Cactus Flower (Gone-to-Texas Trilogy) (13 page)

      
The people and sights of San Antonio were indeed fascinating. Lee took Charlee on a tour of the area, swinging slightly southwest first, to approach the city by following the meandering course of the river for which it was named. Strung along its grassy rolling banks at intervals of a few miles sat four vast crumbling structures, recognizable as churches only by the bell towers still standing intact. Charlee could imagine the original beauty of the architecture.

      
“Such a waste,” she sighed as they reached the largest and most impressive of them, San Jose de Aguayo. “Why has this happened?”

      
Lee smiled. “After Mexico won independence from Spain, the government secularized the missions—took them away from the Franciscan order and tried to set up a system using secular clergy. It didn't work.”

      
“Why not?” Charlee asked.

      
“Times change, politics in Spain, then Mexico City. Not enough priests willing to come this far north into the wilderness. The Indians who were supposed to be converted and educated never wanted to be made over into Hispanics any more than they want to be Anglos now. They trickled off; then the Mexican government used some of the buildings to house troops, as military bases.”

      
“That's what happened to the Alamo, wasn't it?” She remembered reading that in a newspaper account years ago.

      
He smiled. “Yes. Both Mexicans and Texians used it that way.”

      
“It sure is a shame, all these beautiful buildings becoming deserted rubble heaps. Anyway, I don't hold with churches being used by soldiers of any army.”

      
“I agree,” Lee said gravely. “You are not a Catholic, are you, Charlee?”

      
“No, I'm Presbyterian, but the Slades are, aren't they?” Why did she always seem to want to know more about that obnoxious man?

      
“Yes,
chica
, Jim's mama was, of course; and when an
Americano
came to Texas in the old days, he had to join the Church if he wanted to marry or own land here.”

      
Charlee sniffed. “I've seen first-hand how religious his son is.” When Lee looked curiously at her, she colored and changed the subject. “When I first arrived in San Antonio, I noticed how many Americans are settling there now.”

      
“More every year, but the population's still mostly
Tejano
. Eventually, if Sam Houston's right and Texas becomes a state in the American Union, I guess it'll change,” Lee replied.

      
“How do you feel about that—what if Texas loses her independence, becomes part of the United States?” Charlee found it hard to imagine becoming a foreigner in one's own land.

      
Lee shrugged. “I'm proud of my family heritage, but the government of Santa Anna was a bad one. Many people of Mexican ancestry in Texas, men of wealth and influence like Juan Seguin, Antonio Navarro, and Lorenzo Zavala, considered him a dictator. Seven of the men who died in the Alamo were
Tejanos
. So were many members of the assembly that declared independence and those who fought with General Houston.”

      
“Men like Jim Slade? But he seems a lot more Texian than
Tejano
to me. It's only natural he'd want Texas to be American. Do you want the Republic to become a state?”

      
Lee considered as they rode along for a minute or two. “Jim and I have talked about it often. He has misgivings about the Republic's surrendering its independence to the United States. But Jim trusts Houston.”

      
“And you trust Jim, right?”

      
“Yes, I suppose that's true, but it's a lot more complicated than that. You see while Lamar was president, he plunged Texas into debt. We're a weak, struggling new nation with a bankrupt government dependent on foreign manufacturing, unable to support a standing army. We don't even have a navy, or any railroads. Then look at our neighbors.”

      
“You mean the Mexicans who just raided San Antonio this spring?” Charlee had read every news account about Texas she could lay her hands on since Richard Lee had come here in 1836.

      
“The Mexican government is only one threat. On our western frontier thousands of Comanche and Apache lie in wait to raid and kill. Then, there is this giant to our east, the United States, locked in a power struggle with Great Britain for the Gulf of Mexico, not to mention ownership of the Pacific coast.”

      
Charlee considered. “I can see why Britain wants the Oregon Territory and even why they want to trade with Texas, but surely they don't plan to invade and conquer it?”

      
“No, no need. But if they want to keep their favorable commercial concessions with us, they have to keep Texas free of the United States. If Mexico reconquered us, its government is too weak to enforce any trade regulations. Some sort of token takeover by the Mexicans, who are in British debt, would be ideal from London's point of view. That way, the Gulf of Mexico is the Royal Navy's lake. And the United States is thwarted. We're just a chip on the bargaining table of the great powers.”

      
“But President Houston, I hear, is a pretty fair poker player.” Charlee grinned.

      
“Yes, that much is true. I guess, to answer your original question, I'd rather see Texas as an independent Republic, beholden to no one; but if that can't be, like Houston, I'll do the best I can under the circumstances...”

      
“And that means statehood rather than being a British satellite or Mexican province.” Charlee completed his thought.

      
“Yes,
chica
, that's about it. Look.” He pointed ahead as they neared the main part of town. The spire of San Fernando Church towered over low clusters of adobe buildings, surrounded by tall stands of cypress and cotton wood trees.

      
“That church bell still rings to assemble the local Indian-fighting companies. Jim started riding with a company of rangers when he was fifteen. In those days, it was pretty bloody. Even two years ago, an actual shootout between Comanche chiefs and local residents took place in the Council House.” He pointed to a building off the square.

      
Charlee shivered, finding the tales she had heard of Comanche depredations difficult to believe yet obviously true.

      
“That's another thing that causes us to mistrust the British,” Lee said grimly. “There's pretty good evidence their agents have been supplying money to the Comanchero scum who trade whiskey and guns to the Indians, encouraging their raids.”

      
“How horrible,” Charlee said. “Still, I think the Comanche are sort of in the same boat as the Texians—caught between more powerful enemies on every side. They just choose a more basic way of fighting back.”

      
Lee's face became shuttered, but he made a response of reluctant agreement to her logic. “I know no Indians have ever been treated honestly by Hispanic or Anglo settlers, but I also know what happens to women and children in a Comanche raid. I don't—speak of the devil...”

      
“What?” Charlee asked in confusion, following Lee's darkening scowl to where a dapper-looking man of indeterminate age stood beneath a tall copse of cotton wood trees. He was handsome in a dandyish way with curly white blond hair, straight aquiline features, and a startlingly fair complexion. His clothes were expertly tailored to fit a rather well proportioned frame of medium height. “Fancy dresser. Looks foreign,” Charlee observed.

      
“He is. English. Ashley Markham's his name. He gambles and travels between here and New Orleans a lot.” Lee watched the casual camaraderie between Markham and the three men he was talking to, all of them
Tejanos
active in local politics.

      
“A remittance man?” Charlee asked.

      
Lee scoffed. “Well, someone's paying him, but no one's sure if it's his family or a more official source.”

      
“You mean he's one of them—those British agents you were telling me about?” Her voice hushed to a whisper and she stared harder.

      
“He's dangerous, whatever he is,” Lee said. “Just remember that and stay away from him,” the youth instructed her tersely. Slade would have his hide if he let Charlee get involved in this thing! “
Vamanos
! We have a lot to buy before we go home. I'll show you what splendid shops and stores there are in San Antonio, as well as some of the...er...more exotic amusements. Ours is a city of contrasts.”

      
And indeed San Antonio was exotic and exciting. Charlee was not shocked by the first fight she witnessed outside of a cantina, for in crossing the Southwest on the wagon train, she had seen as bad. Armed, short-tempered men had always been a fact of life on the frontier. However, the casual nudity of the women and children by the riverside was harder for her to accept. Now that her own supposedly private ablutions had been violated, she was sensitive to anyone's bathing where they could be seen. The
Tejanas
had long reserved a quiet stretch of the river just outside town where they brought their washing and their young children. If all could get clean at once, so much the better.

      
By evening, Charlee's senses were full with new faces, spicy foods, magnificent churches, and quaint marketplaces. While Lee drove the freight wagon home she drowsed, relaxed and happy for a change.

* * * *

      
That same evening, Ashley Markham had an appointment in San Antonio. As dusk fell like a velvet kiss on the warm landscape, he stealthily made his way through the back entrance of the Carver town house.

      
“I trust no one saw you, including the servants,” Tomasina Carver said, as she gave the suave Englishman a light kiss on the lips and ushered him into her upstairs sitting room. She was dressed in a thin silk robe of pale lilac, revealing a great deal of her voluptuous flesh.

      
“You did say you'd given the house man and maids the night off. That drunken livery boy was certainly in no condition to hear, much less see me,” Markham said peevishly, pulling her once more into his embrace.

      
She let him kiss her and put his hands inside the thin silk wrapper for several moments, then pulled away with a seductive chuckle. “We must discuss business first,
querido
. Do you have the money? Your contacts in New Orleans have been rather unreliable lately.”

      
He swore as he reached to his waist, showing her the money belt he wore. “There it is, my love, all in gold, just as your Mexican friends specified. Oh, incidentally, I have a new contact right here in Texas now. He will be most reliable and most efficient. See to it that your friends get to their savage allies within the week.”

      
“It takes time to buy weapons and other things, Ashley, but I am sure they will manage. Who is this new agent, an Englishman? Anyone I know?” Her black eyes glittered with curiosity and a sense of excitement at the dangerous game she played.

      
“No one you need concern yourself with,” he said coldly. “He's here on instructions from Lord Aberdeen himself and wants to maintain strict anonymity. Travels a great deal. An observant young chap, if a trifle idealistic for my tastes.”

      
She laughed. “I used to be a Mexican patriot. Six years of living with Jake Carver cured me of all illusions.”

      
“Now you only enjoy the money—and the danger, I suspect.” He wagged his finger at her in mock reproof. “How far you've come from the innocent little schoolgirl I met in the English countryside eight years ago, Tomasina. In those days I thought you'd do anything for me. You were infatuated,” he murmured as he stroked her arm, looking hungrily at her cleavage. “What happened to change you?”

      
“My husband, that filthy pig of a Yankee, a crude, tasteless American!” She ground the words out with loathing.

      
“You were the one who wouldn't let me touch you back in England, the one who had to be a virgin for her Texian senator. You chose him, Tomasina, a man twice your age, just because he was politically powerful and a good source of information for your friends in the Mexican government. I could have made the loss of your maidenhead infinitely more pleasant,” he added silkily, caressing her back and buttocks now.

      
“Don't be a fool,” she fairly hissed, swishing away from him. “Every
criolla
is expected to be untouched on her wedding night. I could not let you complete your seduction, Ashley. Jake would never have trusted me again if he even suspected I was not a virgin.”

      
“And Jake was such a good source of information for all those years, information to give to the Mexican government. Pity he had to learn of our little game, dearest,” Ashley said in a bored voice.

      
“He was of no further use anyway. It was time to kill him,” she answered levelly.

      
“You mean you had spent all his money and wanted a richer husband. I'm the one who took a chance rigging that convenient accident and nearly got caught by that meddling young cowhand for all my troubles, too. You owe me, Tomasina dearest. Now, tell me what you've learned from your provincials here in San Antonio that might be worth passing on to my contact. Then, I'll reward you...and you can reward me...” He punctuated his speech with several languorous kisses.

      
Tomasina writhed sensuously against him and let out a triumphant purr. “Where shall I begin...?” She told him bits of gossip about ranger movements and plans for actions against the Comanche. Then, she renewed their embrace, already planning what she would wear to dinner with Jim Slade the following night.