Rio Grande Wedding by Ruth Wind Read Free Book Online Page B

card.”
    Molly smiled. “I gathered that.”
    He nodded, the dark eyes troubled. “This could make trouble for you.”
    She lifted a shoulder. “I know that, too.”
    â€œSo why did you help me, señora?”
    â€œI couldn’t leave you there.” Turning, she put butter in the pan. “No, that’s not true. I was going to call an ambulance, but you started calling for Josefina.” She looked over her shoulder, and met his gaze honestly. “I could tell you love her, and you were worried,.”
    He swallowed. Nodded.
    She scrambled the eggs briskly, poured them onto two plates and carried them to the table. “Anything else?”
    â€œNo, no.” He frowned. “Please sit. This is very good.”
    From the corner of her eye, she noticed that he put his napkin in his lap, and sat with his back straight, and he held his fork correctly. No, more than correctly. Elegantly.
    What had she expected? The answer shamed her. Not this. She had expected ignorance and sloppiness. A hand clutched around the midsection of a fork that shoveled the food into a mouth that chewed openly.
    â€œWhere are you from?” she asked.
    â€œA place called Jaral, Mexico. Do you know it?”
    â€œNo.” She smiled. “I’m afraid I don’t.”
    He swept a lean-fingered hand. “It is very small. A long way from here.”
    â€œYou must have been here a long time. Your English is very good.”
    â€œNot so long.” He sipped some of the coffee. “When we were children, we lived in Mexico City. I had good schools. And when I came here, two years ago, I read the newspapers every day, to remember.”
    â€œReally?”
    He straightened, putting his fork down. “You want to know why I am in those fields if what I say is true, no?”
    Molly lifted her shoulders, let them go. “Yes.”
    He nodded. “I will tell you. Later. When you come back from Wiley.”
    She smiled. “Fair enough.” Finished, she took her plate and gestured toward his. “Do you want something more to eat?”
    There was strain around his mouth. “No. Thank you. Viejo goes back to bed.” He attempted a smile, but it was plain that the simple business of washing and eating had drained him.
    â€œLet’s get you back to bed, then, viejo.”
    Â 
    Josefina did not feel so good when she woke up. Her back hurt from the cold ground and her arms and legs were stiff from the long night without covers. The little dog had helped, but it was getting close now to winter, and in the cool bite of the morning, she could feel winter coming.
    And her cough, usually no problem in the daytime, was bad this morning. It burned through her chest like the fingernails of a ghost, clawing at her. The inhaler didn’t help, either. She coughed so hard she thought she was going to lose her stomach through her mouth. Finally the hacking stopped, and she leaned against the tree under which she’d slept, her eyes closed, just breathing, the way Tío showed her. In, out, very even, very slow, till all the feeling went away.
    She wanted him to fix her tea with lemon and honey, so hot it almost burned her tongue. It would make her throat feel better. It would warm her tummy. It would—
    Where was he? Where was everybody? These orchards and fields had been full, full for all the days they were here, and now they were completely empty. And the crop had not been brought in. Overhead, she could see the heavy fruit, almost too ripe, most of it. Her stomach growled.
    She shimmied up the slender branches and nabbed a peach, so big it nearly didn’t fit her hand, and then, not knowing if the dog would want to share with her, got another. He didn’t want her fruit when she let him smell it, and so Josefina had two big peaches for breakfast. Later, when it got dark, she would go to town again, buy another hot dog for supper, maybe two—one for her and