Roman got out of his chair and got down on one knee in front of Marta.

"Marta, will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

When Marta heard that, she nearly fell out of her chair.

"What?"

"Marta, I know I'm not a rich man--Hell, I can't even afford a ring for you. But I love you more than anyone else I've known in my entire life. I can't imagine spending the rest of my life without you by my side. Say yes, Marta, and make me the happiest person on earth."

"I don't know, Roman."

"Why not?"

"I have responsibilities here and I can't just give them up."

"Tessa's a grown woman. She'll be fine."

"You don't understand."

Roman stood up, the disappointment on his face painfully obvious.

"You're right Marta, I don't understand. But I'll wait for you--give you all the time you need."

Act Three

While Roman and Marta were getting reacquainted, Montoya sat in his office doing paperwork, silently cursing the Viceroy for sending so much. Why does that pompous bastard make me do so much damn paperwork? Someday, I'll have someone doing this for me--maybe it will even be him. See how pompous he is then. As he was imagining that possibility, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!"

The door opened and Private Rodruigez nervously entered Montoya's office.

"Coronel Montoya?"

"What is it, Private?"

"Coronel, I have some news you might be interested in."

The private had only been in the office a few moments and Montoya was already getting annoyed with him.

"Private, I don't have all day. Either spit it out or leave my office immediately."

"Si, Coronel. Roman Petroff was seen on the Callisto road early this morning. He was heading here, sir."

"Roman Petroff? Are you sure? Who saw him?"

"I am sure, Coronel. The patrols spotted him this morning."

"And you waited until now to tell me...why?"

"Uh...."

"Fool! Get out of my office! NOW!"

Montoya stood up and pointed to the door. Not wanting to anger the colonel further, Private Rodriguez left immediately. After the private left, Montoya sat back down and tried to concentrate on his paperwork. Unfortunately, the news about Roman's arrival greatly unnerved him.

"GRISHAM!"

After a few minutes had passed, Captain Grisham finally came running into the office.

"You called?"

Montoya got up from his desk and stood next to Grisham, so he was almost in his face. Having the Colonel so close unnerved Grisham. It never led to anything good.

"Capitan, Private Rodriguez tells me that Señor Petroff was seen on his way into town this morning. Is this true?"

"Yes, sir."

"And why was I not informed sooner?"

""I was on patrol and just heard about it when I rode in. I have known about it for five minutes."

Montoya started pacing around Grisham, which only made the Captain more nervous.

"From now on, I suggest that you make it your business to know these things before I do. And while you're contemplate your next action, have some posters made up and posted around town."

"What kind of posters, sir?"

The colonel stopped pacing and stared at the captain, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

"What kind of posters...? Wanted posters, you idiot! I'm offering twelve hundred reales for the capture of Roman Petroff--dead or alive!"

"What about his buddy, Fenner?"

"Four hundred for Fenner, but I want him alive."

"Alive, Colonel? Asked Grisham.

"Alive, so I can skin him with a rusty knife," replied Montoya.

"I'll get right on it, sir."

"Good."

Colonel Montoya sat back down at his desk to finish the paperwork.

Grisham took that as his cue to leave. As he left, he started to get angry with the colonel. 'Who does he think he is, anyway? "Grisham, make posters. Grisham, do this, Grisham, do that. Grisham, you're an idiot." One of these days, I'll show him. If I can get Fenner and the cattle, I will have enough money to get out of this hole and Montoya can kiss my ass." When he was outside the building, Grisham looked up at Montoya's balcony and smiled.

"Soon, Montoya. Soon."

He turned away and went to complete his "chores".

Thoughts of what she had seen at the beach replayed in her mind as Tessa arrived at the hacienda. Tessa hopped off Lindo's back and handed the reins to one of the grooms. As she did, she noticed a strange horse tied outside the kitchen. Who would be stopping by at this hour? Cautiously, Tessa went to the kitchen door and opened it. She went inside and found Marta sitting at the kitchen table, with Roman Petroff standing in front of her.

"Hello, Roman. Long time, no see."

Roman jumped about a foot in the air, startled by the intrusion. He turned to see Señorita Alvarado standing there with her arms crossed.

"Señorita Alvarado. Hi. I was just..."

Tessa laughed.

"Don't worry about it, Roman. It's good to see you."

"You too, Señorita."

"What have you been up to? Where is your shadow?" asked Tessa.

Roman looked at the two women. "Nothing much. Causing trouble, getting caught, had a building fall down on us. Fenner got engaged. I asked Marta to marry me, received a pardon from the Viceroy, rode all the way from Monterey."

"Wait! What did you say? Back up a bit," said Tessa.

"Nothing much. Causing trouble . . .."

"Not that far back. What did you say about Marta and marriage?"

"Oh, that. I asked Marta to marry me."

"Marta, that’s wonderful. When is the big day?"

"I didn’t say 'yes'," replied Marta.

"Marta!"

"I didn’t say 'no', either."

"Marta, you and I are going to have a long talk. Now!"

"Yes, mother."

The two women went into the parlor, leaving Roman standing in the kitchen, totally forgotten.

Roman looked around the kitchen and spied a plucked chicken hanging on a hook. The night’s dinner.

"Guess they didn’t get the part about being pardoned," he said quietly to the chicken.

As soon as they had entered the parlor, Marta started to rearrange the furniture, but wasn’t really paying attention to what she was doing. Tessa followed her around for a few minutes, putting back everything she moved before finally letting loose with what she had gone in there to discuss in the first place.

"What the hell’s the matter with you, Marta?"

The question, as well as Tessa’s tone, startled Marta, causing her to drop the vase filled with flowers she was in the process of moving to a different table. She stepped back from the mess she’d made and turned around to face her charge, ignoring her water-splattered skirt.

"What do you mean, Tessa?"

"Roman, your Knight in Shining Armor, just asked you to marry him and you’re actually considering turning him down. Why?"

Marta turned and went into the kitchen for a broom and dustpan. Before entering, she quickly looked around for Roman, breathing a sigh of relief when she didn’t see him. Moments later, she returned to the parlor to find a very impatient Tessa waiting for her. She brushed past and went to clean up the broken vase.

"Well?"

Marta looked at Tessa in confusion.

"Well, what?"

"Why would you turn down Roman’s proposal?"

Marta returned her attention to the vase as she answered.

"It’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand."

Tessa grabbed Marta’s shoulder and turned her around so that they were facing each other.

"What wouldn’t I understand? Marta, do I have anything to do with this?"

"Tessa, I have a responsibility to you that I cannot abandon, even for him."

Tessa sighed in exasperation.

"Come on, Marta. We’ve already been through this. I’m a grown woman and I’m more than capable of taking care of myself. You shouldn’t let me stand in the way of your happiness. Now, what’s really bothering you?"

Marta quickly finished sweeping up the remains of the vase and went to throw the shards away. Tessa followed, waiting for her to finish the task before speaking up again.

"You can’t keep avoiding the subject, Marta."

"Try me."

"I’m not going to drop the subject until I get an answer. And I can be just as stubborn as you."

"Fine. The problem is that gitana marry for life."

Marta made a move to walk away again, but Tessa’s hand grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"My husband died."

"Yeah, after he ditched you to run off and play soldier boy. Besides, that didn’t stop you from getting involved with Roman when he first came here, or from flirting with M. D’Retenu."

"I’m a widow, not a corpse."

"Enough with the excuses, Marta. Can’t you just tell me what’s really going on?"

"That’s none of your concern. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to change my clothes and then start on dinner."

With that, Marta brushed past Tessa and went to her room to change. Tessa threw her hands up in defeat and headed to the living room, where she ran into Roman.

"Where’d you run off to, Roman? And what’s that smell?"

"Sorry. I went to the stables to have a conversation with your horse."

"Why?"

"Because I realized how ridiculous it was to talk to a dead chicken."

Tessa’s face scrunched up in confusion for a moment as the remark registered. She quickly composed herself and returned her attention to Roman.

"Hear anything of interest?"

"As a matter of fact, I hear that a certain gypsy is on a bit of a stubborn streak."

"You’ve got that right. I tried to reason with her, but to no avail. When it comes to stubbornness, Marta can be worse than a pack mule. She probably just needs some time."

"You’re probably right."

Tessa was about to offer her guest something to drink when a knock came at the back door.

Fenner, Josephine and Raphael borrowed three horses from Barko, left El Vaca and rode east from the beach as soon as Fenner had oriented himself.

"Where are we going, my love?" asked Josephine.

"There is a hacienda that is friendly just a few miles from here. If we ask nicely, we might be able to stay there a few days before we ride to Los Angeles. There, we can get a ship to Spain," replied Fenner.

"I still don’t understand why you insisted on getting off that ship," said Raphael.

"When I came to Alta California, Roman and I were on a ship that carried one hundred horses. During a storm, the horses got loose and started to panic. They upset the balance of the ship, kicked down several uprights and punched a hole in the side. The result was that one deck collapsed and the ship almost sank. Fortunately, we were close to land and we broke up one hundred yards offshore. Roman pulled me ashore. Half of the crew was killed as well as a third of the horses. I will not sail in a ship that has a herd of four-legged creatures," said Fenner.

"I can see why you would be nervous, Fenner," said Raphael. "I, too, was a little nervous during that storm. There is something else. Barko is my friend, but there was something strange about that ship and the crew."

"What about the crew, besides that they play terrible music?" asked Josephine.

"I find it odd that a gitano Captain would employ mainly Irish and Scot crewmen. Not a single gitano among the group. Did you notice anything strange about those cattle?" asked Raphael.

"You mean that they all carried the same brand?" asked Fenner.

"There should have been two brands. One brand would be the original owner’s and the second of the new owner’s. I think they were stolen. That means there probably is someone after them. I didn’t like the way that Barko and that Americano seemed to be friendly at the end," said Raphael.

"I don’t trust Grisham. He tried to kill Roman and me the last time I saw him," said Fenner. "It will frost his ass when he finds out that we were pardoned," he grinned.

"A bullet in the back at night doesn’t see a pardon. You be careful, my love," said Josephine.

"Look," said Fenner, pointing. "There is la Hacienda de Alvarado." They nudged their horses into a trot and rode up to the hacienda.

Maria Elena and Juan Pablo Vallejo had spent many hours in the saddle after they left Monterey. They had just crossed a stream when Elena pulled up on her reins.

"How’s the leg?" asked Elena.

"A little stiff," replied Juan Pablo. "I think I need to stretch it out and get in some exercise tonight when we make camp."

Elena looked at the mountains to the West. "It is only about a half mile to the foothills. Why don’t we make camp by that stream? You may need to stretch your leg, but my rear hurts."

Juan Pablo chuckled. "Good idea," he said as he turned and led them back to the stream and over to a clearing.

They dismounted and set up camp and started a campfire. After the horses were unsaddled, curried and hobbled, Elena looked at Juan Pablo, who was walking towards her, leaning on his cane. She drew her sword, "En Guarde."

Juan Pablo looked at his wife with her sword in attack position. He smiled as he released a catch on his cane and withdrew a narrow rapier blade from the barrel of the cane.

"En guarde."

The two sparred for an hour until Juan Pablo backed up and tripped over a tree root that was partially hidden in the dirt.

He raised his hands as Elena’s sword pressed against his crotch.

Elena smiled. "That sword cane will be a surprise to anyone who tries to attack you. Now, get up and show me what your other sword can do to please me," she giggled.

Juan Pablo got up and took Elena in his arms. They walked back over to their campsite and Juan Pablo tossed both swords next to their bedrolls. He kissed his wife and his hands unbuttoned her blouse while she undid his belt.

"En Guarde, mi querida," he said as he lowered her to the bedroll.

They did not notice the sun set in the West.

As the sun rose in the East the next morning, the two travelers broke camp, mounted and rode to Santa Elena. Several hours later Elena reined in her horse. She pointed to a hacienda about a mile to the southeast.

"That’s Tessa’s place," she said, as she snapped the reins.

Continue to Part Four

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