Rio Grande Wedding Part 26

"In school?"

"Yeah. I did not finish." He shuffled through the stack he must have been sketching since they'd returned and pulled out another. "Bees."

A tight sensation drew up her back. "Alejandro, stop."

He looked at her, wariness replacing enthusiasm. "I did something wrong, no?"

"Not wrong. I just ... don't know if I'm ready for all this. So much change."

"Ah." With calm dignity, he gathered the drawings. "I am sorry. I did not think." With a smile, he said, "My mind ... sometimes I think I know what is right for everything, and do not listen."

"I appreciate the gesture."

He nodded, and Molly saw that now it was he who was moving a little stiffly. "I've offended you," she said.

"No." As if to emphasize that, he also shook his head. "No. I only wish to do something to give back to you what you have given me. I am a man, and too proud." He shrugged. "I will think of something."

"You don't have to hurry, Alejandro. We're stuck with this for a year at least."

"Si. You are right. Plenty of time." He lifted his chin, and she found herself noticing the impossible broadness of his shoulders beneath the s.h.i.+rt she had chosen for him.

"But, Josefina and me, we are not stuck. We are rescued."

"I didn't mean it like that."

"I know." He stood and picked up the materials. "Another day, huh?"

"Sure." She nodded. "I remember why I came in here. You need to move your things into my room. In case."

"Ah. I'm glad you thought of that." He nodded. "Do you wish for me to do it now?"

"Yes. I think I'm going to go to bed."

"It has been a long day."

The conversation was beginning to sound like an entry-level language practice.

"Si,senor ," she said impulsively."Yosoymuy ...tiredo ."

Therigidness in his posture eased the slightest bit and he smiled."Cansado."

She repeated it and stood. "Let me show you where to put your things. You can settle everything while. I take a shower."

As they walked up the hallway, Alejandro, limping rather p.r.o.nouncedly tonight, said, "Not even chickens, Molly? They are very cheap."

"What would I do with them? I don't know how to even kill a chicken."

"Oh, you would not kill one for a long time. Not till she was old and gave no more eggs. Someone could do it for you." He halted to let her go into the room first.

"Josefina is very good. It was her job once. She can pluck them, too. So fast."

"Josefina can kill and pluck a chicken?" Molly made a face. "And she's eight. Boy, do I feel dumb."

"No!" he laughed. "She is a working child. I have not liked that she had to work so much, but it was what we had to do. The chickens, she would like feeding them better.

Getting the eggs." He warmed again. "The eggs are why the chickens, Saint Molly. Fresh eggs. Your own."

She laughed. "You don't get it. I have land, and this house but I don't know anything.

I don't even know if I would like having chickens!"

He held up his hands, smiling. "Okay. No more. I won't bother you anymore. Here?" He pointed to the bureau and closet, and then halted, looking around himself. "This is beautiful!" He glanced at Molly. "Your husband again?"

She nodded, crossing her arms against the feeling of intimacy brought on by his presence in this room. He seemed so much larger here. "He made everything in here paneled the walls, made the bureau and bed to match."

Alejandro lifted a hand to stroke one of the four posts on the bed, his fingers caressing the velvety grain a rare birch. He leaned close to examine it,then whistled softly. "A man who did work this beautiful I think his heaven would be filled with wood and tools, to make a throne for G.o.d."

The words pierced her utterly, and she made a soft sound. "You must go," she said suddenly, recognizing that her emotions were highlyincendiary and could blow at any second.

He raised his head and she saw the bewilderment in his eyes. "I seem to step wrong every time," he said sadly. "I am very sorry for that, Saint Molly." He moved to the door. "Good night." He paused. "I would like to call Josefina and tell her good-night.

May I do that?" Raising his hand, the one with the turquoise ring on it, he touched her face. "Thank you for everything, Molly. You are a good woman. If you think of anything I can do, you must tell me, no?"

"I will," she said. "I promise." She could see it sat ill with him to be so dependent on her, and made a mental note to see if there was work available for him right away.

It would ease his pride to bring in money. Then she smiled. "Actually, there are two things you can do. I draw, but not like you. I want to know how to put authority into my work. Can you show me?"

"Yes!" Light shone in his face. "I would like that."

"And the other I really would like to learn to speak Spanish. That's something I know you can teach me."

"No problem." He winked. "We will start tomorrow on those things. Now you go, take your shower, and I will settle my things, and you will not even know I am here tonight." He touched her hair briefly, and stepped away.

It was exactly what she wanted, Molly thought. And not only had he seen her wish, but had not been offended by it. An unusual man.

Alejandro slept deeply and well, and to his surprise, the sun was full in the sky when he awakened. Smelling coffee, he put sweats on over his boxers and limped to the kitchen. The coffee machine he would have to ask how it worked was steaming and he poured a cup.

Through the window over the sink, he glimpsed Molly at work in her garden. Her hair was tied back in its usual braid. He'd only seen it down that one time. The morning was very warm, and there was sweat staining the back of her T-s.h.i.+rt. Smiling, he limped to the door and wandered out to the porch. "There is a good sight," he called out. "A woman hard at work so early in the morning."

She laughed. "Good morning, lazybones."

"Lazy?" he repeated mockingly. "Me?"

Brus.h.i.+ng a tendril of hair from her eyes, she straightened. "I've already weeded the whole garden, eaten breakfast and washed a load of clothes,senor ."

He liked her in this teasing mood. Her face was flushed with exercise, and the casual, loose-fitting clothes outlined her body very nicely. "But I have been wounded,senora .

A man must heal."

"You look like you feel a hundred times better this morning," she said, eyeing him with her nurse's face. "You must have slept well."

"Like a baby. And I told you, I am strong." But he did not think it was the sleep that made him feel this way. It was hope, a chance to make things better for him and Josefina. He mugged a bodybuilder's pose. "s.e.xy, too, no?"

Her eyes skittered over the expanse of his chest and just as quickly skittered away. He grinned, rubbing his flat belly. "A little overwhelming, though. I understand."

She laughed. "Vanity, thy name is man." She slapped her gloves together, and the motion made her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, loosely clasped in some thin undergarment, move a little. He yanked his gaze away, wondering why those small, cup-shaped b.r.e.a.s.t.s held so much fascination.