ADIOS, MI AMADA
MISSING SCENE FROM "THE RETURN"

By Maril
maril.swan@sympatico.ca

DISCLAIMERS: Fireworks, etc.
RATING: G
FEEDBACK: yes please <g>
NOTE: if you haven't seen "The Return", read no further. This is what I felt was a missing scene that should have happened just before the ending of the episode. It may explain why Marta did what she did.

~~~~~

It was all she could think of, the only person she knew she could trust. Now, as she contemplated the scowl on Mary Rose's face, she wondered if she had made the right choice. The pirate queen strode back and forth impatiently as she glared at the two fugitives.

"Does Maria Theresa know you're here?" she snapped at Marta. Mary Rose's blue eyes glittered with anger, as she waited, feet planted widely on the oriental carpet of her salon.

"No. She has no idea where we have gone. Montoya is after Leonardo, and will kill him if he catches up with us." Marta held her breath, waiting for Mary Rose's answer.

"It costs money to outfit a ship, and go on a voyage. Who will pay for this little jaunt to Monterrey?"

Marta drew herself up more firmly. "I have money at the Alvarado hacienda. I just did not have time to get it. Tessa will pay you when you return. I will give you a note for the money." Hope sprang up in Marta's heart for the first time in days as she watched the pirate queen debating with herself about this somewhat risky voyage.

Leonardo grabbed her hand and began to pull her from the room. "Let's go, Marta. It is obvious she does not want to help us. We will find another way."

Mary Rose levelled a cold glance at the man; her face betrayed nothing, but the atmosphere in the room seemed suddenly chillier. "I did not say I would not help. I just said it would be expensive to sail to Monterrey. I would trust this lady," she added, gesturing at Marta," with my life. I don't know anything about you, except you arrived on these shores in the company of a thief and murderer."

"He saved my life and I owed him," Leonard said defensively. His black eyes challenged Mary Rose as he held his ground. "I am not a thief, nor did I have anything to do with the killing. But I ran because if the soldiers caught me, I would hang." He sighed and looked at Marta. "Since I have been here, I have brought nothing but trouble to Marta, yet she has stayed by me. I don't deserve such loyalty or love. Maybe in Monterrey, we can start over. I can find work, and we will marry."

The look of fierce joy on Marta's face was too intense; Mary Rose turned away from the raw emotion and wondered what to do. If I help her escape with him, she may be making the biggest mistake of her life. If I don't help, she'll consider me her enemy, and may be captured by Montoya. He will swing them both, no doubt, as a lesson to others. Her heart ached for the Gypsy, torn between her loyalty to Tessa and her love for this man. Does he deserve her? I have to think she feels he does, for here she is, ready to run away with him. Marta is no fool. But then, a women in love often doesn't think straight. I know. Been there myself a few times. Mary Rose smiled to herself at the remembrance. She studied the man holding Marta's hand so possessively. Why is it always the rogues who seem to win such love and protectiveness from women, she wondered as she looked him over, trying to see what Marta saw in him. He was not particularly handsome; his cheeks were unshaven and hair unkempt. Though he had bold dark eyes, they seemed a bit shifty to her. The gold earring in his right ear suggested he was one of her race, a gitano. Part of the attraction, I'm sure, Mary Rose decided. But certainly, not all. He must be a good lover as there doesn't seem to be anything else about him that could create such a fierce devotion. I just wish Marta would reconsider this decision.

She shrugged. "All right, I'll take you to Monterrey. It will take a day or so to get the ship ready. Meanwhile, you can stay here at my rancho. For proprieties' sake, I will give you each a room. What arrangements you make later is none of my business."

Marta flushed darkly, at a loss for words for several seconds. "We will be married in Monterrey, Mary Rose. And thank you for this great favour. I will repay you whatever your expenses may be."

~~~~~

The ship rose and fell in the long swells as a fair wind drove the ship north to Monterrey. The captain stood with her feet firmly planted on the deck, watching the sky. So far, the weather had been fair, but it could change any time. Clouds on the horizon suggested a squall heading their way. Marta's man, Leonardo, came out of the lower cabin and started toward her. She kept her face blank but steeled herself for this conversation. She had asked him to meet her on deck, alone, for a private talk. Marta remained below, a victim temporarily of mal de mer.

He strode up the few steps and stood before her, a wary look in his eyes. "You asked to see me, Capitan?" he began uncertainly.

"Yes, Leonardo." Mary Rose turned away and looked out toward the ship's wake. This was going to be difficult. "I've been a friend of Marta's for a while now, and I'm very concerned about this decision she has made. All she is giving up for you. What kind of life can you offer her as a fugitive? You're penniless and without any resources. What will you do for money?" She turned to face him and impaled him with a glacial stare. "Are you planning to spend the rest of your life running from the law, stealing to live? Is that the life you plan for someone you say you love?" she said harshly.

"I would never drag Marta into that kind of life," Leonardo said indignantly.

"You already have!" Mary Rose replied curtly. She moved toward him and stopped. Emotion made her breathing ragged as she stared at Marta's lover. "With Maria Theresa, she has a roof over her head, food to eat and someone who loves her. How can you take her from that into such an uncertain future?"

"She loves me. And I love her. We will join her people in Andalusia, and live with them. I will work hard and provide for us. Marta will have the children she has always wanted. We will be happy together."

"For how long, Leonardo? You have told me about all the places in the world you have seen. How long will you be content to live in a small wagon, moving at the slow pace of a team of oxen? How long until the wanderlust is irresistible and you leave? Think about it, Leonardo. We will be in Monterrey tomorrow sometime. Think very hard about this." Mary Rose stepped away from him swiftly and went below.

Leonardo gazed at the horizon. It beckoned with new adventures, always new sights and experiences. He had come back for Marta--to share his life with her. But it wasn't turning out as he planned. She had risked her life for him, ready to die with him if it came to that. It was not what he thought would happen when he first saw her in the villa's kitchen. What a vision she was, after so long! The years vanished as he had scooped her up into an ardent embrace. She looked a little older but still so beautiful, it filled his soul just to look at her.

He leaned on the taffrail and stared at the white froth following the ship, at the waves that curled away from the stern. How often had he sailed like this, going somewhere with his friend? Always running, always trying their luck somewhere else. But everywhere they went, it was the same. Trouble with the law, a quick escape from the hangman's noose. Even in the town where Marta lived, the pattern repeated itself. Now that his friend was dead, would it be different? The lady capitan was right--he had dragged Marta into his nomadic life with its dangers. Does she not deserve better? Maybe I should prove I can make it on my own, without my friend. Work at an honest trade instead of stealing to live. Then I will be worthy of her.

~~~~~

Marta had to admit she was no sailor. The voyage to Monterrey had been rough with a fierce line squall lifting the ship over huge waves and dropping it alarmingly into the troughs. It had been a miserable time for her. Now, as she stood on the quarterdeck, the sea was as calm as a millpond. As she watched, the setting sun caught the sails of Leonardo's ship, now far out on the water, turning them bright crimson in a final blaze and last glimpse before disappearing into a cloudbank on the horizon.

The spell was broken suddenly. Marta heaved a sigh and let go of the bond that had held her in its thrall for those ten years. The vision of Leonardo and herself, living a bright dream in a world where there was no persecution, no poverty or starvation, vanished like the ship over the horizon. She had seen her unborn children in his warm dark eyes. Those children were never to be. She had known it from the first, when they met ten years before in Spain. But she had cherished the dream like a bright jewel, to taken out and contemplated, then put away until the time was right to put it on. She now knew she had created a myth, that Leonardo was a story she told herself when she needed to feel that, somewhere, there was a passion in someone's heart for her. The man she loved, lived in the past of her youth; the man he was now, was almost a stranger. Too much had happened to him; too many guilty secrets about his life with that desperado that he couldn't share with her. She let him go, and in the emptiness of the place he had occupied, was a certain peace. Her life would go forward without him; he would never come back. In spite of his promises to return when he had become his own man, she knew she would never see him again. And she let him go with her own pledge of love. She did love him, in the nostalgic way of a lost love, the sentimental yearning for a promise never to be fulfilled.

END