The Enchanted Land Read online

  “Seth! It’s good to see you!”

  Seth absently shook Paul’s hand. He watched impatiently for Lupita to come out of her house.

  “Adam’s sick,” Jake whispered. “Seth’s come to get Lupita.”

  Paul understood what was needed. “Jake, you get some food.” At Jake’s look of bewilderment, he added, “Dump some beans on Lupita’s tortillas and get them ready to go. I’ll get two horses saddled.”

  “Come with me.” Jake motioned to Seth. “You and the little gal make up?”

  “Yes. I guess so. I don’t know. My head’s groggy. I can’t think. What’s keeping Lupita?” He seemed to remember Jake and put his hand on his shoulder. “I’m just worried now. I’ll come back when … when Adam’s well and I’ll visit with you then. I have missed you.”

  “I understand. Here’s your burritos. They’re not like Lupita’s, but they’ll fill you up.” He wrapped them in a cloth and Seth stuffed them in the pocket of his vest.

  Lupita was just leaving her house. She carried a large cloth bag. “I am ready.”

  Paul handed over the reins of the horses, and Seth helped Lupita mount. It had been a long time since she’d ridden a horse and already the muscles and tendons on the inside of her thighs hurt from the unaccustomed stretching.

  “You take care of our boys, you hear, Lupita? And then you bring all of ’em back with you,” Jake called after them. He turned to Paul. “It’s goin’ be a long time waitin’ here and not knowin’ what’s happenin’.” They turned back to their work, silent.

  Lupita used all her strength to stay on the horse, but even so, they had to travel much more slowly than Seth had alone. Once Seth apologized for making her ride so hard. She dismissed his statement. “For Adam it is worth it.” She tried to wipe some of the haggard, drawn look from his face. “I have seen this tick before—it is not so bad as you think. There are many medicines I can use.” Seth’s trust in her made her swallow hard. She prayed that her words were true.

  They changed horses at the homestead. Seth promised to return the extra horse, and he swore to himself that the poor farmer would have some new livestock as soon as he returned to his own ranch.

  The moon of the second night was high when they reached the Three Crowns. Seth lifted Lupita from her horse, throwing the reins to Donaciano. The tired woman followed, stumbling, as he led her into the big house.

  “They’re here!” Morgan’s voice was incredulous. She ran to meet them, throwing herself into Lupita’s arms with such exuberance that she nearly knocked the plump woman down. “I knew you’d come. Please save my baby, Lupita, please. He’s so little…”

  Lupita pushed her firmly away and walked to Adam’s bed. The child was dry and hot and his little cheeks, once so healthy, were sunken, as were his eyes.

  “How long has he been like this?”

  “I don’t know. Nearly four days, I think. The time is all mixed up in my mind. What do we do first?”

  Lupita was studying Morgan intently. “Heat water. I am going to make some tea.”

  “Tea! We don’t need tea when my son is so sick.” She was screeching.

  “Seth!” Lupita turned to the weary man, slumped by his son’s bedside. “I can care for Adam, but I cannot care for both of them at once.” She nodded her head toward Morgan, who watched Lupita with an unnatural light in her eyes. “Is there someone else who can help me?”

  “Me. I’ll help.” Morgan stepped forward. “I’ll do whatever you say, Lupita.”

  “You! Look at you. Another few minutes and I will have two patients.”

  “May I help?” Roselle stood at the door in her dressing gown.

  Lupita appraised her. “Yes. I will need someone.”

  “I can’t leave my baby. He needs me.”

  “He does not even know you are here. Seth, take your wife to the kitchen and feed her good. And you eat, too. Then wash her, put her in a clean nightgown, and then into bed. And you do the same for yourself.”

  “No, I can’t…”

  Lupita’s eyes were as hard as diamonds. “You do everything I say or I will leave.”

  Morgan allowed Seth to lead her from the room.

  Roselle watched them leave. “You wouldn’t really leave?”

  “Of course not.” The answer was snapped back.

  “I’ve tried to get her to eat, to sleep, but she wouldn’t.”

  “I have been caring for sick people and bringing babies into the world since I was just a girl, and I have learned that you do not ask tired mothers anything, you give orders. If they do not obey, you give them a reason why they must. Now, let us go to work. I need water to brew a tea.”

  “He won’t drink anything.”

  Lupita arched an eyebrow at her. She didn’t tolerate disobedience from her helpers, either.

  Roselle left the room to get water.

  Seth led Morgan to the big work table in the middle of the kitchen. He put bread and cheese, cold chicken, and milk in front of her.

  “I can’t eat, Seth, really I can’t.”

  “Lupita’s right. Neither of us is any use to Adam. We’d be in the way.”

  Roselle entered to get the hot water. Morgan stood up to follow her out. Seth unceremoniously pushed her back into her chair. “Eat!”

  Morgan began to eat, at first lightly and then with gusto. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was. “I guess I was hungry,” she mumbled through a mouthful of bread and cheese. “He is going to be all right, isn’t he?”

  Seth held her hand, squeezing the fingers. “Now that Lupita’s here, I think he will be. Finished?”

  “Yes.” Her body felt so heavy, worse than when she’d carried Adam. She must rouse herself, because she had to go back to Adam. She’d been away too long. She started wearily toward the door, her eyes blurring.

  Seth grabbed her skirt to stop her.

  “Adam might call for me.” Her goal was the kitchen door—such an ordinary thing really, but now it seemed impossible.

  Seth lifted her in his arms.

  “I’m too heavy. You…”

  “Heavy! You nit! You hardly weigh more than Adam. Now that I’m here, you are going to be taken care of. Right now I am going to put you to bed.”

  She leaned her head against Seth’s shoulder. It felt good to depend on someone else for a change, and there was no one she’d rather trust than her Seth. She sighed. “Her Seth” once again.

  He set her on her feet again in the bedroom. “Get out of that dress and tell me where you keep your nightgowns.”

  “Third drawer.” Her hands were shaking as she fumbled with the buttons. Seth was in front of her and pushed her hands away as he unfastened the row of little buttons. She watched his face and knew that he, too, was very tired. She touched his hair. It seemed that the more tired he was, the more gray there was in his hair. Right now he looked like an old man.

  She stepped out of her dress and Seth began to unlace her corset. She let out a sigh as it fell to the floor. She thought she’d probably never get used to that tight, stiff thing binding her waist and rib cage. Seth removed her chemise and she stood nude under his gaze.

  “Why do you wear that thing? You have red marks all down your body where it cut into you.” His big hands rubbed at her sides, briskly.

  She felt slightly uneasy under his touch. “My gown.”

  “First, a wash.” He pulled her to the basin on the table and began washing her face and hands. She stood still, enjoying the way he scrubbed at her skin. He dried her and then slipped the clean, soft nightgown over her head. “I should be hanged for covering all this up.” His hand lightly caressed her breast. “If I tried to take advantage of you now, it’d be like making love to a wet dishcloth.” He smiled into Morgan’s drooping eyes. “I think I’ll wait. Let’s go, little one.”

  Again he picked her up and carried her to the bed. She was practically asleep before he had tucked the covers about her. Seth started toward the door.

  “Where are you goin