Return to Paradise (Torres Family Saga) (54 page)

      
Benjamin sketched a bow to her. “Congratulations on the birth of your son, Miriam. You, as well, Rigo.” He knew his voice sounded hollow and perfunctory, but he was too distracted to worry about their reactions. Turning to the wolf he commanded, “Stay, Vero.” Then he strode past them and vanished into the house.

      
Miriam looked at Vero and shivered, then moved closer to Rigo. Taking her arm protectively, he escorted her toward a rear entrance to the house. “You had best repair your hair and clothes. I will see what misfortune has brought my brother home.”

      
Silently she followed him, then fled upstairs when he turned toward the noise and revelry in the great hall.
How can I ever repair our marriage now that Benjamin has returned?

      
Rigo found Aaron and Benjamin closeted with Magdalena in Aaron's big library. Benjamin was pacing across the thick Turkish carpet as he told his tale. He wore sword and dagger like a soldier, and had shed the
magister’s
robes.

      
“So you see, when Uncle Isaac's agents made inquiries at the wharves, they found this corsair was headed to Española. I searched Santo Domingo with help from the
virreina
. We could find not a trace of
Le Revenant
.” He shrugged in helpless frustration and combed his fingers through his shaggy golden hair. “Pray God Luc Brienne has not harmed Rani.”

      
“Luc Brienne!” Rigo interrupted, his eyes meeting Aaron's.

      
“You say this corsair from Marseilles is named Brienne?” Aaron asked Benjamin. “Perhaps we may have an idea of where he puts in his pirate ship.”

      
“Navidad,” Rigo supplied.

      
“This Brienne—he is the one who laid the ambush for you at the cove, is he not?” Magdalena's face was ashen. “What is happening, Aaron? Do our troubles at the
hato
relate to someone in France?”

      
“It would appear so,” Aaron replied thoughtfully. “Also, there seems to be a link between the attempts on Rigo's life and the brigands—it stretches all the way across the Atlantic.”

      
“It will take several days for Bartolome to learn anything from Elzoro's plantation,” Rigo said impatiently.

      
“You all speak in riddles while Rani is in the clutches of a pirate! I have not an hour to waste, much less days!”

      
Both men and Magdalena turned at Benjamin's outburst, but it was his mother who spoke. “You care a great deal for this Gypsy girl, do you not, Benjamin?”

      
“I told you, she saved my life. I owe her much.” Benjamin was saved from further explanations by a loud scratching noise at the patio entrance to the library.

      
Aaron saw the gleaming wolf's eyes and reached for his sword, but Rigo stilled his hand, then turned to Benjamin and said with a smile, “Twould seem your friend did not obey your command.”

      
“He obeys no better than does his mistress,” Benjamin replied sourly, walking over to the door. “Do not be frightened of Vero, Mama. He is Rani's pet and my boon companion crossing the ocean. Twould seem in her absence he has adopted me as his owner.” He admitted the wolf to the room where it immediately sat, cocking its head inquisitively and inspecting Aaron and Magdalena. “You said you believe Brienne will put in at Navidad?”

      
“Most probably, but let us plan before we rush off to the cove. Elzoro is involved as well.” Now Aaron began to pace.

      
“Elzoro, the planter who lives to the south of us? But why? How—”

      
“Elzoro is not what he seems to be,” Rigo replied. “Think on it. Does not the name translate easily from Spanish to French? A man named Reynard offered the corsairs under Brienne a reward to kill me at Navidad.”

      
Benjamin's eyes narrowed. “Twould seem you have made enemies aplenty, Rigo, both in the Old World and the New. I care naught about Elzoro or Reynard, or whatever be his name—only Rani. I am for Navidad to find
Le Revanant
. I only pray they have not harmed her.”

      
“Do not act the fool, Benjamin.” Rigo's voice was cold and precise now. “Tis a trap baited with this woman. Brienne and Elzoro will use you to get to me and kill both you and your Gypsy wench in the bargain. They want me, so I will go. I would know the reason for their determination to see me dead.”

      
“And I would see neither of you dead,” Aaron said with grim finality, stepping between his two bristling sons. “We will send Tainos to the cove to spy out Brienne's ship. If he has brought the girl, he will not harm her but send to us for her ransom. Knowing the connection between him and Elzoro gives us an advantage we must not throw away by crashing through the jungle into a trap.”

      
“Your father is right.” Magdalena placed a hand on each brother's arm. “We can best save Rani by learning what their scheme is first.”

      
“If only Bartolome could learn something and that right quickly,” Rigo said. “But he has told Elzoro he will visit his plantation only after he has seen to the spiritual needs of the Tainos. It will take several days.”

      
“Perhaps not,” Aaron replied enigmatically.

* * * *

      
Miriam lay little Diego in his cradle and softly kissed his forehead. Having been fed and freshly swaddled, he was already drifting off to sleep. “So tiny, so perfect,” she whispered, then arose and laced up the loose tunic she wore at night to more easily accommodate feeding her infant. “Watch over him well, Tanei,” she said to the young Taino maid. “When he awakens, summon me.”

      
“Yes, my lady.”

      
She felt like a craven coward for not returning to the ball after Benjamin's arrival. Her feet dragged as she slowly walked from the small nursery to the adjoining bedroom. Rigo had not slept in their big bed since Diego's birth. Tonight she had hoped the long absence would come to an end. “Why, Benjamin, why did you have to return this night of all nights?”

      
Yet what mattered it? Even if Benjamin had arrived a week later or a year later, would not Rigo's reaction and her own have been the same? She had waited for several hours, until all their guests had retired and the celebration was over, praying that Rigo would come to her, at least to speak of what had brought Benjamin back to Española. The brothers had been closeted with Aaron and Magdalena for the better part of an hour. Was she not entitled to an explanation? Yet Rigo did not come to their room, nor had he paid his accustomed visit to his son before the babe drifted off to sleep.

      
“I must bury my pride and seek him out.” With trembling hands she took a cloak and wrapped it over her sheer tunic. There was no time to worry over finery. She had dressed splendidly for him earlier and it had meant naught. All the household was asleep, the long corridors silent. She slipped downstairs, then out onto the porch that surrounded the big stone house. Rigo had taken to sleeping in a small room near the cook's quarters, most easily and surreptitiously reached by this outdoor route.

      
The night air was heavy with the fragrance of frangi-pani blossoms. In the distance nocturnal birds called out from the jungle. Intent on being silent, she rounded the corner of the porch and collided with a solid wall of flesh—the bare, hairy chest of Benjamin Torres. She gasped in surprise.

      
He reached out and grasped her by the shoulders to steady her. “Miriam, what are you doing out at this hour?”

      
“I might ask the same of you.” She inspected him, barefoot and clad only in a pair of hose.

      
The wolf padded silently up to stand beside them. Benjamin knelt and patted Vero, indicating that she take a seat on the low stone bench directly across from him. “I could not sleep. Tis the warm sweetness of the island nights, I suppose. Until I returned, I did not know how much I missed it. And I have been sorely distraught about Rani.”

      
“Rani?”

      
He smiled at her for the first time. This was the old Benjamin she had known and loved so well in Europe. Then a haunting sadness filled his eyes. “Rani Janos. A Gypsy girl I met in Italy. She was abducted from Marseilles by a dangerous corsair and brought to Espanola.”

      
“And you have crossed the ocean-sea in search of this girl?”

      
“If only I am not too late—if she has been harmed, I will never forgive myself.” He stood up and began to pace as the tale of his relationship with Rani unfolded. When he had finished, he turned to her and smiled that beautiful smile again, wistful and boyish. “This reminds me of how it used to be between us. You were right, you know. I have finally come to realize it. We suit far better as brother and sister than as lovers.”

      
“You are in love with your Gypsy and now you understand,” Miriam said gently, rising to stand next to him.

      
“Yes, I suppose I do love her, yet tis not that simple—she is a thief, a wild creature, totally unfit for polite society.”

      
Miriam smiled sadly. “Many said worse of Rigo when first you brought him to Uncle Isaac's house. And he was a thief, Benjamin. He stole my heart. If you love Rani and she you, do not throw it away for propriety. Love is too precious to waste.”

      
He studied her grave, lovely face. “Yes, tis true. This is Española and I am free of the constraints of Europe. Perhaps there is a life for Rani and me. If only she is alive and I can rescue her from Brienne.” He paused and then said awkwardly, “I did not mean to be abrupt with you and Rigo when first I saw you. Twas but hurt pride speaking.”

      
“What we did in Marseilles was cruel and selfish, Benjamin. That cannot be excused.” She lowered her head as tears filled her eyes. “Rigo has never forgiven himself or me for what happened.”

      
Benjamin took her chin in his hand and raised it. “He has an even greater share of foolish Spanish pride than do I. I give you back your own advice, Miriam. Love is too precious to waste. Go to him and break down the barriers. You have a son to think of now. And I have Rani. In some fashion we will pass through this tangled web. Only keep heart.”

      
“Thank you, Benjamin. For everything,” she said simply, raising her hands to cup his face and press a kiss on his cheek.

      
Rigo stood in the shadows behind the passion flower vines, watching the tender scene from the opposite end of the porch. He could not hear their words, but when Miriam reached out and kissed Benjamin, rage boiled up inside him, then subsided, replaced by a bottomless abyss of such pain that he felt it would swallow him. He prayed for oblivion as he turned and walked silently from the house. He would ride to Guacanagari's village now instead of waiting for morning.

* * * *

      
By mid-morning most of the guests who lived any distance and had stayed the night were preparing to depart for home. Esteban Elzoro strolled toward the corrals with Rosario Vasques, another planter from the south of the Vega. They had taken their leave of Aaron and Magdalena, although the hated half-caste was nowhere in sight. Feeling as he did about Rigo Torres, Elzoro was well pleased to forego the amenity of a farewell.

      
“What the devil are those savages doing here?” Vasques nodded in the direction of an entourage of Tainos, decked out in full ceremonial regalia, covered with brilliant parrot feathers, intricately worked cotton girdles and elaborate gold and copper jewelry. Four big warriors bore a litter that they reverently set on the ground in the center of the yard before the Torres mansion.

      
Guacanagari climbed regally from it and said in clear Castilian for all the crowd around the house to hear, “I would speak with the holy man Aaron Torres sends to my people.”

      
Bartolome de Las Casas walked across the yard to face the Indians, bowing politely to the
cacique
. “Good day, Guacanagari. I was coming to your village this very day. You honor me by your presence here. How may I serve you?”

      
“You may serve me by not dishonoring the
zemis
of my ancestors. They have made their great displeasure known to me and I warn you not to bring your Christian God among the Taino here.”

      
“But Great Chief, always in the past when a man of God visited the Vega, he was welcomed by the Taino.”

      
“No more.” Guacanagari's face was implacable as his keen obsidian eyes swept the gathering crowd for full effect. “Your Cristo and his Bird Spirit have displeased the
zemis
. I have read the signs and I will not permit you to enter our compound. Do not disobey me in this.”

      
“Perhaps another time? I will return to visit your nephew. He is my foster brother, dear to my heart,” Las Cassas persisted gently.

      
“The son of my sister has been claimed by your gods. Other of my family here have not. You may do in the settlement what Aaron Torres permits, but I am
cacique
of the Taino. There you may not go.” Guacanagari turned to where Aaron had approached and nodded to him.

      
Aaron shrugged helplessly. “I am afraid, Fray Bartolome, that what he says is final. There was a wild boar killed in the village last night. The Taino see omens in such mishaps. Only be patient.”

      
Sighing heavily, the Dominican bowed to Guacanagari. “It shall be as you command, Great Chief.” He turned dejectedly and strode toward the stables as Aaron and Guacanagari began to speak quietly in the Taino tongue.