The Fallon Legacy by Robert Jordan

Author:Robert Jordan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2012-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

30

A mid-September breeze ruffled James’s hair as he stood on a balcony overlooking the hacienda courtyard. Below him, women crossed the flagstones beneath the morning sun with bundles of wash. Two vaqueros worked on harnesses in front of the stable. The sky was cloudless, and in the distance he could see dust raised by the vaqueros with the horse herd.

He was healed enough to be riding with the vaqueros again, with Henry and José. During the summer of his convalescence, though, his status had changed in subtle ways. There had been long afternoons of chess and conversation with Don Tomás.

Drusilla stepped onto the balcony behind him. “Mi papá wishes to see you in his study,” she said coldly.

“Thank you,” he said. “I—” She turned and left as if he hadn’t spoken.

He cursed inwardly. While he had been confined to his bed, she had sat every day reading to him from the Spanish poets, but since he had regained his feet she had grown more and more distant. The plain and simple of it was that he loved her, and he had begun to dream of what might be. Her coldness cut him like a knife.

Muttering to himself, he made his way to Don Tomás’s study, entering without knocking. The older man looked up from his book.

“You want to see me, sir?”

“Yes, señor. Brandy? A cigar? Sit down.”

“No, thank you, sir. And I’d rather stand.”

Don Tomás blinked and set his book aside. “Very well. What I wish to ask you, Señor Fallon, is your intentions toward my daughter.”

“I love her,” James said stiffly.

The other man nodded gravely. “There are many men in Mexico City, Señor Fallon, who would like very much to marry my daughter. Men of family, men of wealth, men of position and power. Some of them I would welcome; others I would not allow beneath my roof.”

“I understand, sir. In the morning I will be—”

“There is, however, a difficulty,” Don Tomás said as if James had not spoken. “I am, perhaps, an untypical father. There are many sorts of men I would not allow my daughter to marry. A thief, a drunkard, a man who would be cruel to her.” He made a gesture of distaste. “But I also would never force her to marry against her will.”

“I don’t understand, sir,” James said.

Don Tomás grunted. “Young men are slower of wit than when I was young. Do you not know that the man must speak his heart first? That a woman may grow angry waiting?”

“Sir, do you mean …” It didn’t seem possible.

“I do indeed mean. Drusilla loves you, you young fool. I do not like seeing her worry herself sick because you do not speak.”

James realized he was grinning ear to ear. “Don Tomás, I ask the honor of your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

The older man nodded. “Very good, señor. You declare yourself. I was beginning to feel as if I were hawking my daughter.”

“Then … I have your permission, sir?”

“First things first, señor. What are your plans should I allow you to court Drusilla?”

“Why, I’ll marry her and start raising horses.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.