PART 2
"A magnificent mare!" Shaking his head in admiration, Don Rafael patted the oversized mare's velvety cheek. "This Andalusian should give birth to a fine foal indeed." He glanced down at Princesa's swollen stomach. Felipe grasped the wooden railing surrounding the corral and swung to and fro. Dust-size wooden cips dug into his palms.
"Yes. Providing the foal survives its birth." Don Diego squeezed Felipe's shoulder as the little boy gazed up at him. "Felipe, here, certainly likes her--for the last few days, he's been sneaking out here every chance he gets, just to watch Princesa and pet her. Ever since my father told him Princesa was expecting, he's been on pins and needles to see the new foal!" His eyes twinkled.
Rafael chuckled. "He certainly lives up to the meaning of his name, doesn't he? 'Lover of horses.'" Felipe grinned.
Pausing, Don Rafael clasped his hands behind his back. "Lovers of horses,'" he added. "I may not share his first name, but I've shared the same love of horses as Felipe since I can remember. My whole life, in fact."
With a laugh, Don Diego turned to Felipe. "My cousin's whole life is his horse ranch. He's younger than I am, but he's already very successful."
Grinning, Rafael patted Diego's arm. "Thank you for the praise, cousin. Yes, horses are my whole life now, but I hope that won't always be the case." He gazed thoughtfully at Felipe. "One day, I hope to have a wife and children, as well. I do want a good woman to share my life with, and a son to pass my property onto." His eyes twinkled. "I may just steal this boy away from you, Diego."
Laughing, Don Diego lifted Felipe and set him on the third rung of the railing. Smiling broadly, the servant boy gently patted the horse's cheek. Princesa nuzzled the boy's hand. Felipe hugged the mare, then turned to face Diego. The breeze ruffled his hair.
"Well, Felipe, if all goes well, it won't be long, now, until this mare will be nursing a foal." Don Diego looked pleased at the prospect. The little boy signed a response. "Yes, it is hard to believe that she could actually be holding a baby inside her body, isn't it? That there could actually be room in her body to hold one." The caballero chuckled. "Yet, she is. That's how animals and people have babies, you know. Some animals lay eggs, and others carry their babies inside their bodies until they're ready to be born." Smiling, Don Rafael nodded agreement.
At that moment, Don Diego turned around. Craning his head, Felipe saw Don Alejandro approach them. "It's time for your lessons, my son. Señor Spencer is waiting for you in the library." The elderly caballero inserted his fingers into his vest pockets as he spoke.
Diego nodded and set Felipe on the ground. "Yes, Father." He ruffled Felipe's hair, then left.
Don Rafael gazed at Felipe. "That was a good thing you and Diego did, giving this boy a home. You're a good man, Uncle."
With a chuckle, Don Alejandro patted the boy's soft cheek, then crossed his arms. "My son has always cared about people in need, nephew." He gazed at his son proudly as Diego approached the house. "And when he found this young man here, believe me, his need was desperate. He'd been lost on the desert for three days following that battle, with no food and little water." Rafael winced.
Don Alejandro glanced at his gold timepiece. "Why don't you come with me to the breeding barn, Rafael, and I'll show you some of the other expecting mares? Felipe, if you wish to come with us, you may. I'll see if we can find something for you to feed the horses with." Felipe beamed at the prospect.
All afternoon, the three of them examined the mares in their stalls. Felipe petted each one and fed her a carrot the attending vaquero gave him. When Diego had finished his lessons, he joined them. Early that evening, before dinner, Don Rafael held Felipe in his lap and told him a story while Diego read a book and Don Alejandro wrote a letter.
At bedtime, as Felipe lay on his straw mat in the Gomez hut, he thought about Don Rafael. I like him, the little boy thought. He's fun. He sure is different from Rafael Lopez, though! He hugged his stuffed bear against his chin. The de la Vegas had given it to him a few nights before.
An old memory crept into Felipe's mind...
"Felipe!"
Felipe sat crouching against the wall of his parents' wattle-and-daub barn, daydreaming. At first, he did not respond. Raindrops glistened on the blades of grass crushed under his weight. A shower had passed through the area not long before.
"Felipe!"
The little boy raised his head. To his delight, Rafael Lopez was loping toward him, his coal-black hair disheveled.
"Guess what!" Rafael raced up to him. "Uncle Paco says you can spend the night!"
A delighted Felipe leaped to his feet. A chance to spend the night at the Lopez hut was always fun. "Mommy!"
Consuela Cortez stepped out the doorway of their wattle-and-daub hut, rubbing her hands on her faded cotton apron. "What is it, son?"
The two six-year-old boys darted toward her. "Señora Cortez, tio mio said Felipe could spend the night with us. Can he? Por favor?" Rafael hopped from one foot to the other.
Consuela laughed. "Si, he can. But he must come back first thing in the morning and do his chores. His papá will be angry if he don't."
"Si, Mommy." Felipe wrapped his arms around her chest and planted a wet kiss on her cheek.
"Race you to the hill!" Laughing, Rafael took off toward the summit of the hill dividing their two farms. Felipe rushed behind...
The sleepy boy opened his eyes. Pablo Gomez had just blown out the candles; the only light now came from the dying embers in the fireplace. Yawning, Felipe closed his eyes, lay his arm across the bear's soft, squishy body, and waited for sleep to come. In the morning, before breakfast, he would have to polish Don Diego's boots. The caballero had been teaching him how, lately.
As the little boy drifted to sleep, the de la Vegas reclined in the drawing room, chatting.
"Rafael, you've got a question on your mind." Don Alejandro leaned forward, resting his hands in his lap. "What is it?"
Rafael furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm surprised that no one's teaching your new boy to ride."
Don Diego nodded. "He's going to learn how, Rafael. Believe me. But first, we want him to have the right mount to practice on. We don't want him on a horse until then."
Don Alejandro nodded agreement. "I have a friend in Europe who breeds and sells Shetland ponies. He sells them to the children of royalty and the nobility. I wrote to him the other day, asking him to sell me one of those ponies. Diego, here, learned learned to ride on one when he was three years old."
Don Rafael listened attentively. "Why a Shetland pony, uncle? Wouldn't a burro do for starters?"
The aged don glanced at his son and chuckled. "I thought about that, Rafael, and decided against it. We also decided not to make the boy take his riding lessons on one of our horses. Felipe's never been on a horse in his life, you see, and he's small. If a horse were to get spooked and throw him, he'd be badly injured or killed. We want to wait till he's older, bigger, and an experienced rider before we give him a regular horse."
Don Diego nodded agreement. "We just feel it would be safer, and as burros tend to be stubborn and difficult to handle, we decided not to give him one. A pony will be easier and safer for him to practice on."
Rafael nodded. "I understand your reasoning. When do you expect the pony to arrive?"
Don Alejandro glanced at Diego again. "Not before next summer. Diego will probably be in Madrid by the time it does. I've ordered the boy some school materials, too. Felipe's going to learn to read and write when Diego leaves for Spain next year." Diego smiled.
The elderly caballero rose to his feet and said good-night. Diego and Rafael sat in the drawing room for an hour longer, chatting about their trip to Guadalajara before going to bed.
ZZZZZ
The days passed, one after the other. Every day, while Diego had his lessons with his tutor, Don Alejandro would take his nephew out to inspect the horses. Whenever they walked to the barns or stables, Felipe accompanied them. When they rode horseback to inspect those grazing in the pasture, the little boy stayed behind to amuse himself as well as he could.
Felipe, meanwhile, continued to learn his new duties. He polished Don Diego's fine leather boots every morning at dawn. He took messages to vaqueros who were working near the house. Sometimes, he dusted tables or other furniture; once in a while, he brought snacks to his masters and to Don Rafael. Frequently, he fetched items to take to the de la Vegas.
Whenever a visitor came in a carriage, Felipe would open the carriage door. On Friday night, the de la Vegas held a dinner party for Rafael. Felipe stood outside to open carriage doors until every guest, both caballero and doña, had arrived. And on the following day, at Don Alejandro's insistence, he and Don Diego helped weed the kitchen garden for two hours. On the previous Saturday, Don Alejandro had made Felipe feed and groom a donkey while Don Diego fed and groomed a horse.
"From now on, Felipe, in addition to your regular houseboy duties, you'll perform a regular farm chore for two hours on Saturdays," Don Alejandro had explained, the previous Saturday. "That way, if it should be necessary for you to support yourself farming when you're a man, you'll have the skills to do so. I required the same thing of Diego, too, from his earliest years. And still do, as you can see."
Now, Don Diego laughed ruefully as he rubbed his soil-stained hands. "Remember what my father said to you, last Saturday?" Felipe nodded. "Well, that has been be my weekly routine, Felipe, ever since I can remember, and it will continue to be until I go away to college next summer. Over the years, for approximately two hours a week--once a week--I've had to milk cows and goats, slop hogs, feed and groom horses, grow gardens, chop wood, harvest wheat, cut corn--you name it. And frequently, as you know, I have to ride with my father and the vaqueros to round up cattle and horses." Diego removed his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his perspiring face.
Felipe wrinkled his nose and Rafael laughed. Don Diego went to the house to change his clothes.
I had to do chores every day, at home, Felipe thought wryly, rubbing his sweaty face with the back of his hand. Milk the goats, work in the garden, fetch wood, and other stuff. He brushed his damp hair out of his brown eyes.
Don Rafael spent much time with the little boy. When he wasn't looking over the de la Vega stock, he told Felipe stories and took him walking. Whenever Felipe had one of his flashbacks that brought back all the horror of the battle killing his parents, Don Rafael took his turn bringing the boy out of it. Once, when a neighboring caballero visited, he and Rafael had a fencing match as Felipe and his patróns watched. Felipe, who had never seen swordplay before, watched the exhibition with a mixture of fascination and delight.
Sometimes, Don Rafael roughhoused with Felipe, much to the little boy's delight, as he did on Sunday evening before dinner, eight days after Rafael's arrival. The de la Vega household had gone to confession the night before and to church that morning. Felipe had participated in confession and the Eucharist, much to his joy.
"All right, nephew, enough!" Don Alejandro laughed as Don Rafael and Felipe leaned against the couch, panting. The two had plopped down on the cold marble floor. "You're going to have that boy so excited he won't be able to settle down at dinnertime." The aged don glanced at his son at the far side of the room. Diego leaned against the yellowish-beige wall, arms crossed, an amused expression on his face.
Chuckling, Don Rafael patted the little boy's shoulder. "Felipe and I were just having fun, Uncle Alejandro."
The young don removed his handkerchief from his inside jacket pocket to wipe his sweaty face. His tan charro jacket looked rumpled. Grinning, Felipe crossed his legs, Indian-style, and brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. He pressed his palm down on the floor's smooth, unyielding surface.
"Si, si. I can see that." Bending over, Don Alejandro wiped beads of sweat off Felipe's forehead with his own handkerchief. "But it's time to take it easy now, you two." Straightening his back, he gave Felipe a meaningful look.
"Yes, uncle." Don Rafael nodded his acquiescence. "Come with me to my quarters, Felipe, and I'll tell you a story." He helped Felipe to his feet, then straightened his jacket.
Before the two could leave the drawing room, Miguel rushed into the room. "Patrón! Princesa is in labor."
Don Alejandro and Don Rafael stared at each other, then at Diego. "We'd better go to the breeding barn immediately. Princesa may have difficulty again," the aged don said. Rafael nodded agreement.
Turning to Felipe, Don Alejandro ordered, "Wait a moment, my boy. I need you to deliver a note to Maria."
Don Alejandro perched at his desk. Dipping a quill pen into a gleaming gold inkpot, he scribbled some instructions on a piece of parchment. "Felipe, take this to Maria; it tells her what supplies to send to the breeding barn. Then come out there and join us." Taking the parchment, Felipe nodded and rushed toward the kitchen to give the cook the master's note.
ZZZZZ
Sitting cross-legged on a pile of straw, Felipe rubbed Princesa's neck. The mare had lain immobile on her side for hours; throughout that time, Felipe had drifted in and out of sleep. During his wakeful hours, he had sat at the horse's side, petting her.
Don Diego had been in and out of the barn, to check on things. At the moment, he was doing his homework in the house, Felipe knew. Señor Spencer assigned it every day, at the end of Diego's lessons.
The thought of seeing the newborn foal brought a smile to his lips. Felipe couldn't wait to see it. He'd been looking forward to this event for days. He glanced briefly at the lit torches that cast flickering shadows in the walls and corners.
Once, he looked up at Don Alejandro, Don Rafael, and Miguel. The three worried men knelt beside the mare, tight-lipped. Don Alejandro folded his arms across his chest, and Don Rafael rested his palms on his thighs, his lips pressed into a thin line.
Felipe pressed his hands against the straw to keep his balance. They dug into his palms. The boy took a deep breath as the dull ache of apprehension arose in his heart. Surely nothing bad would happen now!
At last, Don Alejandro glanced at his timepiece and shook his head, purse-lipped. "This has been going on too long." He looked at Miguel, who nodded agreement. "We're going to have to help the foal, or he's not going to make it." The aged don patted Princesa's withers, then inserted his fingers into his brown velvet vest pockets.
Without a word, the foreman reached into the mare's womb. Felipe held his breath and made the sign of the cross.
"The head's not turned right, patrón." Miguel shook his head. "Before I can do anythin', I got to turn the foal in the right position."
"Do it, then," Rafael ordered. "Do whatever it takes to save the foal."
Minutes passed as the head vaquero pressed and massaged the horse's lower abdomen. Without thinking, Felipe stuck his index finger into his mouth and sucked it. For once, Don Alejandro didn't chide him to stop. His full attention was fixed on the mare. The elderly caballero kept his fingers inserted into his vest pockets the whole time.
Please, God, Felipe silently prayed. Por favor, let the foal live!
At last, Miguel straightened his back. "The foal is in the right position, patrón." Felipe grinned, relieved, and Don Alejandro relaxed. Don Rafael smiled for the fist time in hours. Miguel bent over the mare again.
Minutes passed as the mare gave birth to the foal. Like its mother, it was cream-colored. "It's a boy," Miguel announced. "A colt. This one's alive, patrón."
"Good." Don Alejandro sighed. "Gracias de Dios! This is a moment I've long awaited."
While the foal lay immobile next to its mother on the bed of hay, the mare licked it dry. Don Alejandro restrained Felipe to keep him from rushing toward the colt. "Not yet, Felipe. Wait a few minutes."
Suddenly, the mare stiffened. Felipe froze and caught his breath. A minute later, the mare went limp.
The servant boy stared at a stricken Don Alejandro. The flickering light from the torches highlighted the horror etching the elderly caballero's lined face.
Miguel pressed his hand against Princesa's chest for a long moment, then shook his head. "She's dead."
The two dons slumped their shoulders. Don Rafael shook his head, deep pain etching his face.
Don Alejandro glanced at his nephew. "Well, my son and I are stuck with an orphan foal." He sighed. "Unless we can find another horse to nurse the colt, he will soon die, too. We must act quickly!"
"Yes." Don Rafael stared at the colt.
Don Alejandro rose to his feet. "Miguel, while I'm gone, you make something for the colt to eat; he must be fed every few hours or oftener." Miguel nodded.
"Felipe and I will stay with the colt," Rafael said.
The aged don straightened his dark-brown charro jacket. "I'll take one of the other vaqueros with me and see if we can find a nursing mare. Let's go, Miguel. Time is of the essence."
The vaquero followed his patrón out the barn's entrance. Felipe glanced at Don Rafael, who patted his shoulder and tried to smile. Shifting weight on the pile of hay, the boy swallowed a lump in his throat. Would they be able to save the newborn colt?
END OF PART 2