was the oldest son, and would get a share of the family business when his father retired. He’d been sent north to meet some of the family’s business associates and learn about buying horses. As luck would have it, one of the men he was there to meet was my uncle.

“We spent a couple of hours watching each other before we were introduced. He was a very handsome man, darker than anyone I had ever met, and about five years older than me. He was dressed cleanly, but not in the traditional rancher’s garb like everybody else in the room. His dress was more formal. Mexican men adore dressing up, you see, and Robert loved it more than most. He would take any excuse to wear his finest clothing, and I suppose a barn raising – where he would see eligible young ladies – was all the reason he needed that night. I will never forget the color of his suit. It was a deep burgundy velvet, the color of blood, and it stood out in the crowd. His boots were shiny black, his thick, dark hair was neatly combed back and he had a glitter in his smile. Some of the girls thought that he was dressed too formally, and didn’t like the look of the traditional Mexican dress. I found it both beautiful and intriguing, myself, and couldn’t take my eyes from him. His willingness to stand out just made him more attractive to me – I had never fit in with others of my own age or sex, and his individuality made me think that he would understand my need to be different. When he asked me to dance, I agreed.”

Elizabeth smiled, remembering that bright week in the Spring of 1877. Roberto had been in town for only two more days, but the two had become inseparable during that time. They’d danced the night away at the barn raising, then made plans to meet for breakfast the next morning. They had spent the day exploring the area, meeting with different horse brokers for Roberto, and touring her aunt and uncle’s farm. Roberto was interested in her mind, and fascinated with her knowledge of horses. She had taken him into the foothills to show him the view around the town, and shared her dreams about horse ranches and children.

“By the time he left, we knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together,” Elizabeth remembered softly. “I wrote him three or four letters a week for the next two months, and he wrote just as often. We grew closer with this new communication – there are things you can communicate in a letter that you would never say in person, so we learned much more about each other. 

“In the Fall of that year he surprised me with another trip to San Antonio. I heard a knock on my door, and went to answer it. There was Roberto, dressed up in one of his rich suits and holding a guitar. He sang to me - a very traditional Mexican love song about a boy and a girl. After the song, he went down on his knee, held out a thin band of gold, and asked me to marry him. We were married the following year in Mexico.”

Elizabeth Tells Will Her Past as a Child in Georgia (Book One, Chapter Six, Section 1)

Chapter Six

“I was born in Georgia in 1852 outside of Atlanta, in the town of Gainesville.” Elizabeth sighed, remembering the sunshine and joy of that time. “We had a very happy farm, where the family worked. We grew cotton and sugar, as many people did in that area, and raised both mules and horses.” She looked up at the ranch around her and smiled. “That was where I discovered my love for horses, you see.”

Will nodded, understanding. “Then the war happened.”

Elizabeth’s mouth tightened. “Indeed. Before the war, we had worked the farm as a family. My mother, Eliza, and father, Charles, raised my sister, Amanda and me to work the land with our older brothers, Jefferson and Oscar. We learned about the animals and how to raise them, and worked in the gardens with our brothers when we needed to. Our entire family worked – my mother would sing songs of the South for us as we dug and planted, to give us rhythm and happiness. Ours was a large farm, and extremely successful. We were happy. That all changed, of course, when war broke out.

“My father and oldest brother Jefferson went to war when the South left the Union. My mother, sister, brother and I did our best to keep the farm running during that time. People from neighboring farms would come and help, but they were struggling, also. Without my father and brother, though, we could not maintain running the farm. Our crops died in the fields, and we had to cut back our livestock. Before long, we were struggling to just feed ourselves.”

Will was quiet, allowing her to relive the pains of her past.

“My father came back from the war badly wounded. He had lost a foot and part of his right arm, and couldn’t work the fields anymore. He could handle the gentler horses, but only for a short time. He would tire easily. My brother did not return to us at all. He was only nineteen at the time of his death.” Elizabeth stopped and breathed deeply. Even after all this time, with all that had happened, it was difficult for her to think about that time. Her brother had been her world, and losing him – knowing that she would never see him again – had brought an end to her happy childhood and dreams. She had become a serious, brooding girl, prone to loneliness and long bouts of silence. She had also learned to lose herself in the fantasy of the written word, to forget about the pain that the real world brought with it. That love of fantasy had never left her.

“What did you do?” Will prompted gently, putting his hand on Elizabeth’s.

Elizabeth shrugged, her mouth turning up in a wry grin. “We did what many Southern families did at the time. Our world was collapsing around us. The land had been ravaged during the war, our way of life was no longer possible, and there was no money to start over. The area was full of angry people, and would never be the South of our memories. So we picked up and moved on. My mother had a sister in San Antonio, and her husband was relatively well off. They offered us room and board while we got back on our feet. We sold our family farm, got a little money, and came to Texas, to start a new life and try to forget the nightmares of the old.

Will Meets Carmen Who Cares for his Wounds (Book One, Chapter Five)

    Will looked up when he heard the doorknob turn, and adjusted himself in the bed. He had been looking forward to Elizabeth’s visit for most of the morning, and could feel the grin spreading across his face. He had not realized how lonely he was, but the simple act of reciting his story – and finding someone who was both intelligent and willing to listen – had opened his heart. He could feel the joy in his face at the thought of another day talking, and tried to firm his mouth.

When the door opened, though, he saw a stranger at his door. This was not Elizabeth, but a very young girl, no older than fourteen or fifteen. He frowned, wondering at the new presence. Had Elizabeth grown tired of him already? Had something happened? Was she hurt? Was one of the children hurt?

The girl at the door shook her head when he asked, though, and smiled gently. “It is nothing like that, Señor. Some of the sheep have gone missing, and my aunt is the best tracker on our ranch. She has gone to find them.” The girl noted Will’s face, which had fallen with disappointment, and continued. “She sends her very kind regards and deepest apologies, and promises that she will be back later today.”

Will smiled again at this, and asked the girl’s name.

“My name is Carmen,” she answered quietly. “Elizabeth is mi tía, and is very kindly teaching me to be a healer.” She paused. “She knows a great deal about healing, you know, and you are lucky to have her attention. I am learning the uses of the herbs, and how to sew up wounds. I’m also learning how to bandage those wounds.” She held a set of clean rags up, raising one eyebrow, and Will smiled again.

“Ah,” he said quickly. “I should have known. Elizabeth has sent you for the ever-present changing of bandages.”

Carmen smiled, nodding, and moved toward him. They talked as she removed the old bandages from his wounds, and Will was struck at how mature this girl was. She had seen her younger brother attacked by a bear, she said, and had helped her aunt through her grief when her husband failed to return from one of her journeys. The accidents around the ranch had led Carmen to understand the importance of a healer, and she hoped to take over the position at some point, to give her aunt more time for other tasks. This girl had seen much tragedy, Will realized, and could have turned bitter and disappointed. Instead, she was taking what she had been given and was growing. She saw that the world was a violent place, realized that it was in need of healers, and made the decision to move in that direction. Carmen tugged on one of the old bandages at that point, though, and he grimaced as the wound cracked under her ministrations.

Carmen saw the fresh blood and gasped. “Oh, Señor, I am sorry. I didn’t think that the wounds would bleed again.” She blotted at the wound with a clean rag, stemming the flow of blood, and looked up to his face. Instead of worrying, he saw that her mouth was turned up in a smile. “This is a good thing, though, this blood. The wound bleeds cleanly, which means that you are healing. It means that there is no infection.”

Will looked down at the wound, pleased that it was healing properly, and spoke quietly. “You have seen wounds go bad, then?”

She nodded, looking down at her work. “I have. It is not a good thing. You are lucky to have clean wounds, Señor."

After Carmen had dressed Will’s wounds, she moved around the room to tidy things up, and went to fetch him some food. She was to be his companion for the day, she told him, and would keep him company until Elizabeth returned. As she left, Will felt his mouth turning up in an answering smile. He had truly made an important friend in Elizabeth. Even when she was called away on an emergency, she had made sure that he would have food, clean bandages, and company.

Will Becomes Sheriff and Devises a Plan to Catch the Gomez Gang (Book One, Chapter Four)

Chapter Four

“When I arrived in Roma, I met the sheriff there – Sheriff Daniel Graham. He sat down with me and said that he had been close friends with Ed Hayes, as they’d worked together in the past, and had talked to him about me. Sheriff Hayes had told him that I’d worked in the courthouse and liked to look into the details of the cases. Sheriff Graham had taken that to heart and realized that he could use a mind like that – an investigator, if you will. Before I got there he gathered the files from past and present cases for me, so that I could study their process, and perhaps help with cases that were still open.”

The man had been very forthcoming, and had let Will in on all the details of the sheriff’s office. Many of the cases Will saw were solved long ago, while some concerned criminals and outlaws currently sitting in the jail. Will didn’t see anything that looked overly complex and thought that he would find the job very straightforward. When it came to one particular case, though, the sheriff had become very serious, and even reticent.

“He told me that he wanted to talk to me about the Gomez Gang. They had been causing a lot of trouble in the area, and he wanted to get them safely into a jail, to protect the citizens of the area. That was the first time I had heard of Pedro Gomez and his gang. Sheriff Graham was very intent, so I could tell that this group was something I needed to focus on. 

“He explained to me that the Gomez Gang was a Mexican gang, but came up into Texas regularly to rob American stagecoaches, trains, and banks. They were also responsible for attacking travelers on the roads between towns, and killing those who didn’t turn over their valuables. The gang had the locals scared to death about traveling from town to town, and those who lived on isolated ranches were in particular danger. Many of the ranchers had responded by hiring their own guards for protection. Since Roma was so close to the Mexican border, the town had more trouble with the Gomez Gang than most others. Over the last three years, many people had been killed in the gang’s robberies and mischief.

“I asked about the Mexican government and their involvement in the case, and the sheriff told me that the gang fled down into Mexico after each robbery, taking shelter in the valleys and caves around the Rio Grande. The Mexican government was disorganized and decentralized, and of little help regarding tracking or catching the gang. The sheriff didn’t believe that they, the Mexican government, had any real interest in finding the gang. Texas authorities, of course, weren’t allowed to cross the border after the gang. In this way, the gang was allowed to escape each time.”

Will Moves to Texas to Become a Ranger (Book One, Chapter Three, Section 2)

         “I finally arrived in Austin in the fall of 1873. I located the people Alex knew, introduced myself, and settled in. One of the families was kind enough to offer me a room and board, given my connections. They pointed me toward the Texas Rangers office, and I made my way there immediately."

  The Rangers office had not been what he’d expected. Instead of a room full of cowboys, he’d found a neat front office, complete with desk, bookshelves, and a sitting area. Behind the desk sat a young man, a few years older than Will himself, dressed smartly in a tweed coat and tie. Beside him sat a neat bowler hat.

        “I told him that I wanted to be a Texas Ranger, I showed him my letter, and he nodded,” Will told Elizabeth. “No one jumped out to offer me a badge and gun, as I’d expected. Instead, he told me that he would set me up with an appointment for an exam. I was told to come back the next morning.”

“You must have been extremely disappointed,” Elizabeth observed.

Will nodded. “I was, but I knew that I was following my destiny. You must also remember that this was my first time out of Boston, and in Texas. I was so excited to be in a new town that I could barely contain myself. I spent the entire day – and most of the night – exploring the town, meeting new people, and getting into trouble. I even believed that I fell in love with a girl, that day,” Will finished, smiling to himself. He glanced up at Elizabeth, blushing. “I was very young, and impressionable. The entire world looked new to me, and bright with possibility. The family I stayed with must have thought that I was crazy. The next day, though, I marched back into the Texas Rangers office, ready for my exam.”