Tykota's Woman (Historical Romance) (30 page)

"Thank you," she said, taking Makinna's hand
and rushing across the street, dodging a heavy
freight wagon.

Adelaide set such a fast pace that Makinna had to
catch her breath when they finally stopped at the
Golden Horn Hotel. Makinna thought they would go
inside, but instead Adelaide approached an elderly
Oriental man, who bowed respectfully to her.

"Hong Lee, see to our luggage. We want to
leave right away."

"It shall be as you say, mistress." He bowed
again and hurried across the street.

In no time at all, the two sisters were seated in
a carriage lined in red velvet. Two matching
black horses took them on the journey up to
Knob Hill.

The house was imposing, massive, almost
Gothic, with gables, arched windows, and ornate
overhanging eaves.

Adelaide shuddered. "Isn't it hideous? I
detested this house from the moment I first set
foot in it. It never was a home."

Makinna tried to find something positive to
say about the monstrosity. "It bespeaks wealth."

"It does that. It was exactly right for Tom. He
loved the garish house and grounds. I can't wait
to sell it."

Makinna stepped down from the carriage and
helped her sister. Seven servants stood lined by
the door waiting for them.

"Don't you feel like royalty?" Adelaide asked
almost hysterically, tears brimming in her eyes.
"Tom always insisted that we be greeted by all
the servants whenever we returned from a
journey."

Makinna gripped her sister's arm. "What you
need to do is lie down. You are exhausted."

Adelaide stopped before one woman who
stood apart from the other servants, her arms
folded front of her, her demeanor somehow arrogant. "Caroline, now that my husband is
dead, there will be no further need for your
services."

The woman's lips curled in a smirk. "I
expected it."

"I'm sure you did. Be out of my house before
sundown."

"I can help you," the housekeeper said in a
slightly softer manner. "You don't know how to
manage such a large household."

Years of frustration poured angrily out of
Adelaide's mouth. "The house will be sold,
Caroline. My husband no longer needs you in his
bed, so leave!"

The other servants bowed their heads as their
mistress spoke. "Paula, you will take on the
duties of housekeeper, and stay with Caroline
while she packs. Make certain none of the family
silver finds its way into her hands." She raised
her head proudly. "Paula will choose three of
you to remain to close up the house. The rest of
you will be given six month's pay and
references." Her eyes hardened as she glanced at
Caroline, who looked as if she'd like to strike
her mistress. "You, of course, will be given only
the wages coming to you."

Makinna gripped her sister's arm and led her
up the steep steps to the front door. "What was
that all about?" she asked when they were out of
earshot.

"That woman was one of my husband's mis tresses. He made her the so-called housekeeper
and flaunted her in my face every day. I had to
suffer the indignity of her presence in my home,
where she did little but be surly and
disrespectful."

Makinna smiled brightly. "Well done, then.
Bravo! I like your spunk. Who knew you had it
in you?"

Adelaide's eyes suddenly twinkled. "I admit,
what I just said to Caroline gave me a great deal
of satisfaction." When they entered the formal
sitting room, Adelaide smiled and wiped angry
tears away. "I was good, wasn't I?"

"You were magnificent!"

Three weeks had passed since Makinna and
Adelaide arrived in San Francisco, and Makinna
was amazed at how strong her sister had become.

Adelaide had hired a young lawyer, Robert
Darwood, newly graduated from law school back
East and settled in San Francisco only three
months. In fact, Adelaide was Mr. Darwood's
first client. As it turned out, the young attorney
was very idealistic and took on Adelaide's
affairs with a vengeance.

Between the two of them, the stream of
businessmen who had associated with her late
husband went away with a new respect for the
young widow. Some of them had thought they
could take advantage of a mere woman. Mr. Darwood soon set them straight, and Adelaide
not only sold Tom's house, mines, and other
businesses in short order, but she also made a
tidy profit.

Makinna and Adelaide stood on the balcony of
the upstairs sitting room gazing out over the blue
Pacific. It was a cool, crisp evening, and it
appeared that the sun was dropping into the
ocean.

Makinna walked back inside, where most of
the furniture was draped with dustcovers. The
new owners would soon be taking possession of
the house and furnishings. She found a chair
without a covering and sat down, watching her
sister with concern. Everything had happened so
quickly, she wondered if Adelaide had truly
done the right thing.

When her sister stepped from the balcony onto
the thick Persian rug, she was smiling. "Soon
this will only be a bad dream that I can put
behind me."

"Have you thought what you really want to
do, Adelaide? You are a very wealthy woman
now. You can do anything you want to."

"I still have not changed my mind about
moving to Texas."

"Then that is what you should do if you feel
that strongly about it."

"You will come with me, won't you?"

"No. I can't."

Adelaide dropped down in a chair beside her
sister, looking distressed. "I can't go without
you. I want us to be together."

"I have to keep distance between myself and
Tykota. For more reasons than one." She averted
her eyes. "You don't know what I did."

"I think I do. I can only imagine how it would
feel to love a man and know he loves you, then
face the realization that you could never be
together. You don't have to tell me what
happened between the two of you."

"I love him so much. I will always love him.
But there can never be a happy ending for the
two of us."

"Mrs. Silverhorn told me about the law
preventing Tykota from taking a bride outside
the tribe."

"I know he will eventually have to marry. He
will want a son."

"Makinna, nothing was ever solved by
running away. What may look impossible today
maybe reality tomorrow."

"Not this, Adelaide. Nothing can change the
fact that Tykota is chief of his tribe, and the
Perdenelas' law says he can't marry me."

"What do you want to do, Makinna?"

Makinna shook her head. "I don't know. It
seemed that my life stopped the night I sent
Tykota away, knowing I would never see him
again."

Adelaide went on her knees and raised her
sister's chin. "There is always hope. That's what
you've been telling me."

"Not in this." Makinna shook her head. "I
should be comforting you."

"I don't need comforting, Makinna. You may
think me coldhearted, but I don't miss Tom, and
I no longer feel guilty for not being the kind of
wife he wanted. I even have hope that I may find
the kind of love I always needed."

"John Kincaid," Makinna said softly.

"How did you guess?"

"I saw the way he looked at you, and I knew
he was developing strong feelings for you. But
you must be sure that you love him."

"The feeling is new for me, and it's too early
to call it love, but I have never felt such softness
toward a man, this need to be closer to him and
learn all about his life."

Makinna stood and pulled her sister up with
her. "Then by all means you should return to
Texas."

"Not without you."

"No, you don't, Adelaide. You are not going
to trick me into returning to Texas."

"Sometimes I believe you are too smart for
your own good, Makinna. But I do like John
more than any man I know."

Makinna kissed her cheek. "Then go back."

"How would you like to sail around the world, visit exotic places, and stay as long as we
want to?"

"I wouldn't want to any more than you do."

"Then what will we do? We have to be out of
this house within two days."

"I don't know. I wish I did."

Tykota stared at his mother long and hard.
"What are you saying-that Makinna is not
coming back?"

"I don't think she will, Ty." She wanted to
hold him and comfort him as she had when he
was small, but he was a man now, and he would
not welcome such a display from his mother.
"She left this letter for you."

He ignored the letter. "Just what did she say?"

"Makinna wanted me to make you understand
that she loved you enough to let you go."

"What is that supposed to mean? I know that
if I loved someone, I would not let her go."

"But you did, Tykota. Right from the first, you
let her know that there could be nothing between the two of you," Mrs. Silverhorn
reminded him.

"I later learned that I could not live without
her. Everything else became meaningless."
There was desperation in his voice. "I want
Makinna with me for the rest of our lives."

"Make me understand, Ty. What were your
plans for the two of you? Were you going to take
her back to your valley and shut her away from
the only world she knew?"

"No. I was going to live in her world. I was
going to live here at Biquera."

Hannah Silverhorn blinked back tears. "That's
what I wanted for you. But Makinna was wise
enough to realize that too many people made
demands on you, even I, with the best of
intentions. She did not want her love for you to
interfere with your duty or your own choices.
She was afraid that if you walked away from
your people, you would one day resent her for
it."

"Interfere with my life? She has done that
since the first day I met her! If I had known that
she was leaving me forever the night she asked
me to go, I would have taken her away with me."

"And what would the two of you have done,
Ty?"

He glanced at the ceiling. "I have found it
difficult to live among my people. No matter how
well Mangas taught me our ways and laws, I have lived too long apart from them, and I feel a
restlessness stirring within me."

"Is there no woman of the Perdenelas that you
could, if not love, at least respect, and who could
one day bear you fine sons?"

"There are too many women at Valle de la Luna
who would be only too willing to do just that. But
none of them touch my heart. None ever will."

Hannah Silverhorn nodded sadly, feeling his
pain deep in her own heart. "I will leave you
alone to read your letter. Later, if you feel like it,
we will talk." She pressed Makinna's letter into
his hand and quietly left the room.

Tykota stared at the letter. At last he went to the
chair by the lamp, opened it, and began to read.

My dearest Tykota,

When you read this, I shall be gone.
Do not be angry with me, and try to
understand why I do this. Never doubt
that I love you with all my heart and
always will. But, loving you as I do, I
could never be the one who stood
between you and your people. What
happened between us was beautiful and
rare. I will always remember our last
night together and put it in a secret place
in my heart to be cherished always. As
you go through life, I know you will
realize that my leaving was best for
you. Just know that there will always be someone somewhere who loves you with
all her heart and wishes you only happiness.

The letter was unsigned. Tykota crushed it in
his fist and hung his head. She did not love him
as much as he loved her, or she never would
have left him. And he felt hopeless and bereft
that he would never see her again.

How would he live without her?

He smoothed the letter out and read it again.
Then he sat motionless until the lamp grew
lower and the night grew darker.

Then he got on his horse and rode away.

It was after midnight when Tykota returned to
the ranch house. He found his mother waiting for
him in the parlor.

"Are you all right?" she asked, going to him
and slipping her arms about his waist.

"I have been trying to think what to do."

"And what have you decided?"

"I do not have the answers. But I do know that
I am no longer capable of leading the Perdenelas.
My father's spirit must cry out that I have failed
him."

"And what do you think of this?"

"I think my father did not understand that when he
sent me away from our valley, he placed me in a world
so different that I can never truly feel a part of
my people. I think and love and act and feel
differently than they do. They come to me with their problems, and I have no solutions
for them."

"What do you do?"

"I have Coloradous stand beside me as an
adviser. He seems to know just what the people
need. He has already begun building a dam to
irrigate the crops. He is the one who should
stand in my place. He is the one who knows how
the people feel."