ENCOUNTER 9
DEAL MAKING

by JoLayne
EnyaJo@aol.com

RATING: PG
COUPLING: Still Helm/Marta
CHARACTERS: T/Q, H, M, CM, OCs Jurgen Heche, Uno and Dos
SUMMARY: Montoya and the imposer queens, Helm and Marta, The Queen and Jurgen, and Montoya and a new arrival all come to understandings.
NOTE: Much thanks to Eliza for her beta duties.

~~~~~

Helm lay on his back, wanting to get up, but each time he had tried he decided that his back and gut were wiser than he. They sent shooting pains up into his chest each time he tried to even lift his shoulders. He felt his side and thought, since he could breath easily, that no ribs were broken, but they were tender. He saw some redness on the skin that covered the lowest right rib. Remembering how he received those injuries, he was angry at himself for letting them get the better of him. He could have taken them all in his sleep just a year earlier. When he chastised himself for getting soft in Santa Helena, he wondered if that was a bad thing. His time in the military certainly wasn't what he would regard as stress-free. He actually enjoyed himself in Alta California, especially the last couple of days since he had become close to Marta.

Marta. That beautiful woman who stood at Señorita Alvarado's side. Knowingly smiling when he and Tessa had both reached for the same last apple in the basket. Every time he had seen Tessa and Marta together in the pueblo, he would of course look at Tessa. What man with eyes wouldn't? But it was Marta with whom he felt a kinship, a spark. When she was injured in the square, he had to tend to her. He hadn't wanted to reveal his past to her, but when he did while in his private quarters after making love, it seemed natural. She reacted just as he would have wish her to. She understood his pain. Where was she?

He looked out the window and saw the lazy cloud formations against the blue sky. It seemed more humid the last couple of days than it had since he had arrived in Santa Helena. Helm hadn't known, until that moment, that he missed the rain, humidity, lush green fields and trees of England --- and his little sister. Having not returned to the family or his country since he had killed his traitorous father, he wondered about Claire. Did his sister know what had truly happened about her father's death and her brother's disappearance? If she did, would she ever forgive him? Then he had a flash of the smile that belonged to Sarah Helm, his nanny, Ethan's mother. What would she think of him after knowing what he had done. The sudden pull of his homeland was strong. Maybe his brush with death had done that. Maybe he had been hiding out too long. Maybe it was time to at least pay a visit. He couldn't imagine himself going back to his old life style of social graces, military honors and dysfunctional families, but a visit might be in order. There wasn't anything keeping him here, except for Marta, who probably wouldn't be open to dropping everything, including the Señorita, to go off with him. Would she?

Marta walked back into her bedroom holding a teacup atop a saucer. Helm teasingly demanded, "What took you so long?"

"I had to prepare the mixture."

"Why does that give me pause?"

She smiled at him, hiking one leg onto the bed to sit beside him. He put his hand on her thigh, but she lightly brushed it off. "Will you sit up and drink this?"

"You ask for so much." Helm gently hoisted himself up to the head of the bed and Marta helped put pillows behind his back. A little grunt escaped him as he winced from the pain. Suddenly, the tea cup was in front of his face. "What is it? It smells awful."

"It will make you better."

He gave her a suspicious look, then took a sip and spit it out. He involuntarily shook. "What's in that? Horse droppings?"

"No," Marta said as she lightly laughed. "It is a concoction that my mother prepared for an injured gitano many years ago. He had the same injuries as yours, his back was purple and yellow. She made him drink this and he got better. So drink."

"Purple and yellow?" Helm had seen that also. He had received the kind of punch that he himself excelled at in his military days. Now he knew what his victims felt like afterward. Just who were those women dressed as the Queen? He looked at the cup that Marta forced again to his lips and couldn't help but smell the heated liquid. "What's in it?"

"Garlic, Boneset, Sandalwood, Cinnamon, Thyme, Echinacea, Parsley, Agrimony, Grass, Curry, and last but not least, a little tobacco."

"Pretty much cleaned out the cupboards on this one, hm?"

"Drink." He grudgingly took another sip. Then another. Marta seemed please, so he took a gulp. That was too much at once and it burned going down, but he swallowed it. "Does it taste better now that you know what it is?"

"No. I just like to know what I'm drinking." Before long, he had choked down the entire contents of the cup and handed the cup back to her. "Never let it be said that I make a lousy patient."

Marta took the cup and saucer and put it on the night side table. She asked, "Are you hungry? There is porridge. I can heat it up for you."

"I'd like some water to wash down that horrific liquid you just forced on me."

She chuckled and he grabbed her hand before she could get off the bed. "This is all your fault, you know," he told her. It was her fault that he was on his way to her last night when he was attacked. Maybe if she felt guilty, she'd be more open in a conversation that they still needed to have. "I came back here last night because of how it ended between us yesterday. You weren't to blame for the attack, I'm not saying that. But you can't shut me out, Marta. I refuse to let you to shut me out."

Marta laid her head on his shoulder and quietly said, "When La Reina brought you to us, to me, to help you... when I saw you hurt... I couldn't think. I was sure you were going to die."

"Why did she bring me here? Do you know her?"

"No. I am a gypsy and know my way around herbs, almost everyone knows that and you were attacked close from here. I am glad she did. If anything happened to you..." Her voice trailed off.

Helm lifted her chin and kissed her. He told her, "I feel better already."

Marta laughed. "But your breath tastes awful. I will get you a glass of water."

She jumped off the bed and Helm tossed a pillow at her. His snickered as he yelled after her, "That's your fault too!" He could hear her giggle on the way to the kitchen.

~~~~~

Luis Montoya was completely comfortable. His soldiers had delivered to the jail his leather desk chair, his small French side table he had found in a shop in Versailles years before and a bottle of wine. They were situated in the aisle right between the two cells that each held his two prizes. He slowly filled a wine glass for himself and could smell the sweet aroma of two quality roses from his garden in a vase at his elbow. As he took a sip of the wine, he saw the long red haired queen with the whip burn on her forehead, pacing the small cell, and Montoya knew that she had to be jealous of his furniture. He decided to play it up. "You know that the warrior-king Louis XIV brought peace, was a patron of the arts, and dispensed his bounty. Much like me." Too bad she would only receive crumbs.

The red haired Queen stopped pacing and looked at him comfortable in his chair, with his wine. "Yes, this place certainly is filled with beauty, Colonel."

Montoya was pleased to actually hear one of them speak. Her voice with heavily accented Spanish made him wonder where she was truly from. "So, you do speak. That is encouraging."

The Queen only looked at him, then turned to face the wall. Montoya knew the wall wasn't that interesting, so he assumed that she was actually turning her back on him. Predictable. So... female... "What is your name?"

Silence. As he had expected. He looked to the other cell on the other side of him. The impostor with the short red hair was laying on the cot, holding her injured leg, but had stopped crying. "I supposed you are not going to fill me in either."

With that, she turned her head to the wall. "Well," Montoya said, looking again at the pacer. "I have two prisoners." He pointed at the first one and said, "Uno." He pointed at the one laying down and said, "Dos."

He smiled as each of them looked back at him. "I do like to address people by name. If you do not tell me what it is, I will wait. I will find out. For now, Señorita Uno and Señorita Dos, I have a proposition for you."

Uno became interested and trudged to the bars of the cell and took hold of two of them with her hands, planting her face between them. Montoya said, "It would be a waste to let this opportunity go, for each of us. You only have to tell me one thing before I would entertain the thought of working with you."

Uno and Dos looked at each other and Montoya knew there was a bond there, but how strong was it? He knew he couldn't possibly trust them at face value, but could he make it so they had no choice but to trust him enough to do his bidding? It was be a shame to just kill them, which he was willing to do. He could just picture both of their bodies swinging from the gallows with the people of Santa Helena watching as he proclaimed to them all that he had found, captured and rid the pueblo of such despicable imposters to their beloved Queen of Swords. Whether the ladies helped him or not, Montoya knew that he would come out the victor.

Montoya's gaze flitted between each woman, then decided by the way they were sending silent signals to each other that Uno was indeed the leader. He took another sip of his wine and plucked one rose from the vase and stood, blocking the women's line of sight. He held the rose so that the leader could see it clearly. "Do you see this, Uno, this delicate, perfect rose?"

Uno nodded. To Montoya it seemed as if she was expecting him to give it to her. Instead, he held it closer to her face. "The color of its petals are much like your hair -- deep, red, alive."

Uno held out her hand to receive it. Montoya smiled. Instead of handing it to her, he plucked the bloom off the stem and then let it fall from his fingers. With a smash of his boot, he ground it into the floor. When he lifted his foot, Uno could see that the rose was now a shredded pile of red. "You would not want that to happen to you, do you? Do you hear the wind... coming in through the window?"

Uno stepped back from the bars and stood on guard in the middle of her cell. Montoya continued, "I wonder if the wind will sound like when you are swinging from a noose outside in just a few hours. Do you think it will? Although it will be hard to hear it because there will be many people gathered to cheer for your death. You have been in here, so you probably have not heard the calls for the death of the imposter Queens. The two who may very well have killed the real queen. I have my hands full. I am the law here. You should be killed for what you have done, and the people demand it. What else can I do? I have every intention of fulfilling their wishes in this matter."

Montoya couldn't tell if he had affected Uno at all, her face was frozen, but he could hear Dos weeping behind him. Montoya wondered if she had understood what he had said and had been able to read between the lines. They held each other's gaze for a moment before Uno asked, "What is your proposition, Colonel?"

"First, you tell me what I ask of you."

He blocked her view of the other queen and she walked back to the bars, holding her head up high. Montoya scored one in her favor. She did have courage. But was she trustworthy?

She said, "You will never know my name, Colonel. Other than that, what is it?"

"Who is the woman in that other cell?"

Montoya stepped to the side to allow Uno to look at Dos, but never took his eyes off of her. He could see a kinship there that was deeper than mere partners in crime. Uno softly said, "She is my little sister, Colonel."

Montoya stood in front of Uno again and said, "You are responsible for her." Her eyes were cast down to the floor. He stepped forward. "You introduced her to a life of crime?"

Uno minutely nodded and bit her lip. "You have done wrong. If I were to leave things as they are now, you will both hang at sunset." A tear slipped down her cheek. Montoya gently wiped it off. "You will do something for me and you will do it well, or I can not promise what will happen to you or your little sister."

Montoya placed Uno's chin in his hand and slowly lifted her head to look at him. "Right?"

Uno firmly nodded.

~~~~~

Still dressed in the Queen's pants, but with a white blouse, different boots, and her hair in a braid, Tessa rode Chico out to the Heche hacienda to return the reales that she had found at the abandoned camp. All the way from Don Nogales' to the other ranches along the way to the Heches', Tessa went over and over in her mind who the imposters could be. She knew it was a useless exercise as that newspaper clipping was from a Boston paper. The imposters could be anyone, but more than likely new to Alta California. She thought to all the recent arrivals at the pueblo. The thieves had to have gathered supplies from somewhere, but maybe they had used the markets further down El Camino Real. They would act as normal people in one community and be thieves and attempted murderers in Tessa's.

The remembrance of the sketch of the Queen in the paper gave her chills, both good and bad. She, or rather the Queen, was known in other parts of the country, not just in her little community. There could be more people after her, or she could be praised by people that she hadn't even personally come into contact. That was both thrilling and frightening. What would her father think if he saw what she had become? Would he be proud? Embarrassed? Angry? He never knew that she had been taking fencing lessons in Madrid, or had spent time with Marta's people while he was out of the country. What would he think about the men she had had to maim or injure? Kill? Would he damn her, praise her, or somewhere in between?

Tessa was so deep in thought that she didn't realize she was so close to the Heche's. Before she knew it, she heard a voice call out. She turned to see a young man coming off the field waving to her. It had to be the Heche son. She quickly remembered his name, Jurgen. She had hoped that should wouldn't have been seen leaving the Heche's share of the reales. She wasn't dressed as the Queen, so Tessa reminded herself not to let on that she knew him, had talked with him as the Queen. Tessa waved back at him and Chico walked forward into their yard.

Jurgen held Chico's reins and petted him as he looked up at Tessa, who dismounted. "Señor Heche?" she asked, offering her hand in friendship with a smile.

"Si," he said, shaking her hand and looking confused.

"I am Maria Teresa Alvarado. We have not had a chance to meet. I own the hacienda a couple of miles from here."

He said. "I know who you are."

"You do?" Tessa sweetly asked.

"Sure. Everyone knows about you."

She was suddenly nervous. "Really? How so?"

"Come on, a young Señorita running a large estate on your own after your father died so suddenly in an accident? My sympathies on his passing. I know what it is like to lose a father."

"Thank you... and you are?"

"I am sorry. I am Jurgen. Pleased to finally meet you."

Tessa went to Chico's saddle bag and pulled out another pouch of gold coins that she had found at the camp and had divided into shares. She gave it to Jurgen. "What is this?

"I received a note from an anonymous person. This was lying on my front stoop when I went out for my morning ride. The note told me that the stash of the imposter queens had been found and asked if I would deliver the coins to the people who were burgled. This is your share."

Jurgen's eyes grew wide, looking down at the heavy pouch in his hands. "This is more than what they had taken from us."

Tessa shrugged. "Well, I am just doing what I was told. I would think it would be all right if you kept it all."

"Did they take much from you?"

"A little." Tessa didn't like to outright lie, but thought she needed to. "I do not keep my gold in one place and they only found a small amount, thank goodness."

Jurgen held the pouch to his chest and looked worried. "It was the real queen that left that note, wasn't it?"

"I do not know. What? But that can't be. The real Queen is Swords is dead."

"No, she isn't. I saw her. She came to our house. I talked to her."

"Really?!" Tessa acted surprised for his benefit. "That is amazing. Are you sure it was her?"

"Yes," Jurgen tightly said, then lowered his head in what Tessa interpreted as shame.

"What is it?" She laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

When he lifted his head, his face was red. "I did something... that I know now was wrong."

"What?"

"I told ..." He stopped, too embarrassed to speak.

"You can tell me, Jurgen. It is all right."

"I told Colonel Montoya that the Queen was alive. I received a reward for the information. You have to understand that my family is ... was ... before receiving this pouch... was in dire straits. We were thinking of selling the livestock and moving. We could not afford our workers. I had to do something. I am the man of the house."

Tessa maternally patted the young man's shoulders and she played it over in her mind. Montoya knows! He knows I am alive! Why hasn't he done anything? As soon as I try to do anything as the Queen, he will ambush me. Then Tessa smiled. He thinks that I am alive, but he doesn't know that I know that he knows that I'm alive. Yes... the colonel is going to be setting a trap for me...

Jurgen asked again, "You understand, right? I had to tell him to get money to see us through."

"Well, if the Queen is alive--."

"She is. I saw her."

"Okay. Maybe it would be a good idea to not tell anyone else. You have your money, you keep it and spend it however you need to, but maybe it would be best for the Queen if you did not tell anyone else that she is alive."

"How so?"

"Oh, I don't know," Tessa said, shrugging. "I do know that the Colonel is looking for her blood, so if she was the one who left these reales for us, we have to thank her in any way possible. Secrecy is probably her greatest ally right now."

"But, Colonel Montoya knows."

Tessa was about to speak, but asked him instead, "When did you talk to Montoya?"

"Yesterday."

Last night was when Dr. Helm was attacked by the fake queens and they weren't where she had last left them... after Montoya knew that the real Queen was alive... Montoya could be going under the assumption that one or both of them in his custody, if they are in his custody, was the true queen... but no. He wouldn't. The imposters had accents, like Helm's, only different. Montoya and the Queen had spoken on many occasions, he would know her true voice, even though Tessa had been careful to speak in a lower voice than she normally did while dressed as the Queen. So, what did Montoya know, and how was he going to use that information? Oh, this was all giving her a headache. She needed to talk it over with Marta. But she was busy with Helm. Her lover. Her secret lover that she hadn't told anything about to Tessa. One thing was certain, she and Marta did need to talk, about many things. And she needed to go into town to see what Montoya knew and to find out what happened to the imposters.

"What are you thinking?" Jurgen asked.

"It is lunch time and I am hungry." Tessa gently took the reins from Jurgen's hands and mounted Chico as she said, "Do we have a deal? You will stay quiet about the woman who returned our reales? It is the least we can do."

"I promise, Señorita Alvarado. I will never speak of her in public again."

Tessa smiled at him as Chico reared up, anxious to go. "It was so nice meeting you. You and your family will have to come to dinner one night."

~~~~~

Tessa rode home to change into proper Maria Teresa attire and was pleased to see Dr. Helm sitting up in bed, drinking tea. She smiled sweetly as she stopped at his door. "You look better this morning, Dr. Helm."

"I am better," Helm told her, then screwed up his face as he looked at her riding garb. "What are you wearing?"

"Oh, this. I went out for an early morning ride and forgot about the time. I didn't want to disturb you both, so I just left without leaving a note. Are you hungry?"

"No," Helm said as he chuckled. "That is about the fourth time I have been asked that in the last hour. Marta doesn't believe me, so she's making lunch anyway."

Tessa joined in on his laugh and said, "That sounds like Marta. It is because of her that you're doing well."

"Of course. And to you. Thank you for the hospitality."

"My pleasure," Tessa said seriously. "I just ask one thing, Dr. Helm."

"What is that?"

"Take care of Marta. She's very important to me."

"And me also, Señorita."

She smiled. "My name is Tessa, Dr. Helm."

"Okay, Tessa. You can call me, Dr. Helm." They both laughed as Marta walked in.

"What did I miss?" Marta put her arm around Tessa's shoulders right away, glad that Tessa was back. Tessa knew that look of hers.

"I have to go into town," Tessa told her. "Do you need anything?"

"No," Marta said, looking at Helm.

Helm started to move. "I do. I will go with you." He stopped and looked at Marta.

She only stood with her hands on her hips. Tessa assumed that he was waiting for her to tell him that he shouldn't. He was injured badly last night and should stay in bed. Helm asked Marta, "All right? No arguments?"

Marta shrugged. "You are the doctor. Go ahead." She smiled and folded her arms in front of her and waited.

Helm tried to get out of bed, but cringed, groaned, and laid back down. Marta sweetly asked, "Anything else?"

Tessa laughed at the two of them. He wasn't going anywhere, for a little while anyway. "See you later," Tessa said as she kissed Marta's cheek. She told Helm, "Rest well," as she went to change.

"What else can I do at the moment but rest?" He groaned and laid his head back on the pillow. "I'm used to pain, but this is ridiculous."

"Tomorrow you'll be feeling better." Marta said, "Drink up that tea and I will make you some more."

"I'm going to float away before too long." Helm grumbled.

"I only want what is best for you. Let us make a deal, you listen to what I say, and get better."

"And what do you have to do?"

Marta smiled as she sat down on the bed and kissed him. Before long, Helm had carefully slid himself down and she laid beside him trying not to move him too roughly or cause him pain as they continued their long, slow kiss. He finally came up for air and whispered, "Deal."

~~~~

Tessa drove the wagon into the square of the pueblo and stepped down, searching for Vera. If anyone knew what was going on in town, it was Vera. Thinking that she was probably in the cantina having lunch, Tessa walked toward it, hoping that she was there and not in the milliner shop or the general market. Tessa was hungry and the stew Marta had made smelled delicious, but Tessa had to know what Montoya knew.

As Tessa stepped to the patio of the cantina, she heard the stage coach stop at the edge of the square. There was only one suitcase on top, which was strange. There were usually four people in a coach at one time and Santa Helena wasn't the last stop on the route. Tessa watched as the stage master had jumped down from the bench and opened the door. A black gloved hand reached out and he held it in a gentlemanly manner. A woman in a yellow dress, black gloves that went up past her elbow, wearing a large black, wide brimmed hat stepped out of the coach. One wouldn't wear black gloves while traveling, Tessa thought. To make the woman even more unusual was that the large hat had a black veil that covered her face.

Tessa spotted Montoya walking down his stairs and across the plaza toward the coach. The woman's suitcase had been set on the ground and Montoya motioned for one of his soldiers to bring it to the hotel. Montoya took the woman's offered black gloved hand and pecked it, then spoke to her. After a short conversation, he led her to his headquarters office. Before Tessa could step off the cantina's porch and follow them, to pleasantly bump into them and have Montoya introduce the newly arrived stranger, she felt a pull on her arm.

"Tessa," Vera said. "I have so much to tell you. So much is happening!"

Tessa looked at Vera, then back at Montoya and the woman. They were going up the stairs to his office, too late for an impromptu meeting. She looked back at Vera and said, "Tell me all about it over lunch, all right?"

"Si," Vera said, bringing Tessa back into the cantina.

Continued soon...