“Not inviting a friend to your wedding.”
“But Archie isn’t my friend!”
“Then why did he send this cattle truck full of beef for your wedding? We’re taking you in.”
They started leading Salvador off at gunpoint toward their car. Salvador yelled his head off.
“Archie, you son-of-a-bitch, where are you? Get these bastards to uncuff me!”
Just then, Archie came out from behind the truck where he’d been hiding. Kenny was with him, too. They were both grinning ear-to-ear. It was obvious that they’d had a few drinks.
“Having a problem, eh, Sal?” asked Archie.
“You son-of-a-bitch!” said Salvador.
“Now, now,” said the big lawman, “that ain’t the way to talk to a friend.”
“Jesus Christ, Kenny!” yelled Salvador, as they put him in the Chevy, “can’t you choose better friends? This no-good bastard wouldn’t loan me shit, man-to-man, like you did!”
Kenny just laughed, taking a long pull from his pint bottle. “Well, Sal,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, “I, also, didn’t get the hell kicked out of me and my people, either. So, maybe that’s why I felt a little more generous.”
Kenny took another swig, then passed the bottle to Archie. “You did wrong, Sal. Forgetting and forgiving is what this country is all about. Shit, if we don’t, we ain’t got a chance in hell. Fuck, every one of us, pardon my French, Señora, feels he has the right to kill a dozen times and justifiably, too. But we don’t, because, well, if we did, then we’d have nothing.”
Salvador could see that this was basically the same thing that his mother had told him; and, also, he really did like Archie. Just seeing the big long-faced bastard made him happy inside.
“So what you going to do, Sal?” said Kenny, spitting out a long squirt of brown tobacco juice. “You gonna invite Archie to your wedding or you going to jail?”
Kenny’s eyes filled with a twinkle of mischief. Seeing the twinkle in Kenny’s eyes, Salvador turned and saw Archie’s big grinning face. He glanced down at his cuffs, giving a big shrug. “Shit, I don’t got much choice, do I?”
“Nope, you don’t,” said Kenny, grinning. “That’s the pleasure of doing business with Archie.”
Looking back at Archie, Salvador shook his head. “Okay, Archie,” he said, “but, damn it, I would’ve paid you! You should’ve trusted me, man-to-man! You bastard!”
Sadly, Archie nodded his huge long cow-face. “You’re right. I fucked, excuse me, Señora, screwed up, and I’m sorry.”
Salvador took a big breath and glanced around. Everyone was out of their vehicles and watching them.
“All right,” said Salvador, “you’re invited to my wedding, Archie.”
Archie smiled. “Good, I accept but, just keep him handcuffed ‘til we get him to the church, in case he thinks of changing his mind.”
“Damn it, Archie!” yelled Salvador. “Uncuff me now!”
“Bullshit!”
“But I can’t drive.”
“That’s okay. I’ll drive you.”
“You son-of-a-bitch! You son-of-a-bitch!”
“Never denied that,” said Archie, getting into the Moon to drive Salvador and his mother, “but at least I’m not a stupid one.”
Kenny howled with laughter. Fred Noon drove up in his Buick; he wanted to know what was going on.
“Archie just arrested Salvador,” Kenny said, “and he’s not going to let him go ‘til he has him at the altar.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Fred, taking the pint bottle from Kenny and giving it a good pull. “Ah, that’s good! Hell, sometimes I hope that Prohibition never ends!”
Harry and Bernice came rushing up the side aisle of the church. Hans and Helen, the Germans from Carlsbad, were right behind them. Bernice was wearing a stylish, long, smoke-colored coat that she’d designed. Everyone in the church was already in their places. The music started.
Carlota and José, the maid of honor and the best man, came up the aisle in a slow, dignified step. Carlota was wearing a long, beautiful pink gown and carrying a bouquet of gorgeous flowers. José was in a navy blue suit, and he looked darkly handsome.
“Oh, no!” whispered Doña Margarita, gripping her stomach. She and Salvador were in the first pew on the right-hand side of the church. “I shouldn’t have had that whiskito on an empty stomach. Oh, I’m going to fart!”
“Mama,” said Salvador, “please, not now!”
“Not now with people arresting you and all this confusion!” snapped the old lady. “Cough, quick; cough if you have any decency!”
Salvador started coughing, and here came his mother’s explosions. He looked up at the tall ceiling and beautiful stained windows, and he prayed that they were only farts. Pedro started to laugh. Salvador kicked the boy. The explosions continued. Archie began coughing, too, then Fred Noon and Kenny. But still, here came the sounds, and they were good ones, long and strong.
José and Carlota were halfway up the aisle when they took notice of all the people coughing at the front of the church. Neither one of them could figure out what was happening, so they just continued up the aisle, step by step, in the most dignified manner they could.
The music continued, and Salvador stared at his mother, wondering when it was going to stop. But it didn’t. Just then, Luisa and Epitacio cut into the front pew.
Hearing her mother’s explosion, Luisa laughed. “Give it to them, Mama,” she said, “give it to them!”
“Shut up, mi hijita! Are you crazy?”
In the rear of the church, Doña Guadalupe hugged her daughter one last time, then hurried up the side aisle to the front, where she was supposed to be with her family, across from Salvador’s people. She could hear something going on up front, but she didn’t think too much of it. All week she’d been cooking and working and sewing so much that she was exhausted. She was so tired that she almost felt like going against all her principles and having herself a good shot of tequila.
Don Victor was dressed in a dark brown suit. When Lupe came out of the little side room full of giggling women, he took her arm, and they started up the long aisle. Lupe was dressed all in white and María’s little daughter, Isabel, was holding the long white peacock train of her magnificent dress.
The commotion was still going on up at the front of the church, but Lupe ignored it and came up the aisle with her father, taking long, slow, deliberate steps, trying to look as calm and serene as she possibly could.
But, oh, she was going crazy inside. This was, indeed, the most important step of her entire life. This was the man that she was going to marry; this was the man that was going to be the father of her children; this was the person that she was going to share all the dreams and joys and sorrows with for the rest of her life.
The noise at the front of the church subsided. Lupe continued down the aisle on her father’s arm, concentrating with all her being, all her heart and soul, trying to keep calm, passing all these people who were smiling at her, people she knew but couldn’t recognize at the moment because she was so frightened.
It felt like the longest journey of Lupe’s life, traveling step-by-step, toward the distant altar. She breathed deeply and recalled the day they’d come out of their beloved box canyon and that dangerous walk that they’d had along the cliffs called El Diablo. She realized how far they’d come since that day that they’d walked those cliffs and crossed that mighty river. She suddenly saw very clearly that she was once more walking on the cliffs of fate, ready to cross yet another mighty river on her journey of womanhood. She wondered if, indeed, she would ever get to see her beloved canyon again before she died.
Oh, those great towering cathedral rocks, they were the altar at which she’d always thought that she would marry one day. But those great rocks of her youth were gone, gone, just like her Colonel. Then they stopped, and her father drew her close, kissed her on the cheek, and turned her about, giving her arm to . . . to . . . to, oh,
my God, Salvador; a total stranger.
“All right,” she heard her father say as in a faraway dream, “she’s yours. Now take good care of our angel.”
“With all my heart and soul,” said Salvador, coming out of the pew and taking her arm.
Lupe felt like adding the words, “you better!” but she didn’t. She felt Salvador turn her about, and together they approached the altar, hand-in-hand, all alone and far, far away from their parents. Oh, she was dreaming, dreaming, gliding over the towering cliffs back home, sweeping over the high country of her youth, and this was beautiful. For this was the sacred dream of all her years of yearning. This was the reality of all her childhood fantasies that she’d had of her Colonel. This was it. This was, indeed, life—la vida.
But then, Lupe saw the priest standing before them on the steps of the dark, blood-red carpet. He smiled at them and opened his black book. He began to read, and time stood still. She stood mesmerized, not quite able to comprehend the words that he recited.
But then, she saw the priest turn to Salvador, and she heard him say, “Juan Salvador Villaseñor, do you take María de Guadalupe Gómez to be your wife? Do you promise to be true to her in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love and honor her all the days of your life?”
As in a dream, Lupe turned and she saw the moustache on Salvador’s upper lip move like a long, fat worm as he said, “Yes, I do.”
Then the priest spoke to her. “María de Guadalupe Gómez, do you take Juan Salvador Villaseñor to be your husband? Do you promise to be true to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love him and honor him all the days of your life?”
Lupe considered the words, especially the ones, “in bad times” and wondered if this was wise. Why would any woman in her right mind agree to this?
Leaning in close, the man of God whispered, “Say, ‘I do’, my child.”
“What?” said Lupe, trying her hardest to stop thinking of all these things that came flashing to her mind. “Oh, yes, I do, of course, Father.”
Looking relieved, the priest continued, and the next set of words Salvador repeated, word by word.
Then it was Lupe’s turn to repeat the holy words of acceptance. And, when she came to the passage, “To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part,” tears came to her eyes. For she now understood for the first time in her life what these words truly meant.
The words were, indeed, the secret. These words were the power. These were the words that had given her mother, and her mother’s mother, the strength to endure the years. The words, “until death do us part,” were the foundation of every marriage. They were what gave a woman the vision with which to raise up like a mighty star and join God’s graces, just like Doña Margarita had told her.
This, then, was the true secret with which every ordinary woman became extraordinary and gained the power within herself to resurrect her family from the dead, again and again, and give her family the conviction of heart to go on, no matter what.
And these sacred words were now hers, too, “until death do us part.”
Tears streamed down her face and in her mind’s eye, Lupe now saw the gates of Eden open, and there lay paradise just beyond her at arm’s length-golden, serene, and as beautiful as La Lluvia de Oro right after a summer rain, with all the flowers and plants and trees breathing, breathing, and all the birds and bees and deer and possums playing and, high above, there were the towering cathedral cliffs, raining down in a waterfall of glistening gold, and an eagle circling overhead, screeching to the heavens.
She’d done it, she really had. Here in her heart of hearts, she’d gotten married in the true spirit of the beloved canyon of her youth.
Salvador saw the tears of joy streaming down Lupe’s gorgeous face and he was filled with such joy that he just knew that they’d passed through the gates of Eden. This was his new truelove and yes, one thousand times yes, his mother had been right. Only with a clean soul can a man enter into the paradise of marriage.
Lupe and Salvador exchanged their rings and she promised to love, cherish and obey and she noticed that Salvador only had to love and cherish; he hadn’t needed to say that he’d obey. They kissed, and the worm on his upper lip tickled her. She tried not to laugh, but giggled anyway.
The bells rang, the people applauded, and then the priest raised up his hands, silencing everyone once again.
“Lupe, Salvador,” he said grandly, “from now on, you two are of one body, one soul; and it is your duty to take care of each other, so that your union of marriage will transcend even over death itself, and together you will enter the Kingdom of God for all eternity.”
Lupe’s whole body was filled with rapture, and her feet never touched the ground as they turned and started back down the aisle, she and her husband, this man, this stranger, her truelove, who was now and forever closer to her than her own brother or sisters, or even her own mother.
She could feel his hand pulsating in her palm, and she could hear his breathing, coming and going in rhythm with her own. These, then, would now be the sounds of her new home. This man’s warmth would now be the one that she’d reach across the warm-smelling bed for each morning.
As they came out of the church into the bright sunlight, Salvador hugged Lupe close and two photographers took their photos, and everyone threw rice and confetti at them. The kids set off firecrackers, and everyone cheered.
Salvador then took Lupe’s left hand in both of his two huge hands, and he looked down at her diamond ring pensively. The two photographers snapped this picture, too. And it was a lovely moment, Lupe looking at his thick mane of curly black hair as he gazed at her huge diamond, a stone so fantastic that most of the people in the crowd had never even seen one until now.
Oh, they’d done it, they really had. They were so happy, and everyone was so proud of them. Even Luisa. And Carlota, who’d been green with envy of Lupe all these years, was now heard to say, “Yes, that’s right, she’s my, well, older sister, and, yes, it’s a real diamond . . . of the highest quality!”
Salvador walked Lupe to the Moon, opened her door for her and felt so light-headed, so much in love with love itself, that he gave a shout of gusto, feeling wonderful.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The secret Gates of Eden opened, and the two children of war passed through, happy, content and madly in love. For they’d dared to keep faith in the basic goodness of life.
Driving the Moon over to Lupe’s parents’ home where the reception was, Salvador and Lupe were met by a trio of violins. The violins were Lupe’s idea. Feeling like a queen, Lupe stepped down from the Moon, taking Salvador’s hand.
The people cheered and threw flowers in front of the feet of the two newlyweds as they walked around the house to the back yard. The aroma of Archie’s barbecue filled the air. Archie’s two deputies had slaughtered a steer and they’d dug a deep pit in the ground in the field behind the back yard, and they were barbecuing the big slabs of beef a la Archie Freeman, with plenty of salsa and hard red oak. There were over fifty chickens cooked in mole, mountains of frijoles and rice, and a tub full of hot, handmade tortillas. The whole barrios was going to be able to eat to their fill for three days and nights.
Down the street in another house, Archie had also put up a ten-gallon barrel of whiskey, and he had one of his nephews from the Pata Indian Reservation mind the barrel, which was, of course, like putting a coyote in charge of the chicken coop.
Lupe and Salvador sat down at the main table and the mariachis began to play, and everyone started celebrating. Febronio and his family showed up, and they were having a wonderful time until Febronio saw Bernice take her coat off and expose the lowest-cut dress anyone had ever seen. The big man from Zacatecas forgot all about his wife and kids and rushed across the yard and took hold of Bernice, leading her to the dance floor, then put his nose down into her big bosom as he whirled her
about. Three other men came up, wanting to dance with her, too. Harry protested.
“Please, no fighting over me,” said Bernice, laughing, “just give me a little time to rest, and I’ll dance with all of you.”
But some of the men were pretty drunk, and couldn’t wait and a fight started. Archie drew his gun and fired three shots into the air.
“All right!” he yelled. “Break it up! I’m deputizing her husband here. What’s your name?”
“Harry,” said Harry, looking pretty perplexed.
“Harry is now my special deputy!” yelled Archie. “And from now on, it’s against the law for anyone to dance with . . . what’s your name, honey?”
“Bernice.”
“With Bernice, except for me and Harry!”
Reholstering his gun, Archie took Bernice in his arms before anyone could say anything. He whirled her about, this way, that way, then put his long nose down into her big, full bosom, taking a good long smell of her, too.
Carlota shrieked and came screaming across the yard. She grabbed Archie, yanked him about, and told him, “I got big ones, too! You fool!” Everyone started laughing.
The barbecue was ready and people began to eat and settle down. The mariachis stopped their loud music and the violins positioned themselves behind Salvador and Lupe, serenading them with soft sound. People came by and congratulated the newlyweds. The sun turned to liquid gold, going down behind the orchard of orange trees, and Salvador and Lupe could see that their families were finally beginning to get to know each other.
Doña Margarita walked over to Doña Guadalupe, taking her hand, and they sat down together. Luisa and María started visiting, and Luisa saw how María’s two husbands catered to her, hand-and-foot, and they became fast friends. They got themselves a cup full of whiskey and soon felt like they’d known each other all their lives. Luisa began to think that maybe Lupe’s family wasn’t so bad, after all, since they had a real woman like María in their midst. And María began to warm toward Salvador’s family, too.
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