The Forbidden Promise (10 page)

"What happened?" Asked Aurora, putting on an apron.

“The
old lady was accompanied here by her niece, I think she’s called Alma,"
replied Dr. Peron. "She doesn’t seem to be responding and is suffering
from some form of dementia."
Aurora bent down to examine her.
"She has very dilated pupils," she commented.
Dr. Peron nodded.
"It's true, I noticed that, too. It almost seems as if she has been
administered a drug."
"Doctor, come quickly," Mother Agostina suddenly called.
They went over to the two patients with fevers. They were two mixed raced boys,
one quite young.
"They need to be given quinine," said Dr. Peron. "It could be
malaria. They live outside Tampico, in the forest so they may have been bitten
by mosquitoes."
Aurora nodded.
"They’re also dehydrated. Mother, try to get them to drink as much as
possible," said Aurora as she went to the dispensary. She noted with
disappointment that the doses of quinine were now very low. She prepared the
injections and passed one syringe to Dr. Peron while she took care of
administering the other to the younger patient. When she had finished she put
the used glass syringe in a metal basin, from which a young novice collected
the used syringes, to boil them so they could be reused.
They then returned to the old woman, who stood in a corner.
"It would be better if she was in a bed and kept her under
observation," said Aurora. "We’ll see what symptoms present during
the next few hours. When will her niece return?"
Dr. Peron replied cautiously. "I don’t even know if she’ll return. She was
in a hurry to leave. She almost left without telling us the name of this poor
lady."
Aurora made no comment, although the disappointment showed on her face.
"I'm worried about the dispensary," said Aurora changing the subject.
"The quinine is almost finished, and the bromide and morphine are also
running out now."
"Unfortunately, I know. My pharmacist friend in San Luis couldn’t give me
more with the little money we have available," replied Dr. Peron.
" Isn’t it possible to go to someone else? I can ask my father to give me
something from his stocks... "
" As much as your father does, he certainly can’t maintain a dispensary
for an infirmary like this."
"I know, but it could definitely help."
"We need to go to Veracruz. There are pharmacies there that are larger and
offer better prices. But the trip itself would cost a lot if we had to hire a
carriage to get to the city. By train, we wouldn’t be able to carry much stock
and we would also have to stay overnight as to go all that way in one day is
impossible. "
Aurora tried to think of a solution.
" Maybe I have an idea," she said, her face lighting up "There
is someone who could help us."
" Whom do you mean?"
Aurora was already removing her apron and hurried towards the exit.
"I'll let you know after. You’ll be fine here by yourself, won’t
you?" She asked.
" Of course, don’t worry. I wish you luck for whatever you have in
mind!"
Aurora left the hospital and went in search of the caretaker nun, Mother
Consuelo.
She found her in the gatehouse, intent on chewing something with dejected look.
When she saw Aurora, her chubby face lit up with joy.
" Oh, my child, you’ve come to keep me company! I'm so bored, today
nothing has happened, nobody has come to visit us! "
Yes, and you can’t speak ill of anything or anyone
... Aurora
immediately made an act of contrition for her bad thoughts toward one of the
lord’s servant, but she hastened to forget any sense of guilt.
" Mother, I need your help."
"Tell me, my child, I will do everything I can," replied Mother
Consuelo with a funny greedy expression in her eyes.
" I need to know where I can find Lucas Navarra y Reyes."
Mother Consuelo could not believe her ears on hearing such a request. She would
be able to embroider busily for the rest of the morning, imagining all sorts of
possible scenarios that involved Aurora Vargas de Coronado and Lucas Navarra y
Reyes together.

Following the nun’s
directions, Aurora quickly arrived at the  harbor. She had not even waited for
Mother Consuelo to call a nun to accompany her, but she unfortunately could not
find Lucas. She walked around the docks but did not see him. She also went to
the shipyard, but he was not there either.
Obviously, she was the victim of some spicy comments from the sailors, topped
off with a few whistles of approval. Aurora felt her face go scarlet, but
decided to ignore the provocations.
"Are you looking for someone
miss
?"
Asked a man with a black mustache, and a friendly face.
Aurora recognized him as she had seen with Lucas, the day of her arrival in
Tampico, when she collided with the young Navarra in the Cathedral Square.
"You’re a friend of Lucas Navarra y Reyes, aren’t you?" She asked.
The man nodded.
" Yes,
miss
, I’m Santos Robles, at your service."
"I'm looking for Lucas, and they told me to try here at the harbor,
replied Aurora embarrassed.
"He was here, but I think he's already returned home. Do you know where he
lives?" Asked Santos.
"Yes, they explained where he lives to me. I'll try there, then."
Aurora walked away from the harbor and into the streets of the town center. She
found the house without difficulty, following Mother Consuelo’s faithful and
detailed directions. All of a sudden, she hesitated.
Come on,
she said
to herself,
don’t be stupid, He won’t eat you!
She knocked on the door timidly.
Shortly after the door opened, but it was a woman that answered the door to
Aurora, or rather a young girl, dressed in a colorful way, as was fashionable
among the lower classes. The girl had long curly hair and shrewd dark eyes.
" Who are you looking for?" She asked abruptly.
" I am looking for Don Lucas Navarra y Reyes."
The girl stared at her from head to foot and made a face
"Are you another one of his friends in high places?" She asked
rudely.
Aurora couldn’t help blushing in embarrassment.
"No! What are you saying ..." She had not finished the sentence, when
Lucas finally peeked round the door behind the girl.
" Yolanda, let the
lady
enter!
Where are your manners?" He scolded.
The girl sighed and opened the door, making a mock bow.
"Please enter,
miss
,"
she said insolently.
Lucas gave her a new look of reproach.
" Yolanda! Go back to work ... please."
The girl snorted again and went into the kitchen.
Lucas turned to Aurora.
"Come in
Miss
Aurora, what a surprise
your visit is, are you alone?" He asked looking at her curiously.
" Yes, I know it isn’t appropriate for a lady to visit the home of a man
who lives alone but it’s an urgent matter that will only take a few
minutes."
Lucas smiled, "Then tell me!”
Aurora hesitated for a moment, looking around. The living room in which she
found herself was modest but decent. The furnishings were simple, but tasteful.
" I came to ask a favor," she said finally.
"Of course. I'd love to help you," he said. "Sit down!"
Aurora sat on the couch and waited while Lucas took a seat on a chair close by.
She noticed that his eyes, usually so bright, had instead a lifeless look that
did not suit him.
Intrigued, she could not help asking for an explanation.
" Is there something wrong?" she asked. " Are you not well maybe?"
"No, I'm fine," he said quickly. " It’s just that sometimes the
world does not revolve as we would like."
"I'm sorry." Aurora replied sincerely, "If I can help ..."
Lucas smiled bitterly.
"You’re always so kind, even though I’ve been quite rude to you on several
occasions. But unfortunately you can’t help me. Don Guadalupe, the banker, has
rejected my loan application. I won’t have enough money to buy the
hacienda
in Zacatecas. "
The disappointment was palpable in his words. Aurora felt upset: in a man so
alive, the air of dejection did not suit him at all.
" How is that possible? From what you were saying it was a good
deal."
" It is a good deal! With just the first load of silver, I could have paid
the first installment of the loan with interest! But he refused! I may sound
paranoid if I told you that I fear that the hand of my stepmother is behind it
all,
Doña
Raquel Navarra y Reyes."
"What? But why should she take an interest in what you do after ...
"Aurora stopped and bit her lip. She did not want to irritate him again
with some of her comments that may be out of turn. She now knew how touchy he
was about his relationship with his stepbrother and stepmother.
" After she kicked me out as a child and I was disinherited?"
Continued Lucas.
" Yes ... well, I'm sorry, I didn’t want..." Stammered Aurora.
Lucas frowned. "Don’t worry, this story is disturbingly familiar to all,
and there’s more than one version. What is less known is that
Doña
Raquel hasn’t ceased to put a stick in the spoke of the wheel even after she
threw me out of my home."
" But why does she hate you so much? You were little more than a child,
what harm could you have done to them? I can understand that she wanted to
restore justice and if you’re really not your father’s son you have no right to
inherit, but she still plagues you ... "
Lucas’ eyes burned with anger for a moment. "This is the falsehood that my
stepmother has created and to which my father Eduardo came to believe. I’m sure
that
Doña
Raquel has simply invented everything to eliminate me from
inheriting anything." He sighed, "As for the rest and why she hates
me, I have no other explanation."
"I first met her as a child, she seemed like a very distinguished woman,
proud but not cruel." Said Aurora
" Believe me she’s a real monster, she even tried to prevent me from
coming into possession of my mother’s inheritance."
Aurora looked at him moved. "How could she act with so much wickedness? I
don’t understand, to act so cruelly to a helpless child ... "
Lucas took Aurora’s hand between his and gently touched it to his lips."
You talk like this because you’re so noble and generous, but you don’t know the
dark depths of some people’s souls. "
Aurora withdrew her hand staring at it unsettled.
"Anyway, it won’t discourage me, I’ll try other ways to get the money I
need, Don Guadalupe is certainly not the only banker in Mexico. I want to have
my own
hacienda
and show everyone who I am, a true Navarra y Reyes.
Although I don’t have much time, the creditors of poor Gajardo, the seller, are
bandits and they won’t wait forever for him to sell me his estate. But we come
to you: you wanted to ask me a favor, didn’t you? I would be happy to help
you."
" You see, I’ve come from the convent’s infirmary, at the moment we have a
lot of sick people in need of medicine." Explained Aurora.
" Yes?" He encouraged her to continue.
" The medical supplies are dwindling fast and the money we have to replace
them is very limited. We thought that we could obtain better prices in
Veracruz, but the travel and related costs are a big problem. I thought you
might…"Aurora stopped to look at Lucas’ handsome face to obtain an
indication of his willingness to help.
Lucas’ eyes lit up, he was happy to be able to make a difference to the poor
and needy, and did not even let her finish her sentence: "I could use one
of my trips to get you what you need. I’m leaving next week and one of the
ports of call is in fact Veracruz. Prepare me a list of medicines and I'll do
my best to get you what you need. "
" I don’t know how to thank you Lucas!"
" Don’t think about it. I’ll do it also to repay Father Julian for
everything he did for me when I was a child." Said Lucas as he looked at
Aurora with interest, Aurora also had a sad and dejected look. "Even you
have problems or am I wrong? You seem dejected and disappointed."
"In truth, yes. You know, I had thought that your brother’s courtship was
sincere and I had expectations, illusions that have proven to be completely
false."
" You were so in love?"
Aurora blushed looking away "I think so, Federico knows how to be very
charming when he wants. But now I know what he is capable of and I won’t be
charmed by him anymore."
"I think that deep down you're lucky."
Aurora looked at him strangely and Lucas blushed embarrassed.
" Yes, well ... Federico isn’t the best man to marry, he has a gambling
problem and he drinks too much. You would never have been happy. You should
expect better for yourself. You are so beautiful, intelligent, compassionate
... "
"I’ve no intention of marrying," answered Aurora with more emphasis
than she would want.
" No?"
" Not at all. I just want to dedicate myself to medicine, healing the
sick, I want nothing more."
" All of this does you credit. But remember, sharing your life with the
right person would make you much happier than you would be only through your
work. Believe me, don’t deprive yourself of a family, you would never be
complete."
Lucas’ words really upset Aurora who thought about them all the way back home.
He spoke this way because he knows what it means not to have love or a
family. Poor man, how unhappy his childhood must have been
.
Upon her return she was greeted by her mother, Aurora was unusually radiant, so
much so that her mother did not even ask if she had been escorted home.
"Today I received a message from
Doña
Ines. My dear, she tells me
that her nephew Felipe was very impressed by your elegance and wishes to be
able to visit you again."
"Really?" Aurora replied absently.
"Don’t you think he’s a young gentleman and very pleasant? "
" Yes, he’s very kind. "
"You like him then? Will you accept his courtship?" asked
Doña
Viviana
"Excuse me? I didn’t understand, what you're talking about!"
Exclaimed Aurora.
"Aurora you’re not listening to me," said her mother annoyed. "
I'm talking about Felipe, he’s interested in you and wants to see you."
" No, no, mother, I’m not interested in that young man’s courtship. We’ll
never get on."
" Why do you think that? Last night you spoke to each other and shared
many ideas."
" Yes, except what is closest to my heart. I don’t think he would be
agreeable to a woman who ... " Aurora stopped suddenly realizing what she
was saying.
Doña
Viviana, furious, confronted her daughter, "I already told you
to stop this obsession!"
"It's not an obsession!" Said Aurora, tired of the constant pressure
that her mother was subjecting her to.
Vivian looked at her sternly.
"Let's go to my room to talk," she ordered in a lower voice.
"Your father is in his office with a patient, I don’t want our affairs to
be immediately on the lips of all the gossips in Tampico!"
Aurora reluctantly followed her mother into her room. Viviana closed the door
behind them, then she turned to face her daughter. She had calmed down a
little, although her beautiful facial features were still drawn in anger.
"It's time to talk woman to woman," she said, staring at Aurora with
her hazel eyes, lit up by agitation. "You’re no longer a child!"
" It’s because I’m no longer a child that I know what to do with my life!
I want to make my own choices!"
"You're reckless. You don’t know what that means! Don’t you understand
that I just want to help? I'm your mother, remember, I just want what’s good
for you!"
Viviana sat down on one of the chairs that furnished her room. Aurora chose to
remain standing, too nervous to stay still.
" Mother, I never wanted my return here to Tampico to coincide with a
resurgence of tension between us," she said sadly.
Viviana’s face and voice softened.
" Darling, you're one of the most important things in my life. It’s for
this reason that I really want you to get married, have children, a family. I
just want to spare you unnecessary suffering. I don’t want you to experience
the bitterness and bitter disappointment on discovering that all your hopes,
all your plans are just illusions, illusions that vanish into thin air. Reality
is quite different from how a girl of your age paints it! "
Softened, Aurora moved closer to her mother and pleaded,
"Please, let me try at least ... "
"No! It’ll be even harder! I beg you, my dear, I don’t want you to suffer,
then embitter your life with regret, sadness and disappointment. In this
society, you can’t choose freely! The sooner you realize this, the better.  At
the moment, you're enthusiastic, but you don’t understand that the infirmary
for the poor can’t be your future? Do you want to be alone forever, without the
security of a husband, without the joy of becoming a mother? What happens when
your father and I aren’t here anymore? You’ll begin to spend your inheritance
to maintain yourself, your work will never earn you a living, and you'll end up
sad, lonely and poor! Don’t allow the naive dreams of your youth to ruin your
life! Your father and I have made available a large dowry, enough to buy a 
house, if necessary! But you have to get married! "
Aurora walked away again, going to the window.
"With Don Felipe?" She asked bitterly.
"I don’t care about Don Felipe!" Snapped Viviana. "Choose the
gentleman you prefer! You're a beautiful, young lady, with a large dowry, you
can afford to choose! You’ve nothing to be envious of your cousin Marisol
about! "
Aside from perhaps the husband
Aurora said to herself.
"Don’t be dominated by fantasy and imagination, child. Unfortunately, we
women have to be realistic, we aren’t allowed to dream ... otherwise we’d end
up in pieces, like our dreams, shattered by harsh reality. Don’t make the same
mistakes as me.”
Aurora turned, curious.
" What do you mean, mother? What happened to you to talk like this? You
aren’t happy with my father?"
Viviana jumped up and grabbed Aurora by the shoulders, her face proud and
haughty, her eyes blazing.
"I love your father," she exclaimed vehement. "This you must
never doubt! He’s the best man I've ever known! What happened to me is nothing
that could interest you, but know that by accepting my fate with your father I
was able to find true happiness! Precisely for this reason, I don’t want you to
carry on with this ridiculous behavior! "
Aurora stood for a moment staring at her mother.
"We’re very much alike you and me mother, not only physically," she
said with resignation. "You know very well that neither of us is willing
to give up. We’re in a stalemate."
" It’s true. We’re too similar. This gives me hope that sooner or later,
you’ll accept reality. For my part, I’ll not surrender. And your father cannot
indulge you forever. For him, you are his beloved child, but he knows very well
that I am right and eventually he’ll make his voice heard."
Aurora nodded.
" Let me think," she said wearily. "I only ask this, give me
time."
Viviana did not answer and just nodded.
Aurora brushed her cheek with a kiss and left the room.
Viviana turned to stare at herself in the mirror. For a moment, she saw herself
as she was as a girl, young, beautiful, long wavy hair the color of bronze,
expressive brown eyes, full lips, and a passion for Hector that dominated her.
Then she saw how that night on the seashore, Hector had abandoned her, his
heart engulfed in a dark sea of despair and sadness.
With Hector, I felt alive, I felt a burning passion, but also the most complete
disappointment and terrible suffering. With Costantino, I live a serene daily
life, the certainty of being loved and respected every day, the happiness of
small homey things. Isn’t it these small emotions that make life worth living?
Sighing, she left her room, and went downstairs to make sure that the maids
were preparing lunch satisfactorily.
I’m the queen of this house and my husband’s heart. Isn’t this enough to be
happy?
Viviana replied yes to herself, but at the back of her mind there remained
the doubt that she was trying once more to convince herself.
Aurora had lunch quickly, without making conversation. She waited anxiously for
a maid to be free from the kitchen to escort her and then immediately set off
for the convent walking as quickly as possible to inform Dr. Peron and Mother
Agostina about the help that Lucas had promised her. The poor maid, once they
arrive at the convent, had to stop to catch her breath before returning home.
Returning to work distracted Aurora so that she had no time to think about the
umpteenth argument with her mother.
The old woman who had been admitted in the morning showed signs of
restlessness. She was agitated and nervous, was struggling to remain lying
down, her legs gave sudden jerks and she kept moaning unable to say complete
sentences. Mother Agostina made the sign of the cross many times, invoking St.
Vitus, the patron of epileptics.