In the Shadow of the Mountains

by Rosanne Bittner

  Ramon knew about this one, knew John all but hated her. Irene simply put up with her, always making excuses for her sister’s behavior, unable to hate her the way John did. There was not an ounce of malice in Irene’s countenance, but he saw plenty of it in this Kirkland daughter. She bore no resemblance to her sister, either in looks, or, he was sure, in personality. They just stared at each other for a moment, Ramon not sure what to do or say.

  “She was here,” he said carefully. “As soon as she realized no one else was about, she left and went riding. I just went outside to dump some wood shavings, and I saw her ride past.”

  Elly smiled more. “You must be Ramon, the Mexican man Father told us about. I know John comes up here to work with you sometimes. I could tell on him, but I really don’t care what John does, as long as he leaves me alone.” She looked around the great room. “I didn’t know you’d be up here at the house alone today. I thought all the workers were in town.” She suppressed an urge to laugh, perfectly aware that he was wondering if she had seen him kiss Irene. She decided to let him wonder. Irene—so perfect and proper—kissing a greaser! There would be no end to her mother’s wrath! “I don’t remember seeing your horse outside when I first got here.”

  Ramon watched her eyes. “I often leave him loose to let him graze.”

  “I see.” Her eyes moved over him curiously. He was indeed handsome, in spite of his race. She suddenly wondered if he was dangerous. After all, she was thirteen now, and developing nicely. Surely he had noticed. Maybe it wasn’t just Irene he was interested in. Maybe Mexican men liked all gringas. Wasn’t that what her mother had told her? She shouldn’t be here alone with him. What if her mother came up and found them? Oh, how she wished her mother had seen what she had moments ago!

  Ramon watched her warily, waiting for her to do the talking, realizing that to say too much about Irene stopping at the house would seem too defensive. Perhaps she had been exploring inside the new house and had seen nothing after all.

  Elly shivered as she moved past Ramon to leave, actually thinking he might grab her and do something bad to her; yet the shiver was not out of fear. It came from thinking about being raked over by this dark stranger. She had been keenly aware of men lately, ever since meeting Chad. Her curiosity was enormous, and she had daringly studied her own breasts a few times in the mirror, wondering what it felt like to let a man touch them.

  She glanced back at Ramon. She certainly didn’t want him to be that man. She had only considered the thought out of girlish curiosity, and because it would be a wonderful way to get the man in trouble. There was only one man for Elly, one man she wanted, and that was Chad. He was the one she dreamed about, the one she would save herself for. She hoped by the time Irene was old enough to be married, she could find a way to steal Chad away from her. She longed to be thought of as pretty, to be desired the way she had seen both Chad and Ramon desire Irene. She ached for the same love and attention that Irene received.

  “Good-bye, Ramon,” she said, giving him a flirtatious look, experimenting with newly awakening womanly charms.

  To Ramon she looked silly, but he had no desire to laugh at the moment. He sensed that to do so would bring him trouble. He nodded to her, feeling a keen desire to shake her. He watched her leave, following her outside and standing at the top of the steps while she walked back down the hill. He wondered if she would make trouble for him. He had heard too much about this Elly to think she would keep it a secret if she had seen him kissing Irene. He felt suddenly helpless, and he hated himself for giving Irene such hope, and for thinking he had the right to kiss her that way.

  He ran a hand through his dark hair, wishing he could think better. He couldn’t let anything keep him and Irene apart, but he was well aware of all the obstacles. Elly had brought them to mind all too quickly.

  He sighed, looking around the Kirkland mansion. His own work here would be done in a week or so. Perhaps he would go home then and speak to his grandfather about his feelings. Once he broke the news to his family, he would do the honorable thing and go and see David Kirkland. He would face the man squarely and admit his love for his daughter. Kirkland was an understanding man, and he liked Ramon.

  Ramon only wished he could say as much for Señora Kirkland. He realized then who Elly reminded him of. Beatrice Kirkland had come often to inspect the progress on her new house. She was a sour-faced woman with dark hair and eyes and a penetrating look that cowed most of the men who worked for her. Ramon had treated her with respect, but he didn’t like her. He knew the woman would be the biggest barrier to his love for Irene.

  He walked out and closed the doors, then mounted his horse. After kissing Irene, it would be impossible today to concentrate on his work. He decided he would go into town and watch the welcome of the Colorado Volunteers. Maybe he could at least catch another glimpse of Irene there.

  Back at the house Irene led Sierra into his stable. A hired hand offered to unsaddle the animal for her, and Irene agreed, telling him to be sure to brush him down and give him oats and water. “Wait a little while on that,” she told him. “I ran him a little hard today. Let him cool down.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the man answered.

  Irene hurried out of the stables and to the house, where the buggy sat empty. Her mother was already here. Until today, Irene had never dreaded seeing her mother; but even though Bea knew nothing, she felt somewhat guilty about her secret. She considered bursting into the house and telling her mother flat out the wonderful revelation she had discovered today—that she was in love with Ramon Vallejo. But she knew Bea Kirkland well enough to realize that would be the wrong approach. Besides, Ramon had said to wait. She had to let him do this his way, and now she worried when she would get to see him again.

  She walked inside, and Bea called to her from the top of the stairs. “You’ve been riding again, haven’t you?” she said, sounding very irritated. Irene realized more than ever that this was not the time to bring up Ramon.

  “Yes, Mother.”

  “I’m going to have a talk with Elsa. She is too soft with you.” The woman came marching down the stairs. “Look at you, all flushed and undone. I expected you and Elly both to be ready when I came back.”

  “You’re back sooner than you said you would be.”

  “Well, get upstairs and get ready. Have you forgotten you’ll see your father today?”

  “No, Mother. You know how much I look forward to that.”

  Bea hid the slight hurt. She loved Irene, but she knew Irene was more fond of Kirk. Just as Kirk’s absence and transgressions were her own fault, so was the growing wall between herself and her children. She simply didn’t know how to show her love, other than to be sure they had the best of everything. “Get upstairs then, and hurry. John is waiting in town.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Irene started past her, and Bea touched her arm.

  “Irene, you must start thinking about your future. Be sure to give Chad Jacobs a friendly welcome today. I expect he’ll be calling on you, now that you’re sixteen. As soon as the house is done later this summer, I’ll have your coming-out party. Chad would be a wonderful escort.”

  But I love Ramon Vallejo, she wanted to answer. I don’t care about Chad. “I suppose he would,” she answered aloud, her heart aching. She headed up the stairs, and just then Elly came inside, flushed and out of breath.

  “And where have you been?” Bea asked her second daughter.

  Elly looked up at Irene, and Irene felt a hint of alarm. “Just walking,” she answered.

  “Looks more like you have been running,” her mother said, now even more irritated.

  “I was trying to catch a butterfly, but it kept getting away from me,” Elly lied. The tasty bit of news she had to tell her mother could wait. Bea was too preoccupied right now with Kirk coming home. Besides, she had already made up her mind to tell her mother when they were alone. She didn’t want Irene to realize that she knew, or that she was the one who’d told on her. She would sim
ply deliver the information and wait to see what happened, loving the look of longing and heartache on her sister’s face, as well as enjoying the utter scorn Irene would suffer from her mother.

  Irene breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, she thought perhaps Elly had sneaked up to the new house, perhaps had seen her with Ramon. If she had, she would surely blurt it out to their mother like the tattletale that she was. Her sister held no fondness for her, but Irene did not realize just how much Elly could hate.

  Chapter Nine

  The huge contingent of Volunteers approached one end of Sixteenth Street, and Denver’s citizens crowded both sides of the dusty street, cheering for their heroes, welcoming them home. There was no more talk of Gilpin’s Lambs, only cheers for the victors. The Colorado Volunteers had proved themselves.

  This was a day when whores mixed with merchants, drunks with preachers, Indians and Mexicans with Denver’s elite. Everyone seemed to be happy. Bea Kirkland herded her three children to a roped-off platform, where they would join other prominent citizens, including Governor Gilpin himself. John and Irene would have preferred to mingle with the rest of the crowd, among people who interested and excited them, but only the governor’s platform was good enough for the Kirkland family, as far as Bea was concerned.

  The woman left them a moment to say hello to Governor Gilpin, and John leaned close to Irene. “Did you see Ramon today?” he asked.

  She reddened, wondering if her brother knew how she really felt about Ramon. “Yes. We went riding.”

  “You what!” John looked at her in surprise, and Irene put a finger to her lips. She looked to see her mother still hustling about in her black taffeta dress, making sure the governor was comfortable, hovering over him like a mother hen. Elly was sauntering around the platform, twirling her parasol. She stopped to make conversation with Elizabeth Byers, who sat right next to the governor. It was obvious Elly was enjoying the way people in the crowd stared at her.

  Irene took John aside. “We went riding,” she repeated. “And you’ll never guess what happened! Some men came along and tried to give us trouble. Ramon sent them running. He even hit one of them so hard with his rifle barrel that he knocked him from his horse!”

  “Ramon?”

  “Yes.” She sobered. “He did it for me, John. If he had shot one of them, he could have been hanged. But he told me he would rather die than let anything happen to me. I wish you could have been there and seen it!”

  “So do I. You shouldn’t have gone riding alone with him though, Irene. Mother would be furious.”

  “I don’t care what she thinks.”

  “Sure you do.” He searched her eyes, seeing the near agony in them. “Irene, you don’t…well, you don’t want to be something more than friends with Ramon, do you?”

  Her eyes glistened. “Yes. I do.”

  “Does Ramon feel the same way?”

  “Yes. But don’t say anything to anyone, John. Promise me. Ramon and I have to work this out ourselves, at the right time.”

  His eyes widened, making him look more like a little boy than the man he was becoming. “God, Irene, that’s crazy. I like Ramon, too, but anything more than friendship between you is going to cause real trouble.”

  “It doesn’t have to be that way.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “I—”

  “Children! Children, get over here up front. Your father and Chad are coming,” Bea interrupted, rushing over to hurry them to the front of the platform. There was no more time to talk of Ramon. Colonel Slough and Major Chivington were passing the stand now.

  A band made up of hometown citizens and a few miners struck up “The Liberty Song,” and for the first time all day Irene’s thoughts strayed for a moment from Ramon. She watched the passing Colorado Volunteers closely, searching for Kirk.

  Come join hand in hand, brave Americans all, a good share of the crowd started singing.

  And rouse your bold hearts at fair Liberty’s call.

  No tyrannous acts shall suppress your just claim, Irene joined in.

  Or stain with dishonor America’s name.

  In freedom we’re born and in freedom we’ll live;

  Our purses are ready,

  Steady, friends, steady.

  Not as slaves, but as freemen, our money we’ll give.

  Tears came to her eyes, and she was surprised to see tears in her mother’s eyes also. It was a rare sight.

  Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all,

  By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall, they continued to sing.

  Chivington waved to the crowd, sitting tall and proud, holding an American flag in one hand. Irene thought he had a very stern appearance, a look in his dark eyes that gave her shivers for no reason she could name. She finally spotted her father, who sat taller than most of the others, wearing the buckskin clothing he loved best. He had refused a uniform, since funds for them were coming from Denver citizens and needed to be used sparingly.

  “There he is, Mother,” Irene pointed out.

  Bea put a hand to her heart. “Kirk,” she said quietly. Irene turned to see more tears in the woman’s eyes. She continued to be confused as to how much her father and mother really loved each other. At that moment she saw love in Bea Kirkland’s eyes, but so often she saw animosity and irritation when it came to her mother’s feelings for her father, and there was seldom any sign of affection between them. The last time she had seen them embrace was the day she had caught them in the parlor back in California, when Kirk had announced they were going to Colorado. That was more than three years ago.

  Chad Jacobs rode beside Kirk, wearing a uniform. Irene noticed he seemed to be relishing the attention of the young ladies, bowing to them as he passed, giving them his most charming smile, sometimes reaching out and touching their hands. Elly cheered for Chad, watching him with tear-filled eyes, her heart aching so that she thought she might die. He looked so handsome in his uniform, and now he had been a part of a great Union victory! She wondered if anyone could love someone as much as she loved Chad Jacobs.

  Irene did not notice her sister’s longing gaze. She was too engrossed in keeping an eye on her father to make sure he was all right. She thought he looked thinner, paler. He did not have the same ruddy color as usual, nor quite the same robust countenance.

  “Mother, he doesn’t look right,” she told Bea, whom she noticed was also watching with concern. People began moving into the thick of the Volunteers, loved ones greeting their husbands and sons.

  “I agree,” Bea answered. “You stay here with your brother and sister.” She climbed down the platform steps and moved into the crowd, going over to greet Kirk while Irene and John watched their father, Elly having eyes only for Chad.

  Chad dismounted and said something to Bea, then reached up for Kirk, who waved him off and shook his head. Irene could not hear what was being said, but to her amazement, Bea climbed onto Chad’s horse, straddling it in exactly the unladylike way she had preached at Irene not to do, and rode off toward home with Kirk. None of them noticed a red-haired man shouting at Kirk from the crowd, trying to get his attention before he was gone.

  Irene’s heart tightened. She knew something was very wrong for her mother to do something so unusual, let alone leaving the governor and other prominent Denverites behind. Chad walked over to the platform, and Elly was crushed to see he had eyes only for Irene as he climbed up and embraced her. Irene was surprised, and she almost hated him for it. He had no right holding her close as though he were some long-lost lover come home.

  “You look beautiful, Irene. I’m so glad you came,” he told her.

  I’m the one who came for you, Elly wanted to shout. You should be embracing me, not Irene. She hasn’t even been true to you! She kissed a Mexican boy today!

  From the midst of the crowd below, Ramon watched, seething with jealousy over the handsome gringo who had the audacity to walk up to Irene and hug her as though she belonged to him. So, this must be the one called Chad Jacobs, he thoug
ht, hating the man, yet knowing deep inside he was probably the right man for Irene, just as Elena was truly the right woman for him.

  “People must stay with their own kind,” his grandfather had told him more than once. “There are too many problems when you stray from your own people.”

  Ramon wondered where love and emotions fit into that statement. The heart did not always take the logical pathway. Seeing Chad Jacobs with Irene brought a sharp pain to his chest. He knew he could do nothing about the situation at the moment, and before Irene could catch sight of him, he disappeared into the crowd.

  “Your father is hurt,” Chad told the Kirkland children as he stood with his arm still around Irene’s waist.

  Irene gasped, pulling away to look up at him. “How badly?”

  “He took a bayonet wound in his right thigh. The wound itself wasn’t life-threatening, but it got pretty badly infected. The company doctor had to burn out the infection. It left a pretty good hole in his leg, and I expect he’ll walk with a limp from now on. At any rate, it took a lot out of him. He was pretty sick. Your mother is taking him straight home. I’m to take the rest of you in the buggy and send for a doctor.”

  “Father should have gone home in the buggy,” Irene protested.

  “Your mother and I tried to talk him into it, but he’s a proud man. He wanted to ride all the way home in his saddle, not go limping away like a wounded animal. You know how he is.”

  Irene turned and took John’s arm. “We should go home right away,” she said, heading down the platform. The others quickly followed, climbing into the two-seater buggy. Chad climbed in beside Irene, and Elly made a point to squeeze in on the other side of Chad, when she could have sat in the other seat with John.

  “I’m so glad you’re back, Chad,” she told him, “and that you weren’t hurt.”

  Chad put an arm around Irene, glancing at Elly. “Thank you, Elly. Say, why don’t you sit across from us next to your brother? It will give us a little more room.”