Beverly Jenkins (4 page)

“Andrew Yates,” he responded dismissively.

“Well, how do, Mr. Yates. I’m Cherry. You want me to show you a good time?”

Drew gently disentangled himself. “No thanks, honey.”

She pouted. “You sure? I’m real good. Ain’t I, Mr. DuChance?”

Drew assumed the man had been sampling her wares, which immediately rendered her undesirable no matter how good she claimed to be. Ignoring her, he directed his words at Prince. “If you hear from her, let me know.”

He didn’t expect an answer and those expectations were met. Giving the disappointed looking Cherry a curt nod of farewell, he exited.

On the drive home, he admitted not finding Billie hadn’t set well. He’d been eagerly anticipating not only the bed play, but also hearing what she’d been doing during his months-long absence. He’d gotten the distinct impression that DuChance was lying about the circumstances tied to her leaving, but other than beating the truth out of him as he admittedly would’ve enjoyed, he was left with little recourse as to how to determine her whereabouts. In truth, he had no claims on her and if she wanted to just up and leave for whatever reasons, she had that right. But he had the nagging suspicion that DuChance had a hand in her disappearance and wouldn’t be able to banish the feeling until he somehow made contact with her again.

The next day, he made discreet inquiries at some of the other bordellos.

“She hasn’t been seen for months,” he was told by a madam named Gertie who owned a place across the street from Pearl’s. “I like Billie a lot, and if she’d been looking for a new place to work, I’d’ve gladly taken her in.”

“So there’s been no talk?”

“Not that I’ve heard. With Pearl being so sickly these days, Prince is running the operation and he keeps a tight rein not only on the business but on the girls. If they do know something they’re probably too scared to open up.”

He sighed audibly with frustration. Gertie’s take jibed with the other madams he’d spoken with earlier. No one had seen Billie in months.

“Why are you so concerned?”

He shrugged. “Like you, I like her. Her leaving caught me by surprise. Just hoping nothing bad’s happened.”

“I wouldn’t worry. We whores are like cats. We land on our feet.”

Exiting Gertie’s, Drew saw Prince standing in the doorway of Pearl’s. When their eyes met, Prince smiled. Drew didn’t and continued the walk to his carriage.

A
few evenings later, Drew entered the sprawling mansion home of Consuela and James Anderson and handed his gilt-edged invitation to the doorman.

“Evening, Mr. Yates.”

“Henry. How are you?”

“Well sir. Please, go on in.”

Inside, Drew nodded a greeting to the familiar faces among the well-heeled, formally dressed crowd filling the ballroom. Consuela’s parties were legendary for their size, the excellent food and drink, and the exclusive list of invitees. Making his way to where the Andersons were holding court, he paused to relieve a waiter of a glass of champagne. Moving farther into the room, he spied state senators, railroad tycoons, and members of some of the old Spanish families, talking, laughing, and enjoying the musicians stationed at the far end of the room.

Although Consuela was in her mid-forties the beaming smile she turned his way at his approach was of a woman much younger. “Andrew. How wonderful for you to come.”

He bent gallantly over her offered hand and guided it to his lips. “Thank you for the invitation. I’d’ve been bereft had I not been invited to the birthday ball of the most beautiful woman in Yerba Buena.”

She hit him playfully with her fan. “Always the courtier. Your Spanish ancestors would be proud. How’re Alanza and your brothers? I hear Logan has married.”

“Mother’s fine. She sends her regards and yes, Logan has found himself a wife, a spitfire named Mariah. Their baby’s due in April.”

Clouds passed briefly over Consuela’s eyes and he mentally kicked himself for sharing the news of the upcoming birth. Although it wasn’t talked about publicly, most of the Andersons’ acquaintances knew Consuela had been unable to conceive, and that she was saddened by the lack.

Her smile returned. “I hope everything will go well with the birth.”

“As do we all.”

Her husband turned away from a guest he’d been speaking with and asked, “Are you flirting with my wife, again, Yates?”

The big burly Anderson was a Civil War hero from famed Massachusetts’s 54th and a decade older than his Spanish wife. Andrew had been friends with the couple for years. “I am, but she refuses to have me.”

“Always been a smart lady,” James noted with love shining in his brown eyes. “Why she chose an old, broken-down warhorse like me is one of the wonders of the world.”

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Because I prefer old, broken-down warhorses, darling.”

James preened in response and said to Drew, “I hear Logan finally tied the knot.”

“Yes, I was just sharing the news with Consuela. They were married in October and are very happy.”

“Children coming yet?”

“Yes. April.”

“Ah.” James gave his wife’s waist a soft squeeze as if silently offering consolation.

“So when are you going to marry, Drew?” Consuela asked.

“Hopefully, soon.”

“We both know that isn’t true.”

“Ah, but it is. Spent the autumn in Mexico in search of a likely candidate, but so far haven’t found anyone as lovely as you, Consuela.”

She rapped his shoulder again. “Go on with you. I’m sure there are a number of beautiful
senoritas
available. In fact there a few you might find interesting seated at the far end of the ballroom.”

Her husband added, “And guarded by enough duennas to keep even the most persistent wolves at bay.”

“Then maybe I shall go over and pay my respects.” Knowing his hosts had other guests to greet, he bowed and departed.

After depositing his champagne flute on the tray of a passing waiter and stopping to chat with various acquaintances, Drew found the elegantly clad senoritas perched on the sofas as if they were a gaily wrapped display in a store of sweets, while their dourly dressed duennas watched over them like protective birds of prey. He knew a few of the girls and their duennas from social events he’d attended with his mother, so he stopped and made small talk. However, across the room sat a glowing dark-eyed beauty he was unfamiliar with. Seeing his interest, she hastily lowered her head, whispered something to the girls beside her, and they all giggled quietly behind their hands. Drew was instantly intrigued. There was no denying her beauty, and to his delight, when she looked up again, she met his eyes boldly, almost challengingly. No shy flower there. But he knew how to play the game. Rather than make a beeline to her side like a besotted youth, he calmly paused to speak with another duenna and her charge that he’d met in the past, and then another before finally moving her way. Having been raised in a proper Spanish household, he also knew the rules, so he turned to the duenna eyeing him with the most interest and introduced himself. “I’m Andrew Antonio Yates, son of Alanza Maria Vallejo Yates.”

“I know your mother and her family,” she replied pleasantly. “They are highly respected. I am Senora Martinez, and this is my great-niece Rosaline. Her mother, Senora Ruiz, is my niece.”

Rosaline.
Being named for such a celebrated flower was quite apt. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rosaline.”

“A pleasure meeting you as well, Mr. Yates,” she responded quietly, her eyes lowered in the manner well brought up women were taught to employ.

“May I call on you, tomorrow?”

She looked quickly to her duenna, who responded with an almost imperceptible nod.

Rosaline’s shy yet beaming smile filled him like sunshine.

Senora Martinez passed along their address, and the time that would be best to call. Armed with that and the memory of Rosaline’s sweet smile, Drew bowed. “Until tomorrow.” And the very pleased Drew took his leave.

Chapter 5

T
he next day, Drew took great care with his dress. He assumed he’d be meeting her parents and wanted to make a good impression. The illustrious name of his family helped clear the first hurdle and his wealth would undoubtedly be viewed as a positive as well, but the rest would depend on their assessment of him as a man.

At precisely eleven
A.M
., he knocked on the door of the address he’d been given by the duenna. A maid answered and ushered him into a quiet parlor filled with statues of saints. The walls held painted portraits of saints and various renderings of the Crucifixion. Raised Catholic, Drew wasn’t put off by the religious icons, but they let him know the household took its reverence for the church seriously.

The sound of rustling silk made him turn to the entrance of a short, thin woman dressed in black. A mantilla covered her hair. Her ivory face bore a strong resemblance to Rosaline’s but lacked the younger woman’s softness. Where Rosaline’s eyes held a special kind of light, the ones now evaluating him were cool and brusque.

“I’m Senora Ruiz, Rosaline’s mother. Please sit, Mr. Yates.” She gestured to the settee. “Welcome to our home.”

“Thank you.”

“Rosaline will not be joining us. I’d like for us to gain each other’s measure first.”

“That is acceptable.”

“Whether it is or not, it is the way we will proceed.”

“Of course. I’d expect nothing less.”

“Good.”

He wondered how many of Rosaline’s would-be suitors had run from this woman as if their saddles were on fire. Seeking a wife elsewhere remained an option, if he decided Senora Ruiz was too much of a dragon to stomach as a mother-in-law.

“Tell me your intentions, if you would, Mr. Yates.”

“I’m seeking a wife. If your daughter and I suit, then I shall ask her father for her hand.”

“My husband is dead to me and to Rosaline. It’s my approval alone that you seek to gain.”

“I see.” On his way home, paying a call on Consuela might be in order. To understand what he might be getting into, he needed a quick primer on the family’s background

For the next thirty minutes she quizzed Drew about his life, work, and family. “Although I was younger than she at the time, I remember the talk when your mother ran off to be with your father. She brought great shame to her family’s name. Are you aware of that?”

“I am. My mother has never been one to hide her past from her sons.”

“And you approved of her actions.”

“I’m her son, the product of those actions. Would you have me dishonor her by being judgmental?”

She seemed taken aback by his tone. “Of course not.”

“Your next question then.”

“Do you have any bastards?”

Now he was taken aback. “No.”

“And your brothers?”

He masked the distaste such personal questioning evoked. “None that I am aware of.”

“Good. I don’t want my daughter associating with anyone doomed to spend eternity in hell.”

At this point, most men would’ve gotten to their feet and bade the bitter woman a polite farewell, but Drew refused to be intimidated. “Any bastards in your family, Senora Ruiz?”

She startled as if struck.

He waited.

Lips tight, she finally confessed, “My husband has three by his mistress, which is why I consider him dead.”

“I see.”

“I’ll not have her humiliated and shamed.”

“I have no bastards and no mistress.”

“But you plan to take one after you marry,” she stated as if it were fact.

“No. The men of my family are honorable to our name and to our wives.”

For a moment she said nothing. He had no idea if she believed his claim, but he reminded himself again that searching elsewhere for a wife was always an alternative.

Her next words came as a surprise. “You have my approval to court Rosaline, but it must be for a year. At the end of that time, if I find you worthy, the engagement will be announced. Until then, I’ll permit you to visit her for one hour each day. In a month’s time you may take her walking provided my aunt accompanies you. Do you have any questions?”

“No.”

“Thank you for your visit. My maid will see you out.” And with that she stood and left the room.

A scowling Drew followed the maid back to the door. Climbing into his buggy, he paused to look back at the stately old house and saw Rosaline in an upstairs window framed by open drapes. She nodded. He offered a terse nod in return and drove away.

Drew’s knock on the Anderson door was answered by the houseman, Henry, who after a greeting led him into the parlor, where Consuela sat reading the newspaper. At his entrance she looked up “Well, Drew. How are you?”

Henry quietly withdrew.

“I’m well. My apologies for dropping in unannounced, but I needed to speak with you about something.”

“Of course. Sit. How may I help?”

“Senora Ruiz.”

She sighed audibly. “Am I to assume you’ve met her?”

“Just a short while ago. I may be interested in courting her daughter.”

“My condolences. Emmalina Ruiz is a truly joyless creature.”

“Will you share what you know about the family? I’m not asking you to stoop to gossip.”

With mischief twinkling in her eyes, she countered. “But may I?”

“Of course.”

“Shall we begin with the scandalous husband or the scandalous daughter?”

Warning bells clanged. “There’s scandal tied to Rosaline?”

“No, the older daughter, Annaline, ran away with a seaman a few years back. The gossips had a field day. As for the husband. He left her. I suppose he found her too joyless as well. Moved in with his mistress about ten years ago. Has fathered three children, and there are rumors that he gambled away most of the fortune Emmalina brought to the marriage.”

“Now I understand why she considers him dead.”

“Is that what she told you?”

“Yes.”

She shook her head sadly.

“How many of Rosaline’s suitors has she run off?”

“A slew. The girl’s nearly nineteen. In some corners she’s considered past marriageable age, which is tragic because once you get her away from her mother you find that she’s pleasant enough.”

“Is the older sister still in the city?”

“I’ve no idea. Are you truly considering Rosaline?”

“I am. She’s very beautiful.”

“That she is. A bit of a spine as well, which is often missing in young women from the old families. Rumor has it that she helped her sister flee.”

He did want a woman with a spine, but did he want a mother-in-law he couldn’t abide? The jury was still out. “Senora Ruiz wants the courting period to be a full year. If we still suit, the engagement will follow.”

“She prides herself on being very traditional. Did you agree?”

“I have little choice.”

She nodded understandingly.

Drew had all the information he needed and so stood. “Thank you, Consuela. I’ve taken up enough of your time. Again, my apology for the rude arrival.”

“None needed. Just keep me informed. Rosaline would learn a lot at the feet of that fierce mother of yours. I will put your quest in my prayers.”

Inclining his thanks, he made his exit.

Back in his office, he put the Ruizes out of his mind for the moment and opened the day’s mail. Drew had been a practicing lawyer for nearly a decade. He’d inherited his office and many of his clients upon the death of his good friend and mentor Victor Cabrillo, a descendant of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, discoverer of Alta California. In amongst the day’s delivery were two letters from Spanish families seeking representation for their land claims. Even though he’d been handling such cases for many years the turmoil tied to them continued to draw his ire. After the defeat of Mexico by the Americans, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, giving the government in Washington full sway over the states of California, Texas, and New Mexico. The treaty specifically stated that all Mexican land grants would be honored. The California Land Commission was established to oversee the claims, and in the beginning the Spanish were only required to produce their original land grant titles. Many were able to do so, but others could not—after the passage of three and four generations, items were misplaced, lost in home fires, or damaged by the elements. The Commission appointees didn’t seem to care. They wanted what they termed legitimate proof that the Spanish families were entitled to live and farm on land they’d been doing both on for more than one hundred years. Many unresolved cases had been in the courts for close to two decades now while the Commission continued to add amendments that seemed deliberately designed to frustrate the claimants and further aid the government in its ruthless land grab of their ranches and farms.

The first letter asked his help in removing squatters. Drew sighed angrily. Land still in dispute had been added to the public rolls and squatters were moving in and declaring the land their own. They in turn were selling their bogus claims to unscrupulous land developers, who were selling the land at a tremendous profit.

The second letter was from a family facing foreclosure due to survey problems. Currently it was also necessary for Spanish landowners to have their land surveyed to show that the plot lines on their property corroborated what was written on their titles, even though many of the original boundaries were hand drawn. Such families were now being forced to hire surveyors in addition to lawyers and translators, which added to the families’ frustration and his.

In his mind the original edicts of the 1848 Hidalgo treaty should be the only legalities applied. And in dreams, Queen Calafia could really fly.

He pushed back from the desk, stretched out the knots in his shoulder and spine and walked over to the windows that faced the city. Thoughts of the queen made him remember his childhood obsession. He wondered if the lovely Rosaline knew of the mighty Amazon warrior and her brave exploits. If her mother raised her as rigidly as he imagined, the answer was probably no. Would such a sheltered young woman enjoy having the stories read to her? Billie loved them. He stilled for a moment as Billie’s laughing face filled his mind, bringing with it a familiar warm affection. Where are you, Mina? he mentally queried while surveying the people and carriages traveling on the walks and streets below. Had she found a protector? Had she left the city willingly? Was she safe? The not knowing rose to plague him once more. In truth, with a potential courtship on the horizon, her disappearance couldn’t have occurred at a more opportune time, but still, he’d feel better if he had answers to his questions.

By the middle of March, Drew earned the approval from Senora Ruiz to take Rosaline walking. Her great-aunt had to accompany them, but he didn’t mind because the small boon was such a relief after being forced to sit in the parlor day after day trying to make conversation out of small talk. Traditionally, the duenna trailed the courting couple a few paces behind, but as he assisted the older woman down from his carriage she smiled and said, “Although I depend on Rosaline’s mother for a roof over my head and food to eat, I remember how it felt to be young. You have my blessings to go on ahead.”

That earned her a grateful kiss on the cheek from Rosaline and a bow of thanks from Drew. As they walked down a path in a park not too far from the Ruiz home, she trailed them but left enough distance to allow Drew and Rosaline to have a personal conversation.

“My apologies for all the hoops my mother has made you jump through.”

“None needed. A prize worth having is rarely earned without challenges.”

“You look upon me as a prize?”

“I do.”

“That’s sweet,” she said. “You are very handsome, Drew.”

“And you are very beautiful.”

She lowered her eyes as if embarrassed.

“Don’t tell me this is the first time you’ve heard that.”

“It isn’t but you sound so sincere.”

“And I am.”

They passed a group of young mothers sitting on a bench while their young children played in the grass nearby. Drew nodded a greeting. They smiled as he, Rosaline and the duenna passed by.

“Do you think your mother will approve of me?” Rosaline asked him.

“I do.”

“My mother says she’s not a woman to emulate.”

His distaste for Senora Ruiz rose again. “And why is that?”

“She said she caused a scandal when she was young and then refused to remarry after her husband died, but my sister Annaline caused quite a scandal, too, as I’m sure you’ve heard.”

“I’ve heard a bit.”

“Mama told her she’d rot in hell if she chose a man she didn’t approve of, but Anna replied that being under Mama’s roof was a hell all its own. Mama didn’t like that.”

“Is it true you helped your sister run away?”

She wouldn’t look at him, so he sought to reassure her. “I won’t think badly of you if the answer is yes, Rosa.”

“I pretended to be ill so that Mama would have to sleep in my room that night. When we awakened the next morning, Anna was gone. Mama guessed I’d lied.”

“Was she angry at you?”

“Oh yes. I received ten lashes across my bare back and made to recite two hundred Hail Marys on my knees as penance. I also had to go to confession. The priest gave me another fifty Hail Marys.”

Drew sighed.

“Mama said you don’t attend church regularly. Is that true?”

“It is. I only go on Easter Sunday.” It was one of the things Senora Ruiz asked about the first time he came to call. She hadn’t appeared to be pleased by the response.

“Well, you’ll have to come with me more often then. I’d like to show off my
novio
to all the other girls.”

That amused him. “I’ll see what I can do.”

After driving her and the duenna home again, he said, “I had a wonderful day with you, Rosaline.”

“I enjoyed your company as well. What will you do for the rest of the day?”

“I’ve some errands to take care of and then back to my office. Your mother has invited me to dinner tomorrow, so I will see you then.”

“Until then,” she said softly and she and the duenna went inside.

A smiling Drew drove away.