Will Makes His Decision About What to Do After Rancho Arroyo (Book Five, Chapter Five)

    It was midnight when Elizabeth walked out on the large porch, the cool spring breeze rustling the edges of the shawl she had wrapped around her nightgown. There was enough of a moon to cover the landscape in a muted light, so she could see all the familiar buildings that made up Rancho Arroyo. But Elizabeth didn’t need moonlight to find her way around the ranch. She could have done it blindfolded. An owl hooted in the distance, adding to the serene scene.

She was startled when she musings when she heard a voice.

“I’m not surprised you’re up,” Will said from the shadows. He stepped up next to her and motioned to the wicker settee. 

Elizabeth sat. Will sat next to her.

“I imagine you have a lot on your mind,” he said.

It took a moment for Elizabeth to speak.

“Do you think I made the right decision, Will?”

Will smiled and took her hand. “You are a good woman, Elizabeth, and the family knows that. You have their best interests at heart, and they know that too. They support you and I support you too.”

She reached up and put her hand on his stubbled cheek, then leaned into him, dropping her head onto his chest. Will leaned back encircling her with his arms. He would never be able to bring his right arm above his head, but he was happy he could easily hug the woman he cared deeply for.

“I will miss this place, though,” he eventually said. 

Elizabeth nodded but didn’t reply.

They sat in silence so long, Will thought Elizabeth may have dozed off. But when she spoke, her voice was clear. 

“Are you coming with us to San Antonio?” she said, sitting up and looking into his eyes. “I was just thinking about that,” she said with a chuckle.

When he didn’t answer right away, she rested back against his chest. She didn’t want to rush or pressure him. Even though they had been together for over forty years now, they had never married, so Will was free to do as he pleased. There had been times where he had traveled back to the states, to visit his family in Boston or to visit the doctors that helped him get the function in his right arm back. But he always came back.

 He could wield a gun and lift a bale of hay, but he had no speed for a gun fight, so he had given up the idea of going back to being a sheriff. It was a blow when he realized this fact, but Elizabeth had helped he through that as he had helped her many times. As he was helping her now.

“I was thinking I’d like to do a bit of traveling. I’m not getting any younger, so now’s the time.”

Elizabeth sat up again.

He continued. “I’ve seen the Atlantic, but I’ve never seen the Pacific.” 

He took both of her hands in his and looked at her earnestly. “Come with me. There is so much more of America to see, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, Yellowstone National Park!” he said with excitement.

“That would be fun. I’ve seen pictures of the Grand Canyon in one of those viewfinders, but I’m sure it pales in comparison to seeing it in person. Same with Yosemite or Yellowstone. I don’t know much about Death Valley, but I’m sure it’s better than it sounds,” she said with a laugh.

“I guess the salt flat in the Valley is amazing,” Will added. Then he saw the look on Elizabeth’s face and he knew there was a but… “But…” he said to prompt her.

Elizabeth nodded. “But the family needs me now more than ever. I’d love to go with you, Will. I really would. I’d just wished you’d have asked me five years ago. As you say, we’re not getting any younger, and this is a big move for my family. I need to be there to smooth the rough patches as best I can. And you know, there will be rough patches.”

It was Will’s turn to nod. “Like with Pilar and Isabella?”

“Yes, and Enrique and Santiago. This move could easily pull this family apart. I can’t let that happen. And if I’m not here, it surely will.” 

Will couldn’t argue with her; he knew she was right, as she was with most things.

He pulled her back into his arms. 

“I will miss you, Will Austin,” Elizabeth said. “Don’t forget about me when you’re gone.”

Will pushed Elizabeth into sitting, took her face in his hands, and kissed her, then he pulled her into him and whispered in her ear. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. I’ll be back, I promise.”

Elizabeth was not so sure.

Pilar Decides to stay at Rancho Arroyo Until Forced Off (Book Five, Chapter Four)

    Elizabeth knocked on her daughter’s bedroom door.

    Pilar opened it, her hair down around her shoulders but she was still dressed in her signature jeans and buttoned shirt.

“I don’t mean to disturb you, but I thought we should talk,” Elizabeth said.

Augustino, who had just taken off his boots, stood up and walked toward the women. “I’ll go wash up. Give you time to talk.” 

He kissed his wife’s forehead and stepped past Elizabeth, still standing in the hallway.

Pilar moved aside and let her mother into the room, closing the door behind her.

Elizabeth sat on a chair by the window and waited for her daughter to join her there.

Elizabeth spoke first. 

“I know my decision is not what you had wanted to hear,” she said, looking directly at her daughter, “but I think it will get us to where we want to be in the quickest way possible.”

Pilar pursed her lips. Elizabeth could tell her daughter was trying to choose her words with care.

“My preferences are not a secret, but you are the head of this family so I will support you with any decision you make.”

Elizabeth smiled and put her hand on top of her daughters.

“But Augustino and I have to make the best decision of our family too.”

Pilar stood and started to pace.

“I don’t want to leave the ranch, and I’m not going to, until the water is lapping at our back door.”  

She sat back down and took her mother’s hand in hers. “But I want to support you too, momma. And so does Augustino. I know it hasn’t been easy running the ranch after poppa died. I was too small to understand at the time, but I understand it now. Being a woman and being a white woman… Well, I’m not sure I could have done it.”

She knew her strong-willed daughter could very well have done it, and more. But Elizabeth did not reply, she knew Pilar had more to say.

“So Augustino and the children are going to go with you to San Antonio and I will follow, when the water pushes me off our land.”

Pilar sat back in her chair. “But we will not stay long. A year, maybe two, just enough to get the herd started again, then we will come back to live on the Vargus farm.”

She leaned forward and rested her forearms on her knees. “Mexico is my home, momma. It has always been my home.”

“I appreciate your help, Pilar. It means a lot to me. But staying on the ranch.… It is not safe for you to be here by yourself. Many of the families in the valley have already moved. You would be quite alone.”

“I knew you’d say that, so I asked Enrique to stay with me. He doesn’t want to go either, so he jumped at the chance to be here a bit longer. And when Santiago heard that we were staying, he said he’d stay too. Maria is excited to live closer to such a large city, so she and their children will go with you.”

Elizabeth wasn’t sure what to say – all three of her children alone on this large ranch. Well, at least they will have each other, she thought. 

“You are all adults. You can do as you please.” She grasped her daughter’s hand again and squeezed. “But you won’t stay too long. I don’t want you to have to swim to safety,” she said, half in jest and half in seriousness.

Pilar put her hand on top of her mothers. “We won’t stay too long. You know how bad a swimmer Enrique is. He’d never make it out alone,” she said with a laugh.

The women stood and walked to the door, keeping hold of each other’s hand. They embraced for a good long minute when they got to the door.

“I love you Pilar Arroyo ______ de Vargus.”

“I love you too, momma.”

Elizabeth Tells Her Family That the Decision is to Make a Temporary Move back to Her Family in the US (Book Five, Chapter Three)

    She had ridden out and was sitting on this ridge. A decision needed to be made, and soon.

 That night, after dinner, Elizabeth gathered the family together again.

“I know you are all anxious to hear my decision, so I won’t beat around the bush.” She looked around at all the anxious faces staring at her. She had stayed on that ridge for hours debating the various reasons to stay and the reasons to go. It seemed there was no clear path forward. The only thing she knew was they couldn’t stay on the ranch.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and continued. “The Arroyo families roots are in Mexico, and I think they should stay in Mexico.”

Pilar jumped and squealed in glee, hugging her husband in her excitement. Others murmured their surprise at the decision, with most nodding their heads in accent. 

When Elizabeth looked at Will, his expression was hard to read. She knew he would support any decision she’d make, but they had grown very close. They had not married, like she once had hoped they would, but she considered him part of her family. Wherever they went, she hoped he would join them.

Elizabeth put up her hand to silence the room. “But…we need time. We need time and money, as Enrique has said. And we can get both of those things if we move to the US and stay with my family.”

There was a low grumble in the room, and Pilar fell back into her chair, deflated.

“Temporarily,” Elizabeth continued. “It will just be temporary, until we can earn enough to buy a ranch here in Mexico for any family member who wants to live there.”

“Then it’s decided,” Diego said as he stood. “And the sooner we get packed the better. It is only going to get hotter. Best to move now, in the spring. I volunteer to be in charge of organizing what we need to take for the remaining horses, and what we’ll need to start building up our herd in San Antonio.”

Isabella stood next to her brother. “And I will help Elizabeth with moving what we need to live on.”

Elizabeth stood and walked to stand between them. She put an arm around each of them. “Thank you, Diego, Isabella. This won’t be easy, but if we do this together, I know the Arroyo family will survive.”

Pilar stormed from the room. 

“She will come around, Senora,” Augustino said to Elizabeth, then he followed her out.

Elizabeth wasn’t so sure.

Elizabeth Discusses with Her Family About Where to Move to After Leaving Rancho Arroyo (Book Five, Chapter Two)

    “How can you consider leaving Mexico, momma?” Pilar had said, her voice raised and tense. “You haven’t lived in Texas for years! Is any of your family even alive?”

The pilers of the family that remained, Elizabeth, Diego, and Isabella, were sitting around the dinning table, with some of their children sitting behind them, along with Will and Rico, the head of the ranch hands. Now that most of the livestock were sold off, most of the hands had left to find other work, but Rico had no family and no other place to go. A few others stayed just to help with the move.

“Yes, of course they are. I just received a letter from your Aunt Amanda yesterday. She said we are very welcome to come stay with them, temporarily or not. Her husband, Uncle Bob, died five years ago, but Amanda still lives and manages their ranch with her two boys, Richard and Samuel. They rely mostly on the oil field for their income, but they still raise cattle. Your cousin Mable lives with her family in San Antonio.

“No horses on Aunt Amanda’s ranch?” Pilar said.

“No horses, but my cousins still live and work their large ranch south of town. And they have a large herd of horses. That’s where I learned how to ride and what to look for in a good racer.”

Maria, Santiago’s wife, spoke up. “How large is San Antonio?”

Santiago answered her question. “About the size of Monterrey, or maybe a bit bigger.”

Maria smiled and looked hopefully at her husband. Living her whole life in the country hadn’t quenched her desire for a life in the city.

“It is the largest city in Texas. I know that,” Elizabeth said.

“Diego, Isabella, where do you want to live?”

Diego motioned for his sister to go first. 

“I no longer have a husband to support me so I don’t feel I have much say in the matter,” Isabella said.

“You are a senior member of this family, so of course you have a say,” Elizabeth assured her.

Isabella smiled at Elizabeth.

“Well, my children would prefer to stay in Mexico. She turned and pointed to her son, Pancho. “Since Pancho worked on constructing the dam, he’s hoping he’ll have a better opportunity than most to get a job helping run it.”

Diego nodded. “That makes sense but where will you and your family live, Pancho?”

“My friend, Juan, will let us stay on his farm until I can find a place. Maybe in Santa Maria,” he said.

“But Carla and Jairo will go where the family goes. Jairo wants to keep working with the horses, even if I means moving north,” Isabella said.

Elizabeth turned to Diego. “And your family, Diego?”

“Since all my girls are living with their husband’s families, Jose and his daughter are the only ones who will come with us, wherever we end up,” he said.

“And where do you want to end up?” Isabella asked.

“I agree with Elizabeth. I don’t think we have the funds to buy something that would suit our needs until we can build up our herd again. We need to use the money we got from the sale of our livestock to live on. And it will go farther toward that end if we stay with Elizabeth’s family in San Antonio.”

Pilar stood. “This is ridiculous. I am not moving.”

Augustino, who was sitting behind his wife, stood and put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her. Eventually she sat back down.

Isabella stood next. “I feel as Pilar. I don’t want to move. Our parents and grandparents are buried on this land. I want to be buried on this land,” she said, tears filling her eyes.

“Yes, the Cristeros are making trouble down south but presidente Calles has implemented a national school system. They are building a new school in Santa Maria for our grandchildren. Mexico has a new constitution. She is becoming a country we can again be proud of.”

She sat and wiped the tears from her eyes.

Enrique cleared his throat so he could talk next. “I don’t want to move either, but there are good jobs in America, work in the cotton fields and on the fruit farms or for the oil companies. If we are to buy another ranch, we need the money to do it.”

Many in the room nodded their heads and murmured their agreement.

“You are welcome to work on the Vargus ranch, Enrique,” Augustino said. “You won’t make as much as you would in America, but at least you could stay in Mexico.”

Enrique looked at his mother, knowing she would prefer to keep the family together. “Thank you, Augustino. I will think about it.”

Diego put his hand on top of Elizabeth’s. “After our parents died, Rancho Arroyo was given to Roberto to run, and when he died, that job transferred to you, Elizabeth. Ultimately, it is your decision where the family ends up.”

1925 Rancho Arroyo. The El Alto Grande Dam is Complete. Elizabeth Needs to Decide Where to Take Her Family (Book Five, Chapter One)

 1925

Elizabeth pulled on Grace’s reins, then walked her toward the edge of the large rock outcropping that ran along the top of the ridge. In front of her was the whole valley, with the San Gabriel River winding its way down its center. This had become her valley, her home. She could just see the Western edge of the Sierra Madre Mountains off in the distance, and she knew the Rio Grande was to her north and the Gulf of Mexico to her West, but her life was what stood before her and the one hundred and fifty acres that was Rancho Arroyo.

When she had met Roberto almost fifty years ago, she never envisioned how attached she’d be to this sometimes-harsh landscape. She was proud of herself, having gone to the Waco Female College and earned her teaching degree. She had been teaching school in San Antonio just a year when the dashing Roberto Arroyo arrived looking for horse breeding stock. He was five years older than her, but it mattered little to Elizabeth, who was impressed by the horse knowledge of the handsome Mexican, his beautiful brown eyes, and a voice that resonated deep within her heart.

It was hard at first, being the only white person on the ranch. It took some time for Roberto’s family and his ranch hands to trust her. But with her knowledge of horses and her willingness to help with any task, it didn’t take long for her to feel a part of the family. And when her husband and nephew were killed by banditos, the family rallied around her, supporting her as she became the new ranch manager. 

The ranch was their home, and the San Gabriel Valley was their oasis. They used the river to irrigate their corn and wheat fields. It kept their livestock alive when the rains didn’t come when they should and was a place to play on hot summer days with her children, and now her grandchildren and even a few great-grandchildren. 

And now she had to leave it all. That life-giving river would soon swell and cover everything she and her husband’s family had worked toward for decades.

A tear ran down Elizabeth’s cheek. 

When she looked far to her right, she could see the cause of all the impending destruction, the El Alto Grande Dam. It rose like an artificial cliff, a gray, man-made monolith that spanned one end of the valley, cutting off the river’s natural outlet. It was finally finished, and soon they would have to leave the place she now considered her home. 

Elizabeth slowly dismounted. At seventy-three she still enjoyed the freedom of riding out on her own, but she had to be more careful. An unexpected fall and she might end up buried in the valley, alongside her other relatives. It wasn’t such a sad thought for Elizabeth. Sometimes she wished she would die here, but the Lord had not come for her yet. She had work to do. Which is why she had come to this spot. As the head of the Arroyo family, it was ultimately her decision where the family would end up.

She let Grace graze in the new spring grass as she walked to the edge of the rock outcrop and sat, her feet dangling over the side.

There had been a lengthy discussion that very morning, with her brother-in-law, Diego, who like her, was in his seventies, his sister-in-law Isabella, who was a few years younger, and her own children, Santiago, Pilar, and Enrique, who were all in their fifties. Santiago and Pilar had families to consider, like Diego and Isabella. But Enrique had never married so he only had himself to worry about. 

Emotions had run high.