Ginny returned from the palace near midnight, hopeful that her father would receive this message, and wished she had dared contact Don Francisco as well. The interview with Lerdo had been draining. The former president was gone from Mexico City now, fleeing before the triumphant entry of Díaz, his passage from the country to New York arranged.
With Brandon’s assistance, he would safely reach refuge in New York. But what of her? Perhaps she should have left with him, but could she abandon Steve? If she left Mexico now, she might well never find him, never be able to discover what had happened to him. Men were all too frequently lost in the corrupt judicial system, and with the change of presidents making things even more chaotic, delay could be fatal.
No, she would stay in Mexico, though not here. Not with Rafael Luna so close and dangerous, though Lerdo was skeptical of the man’s intentions.
“He is merely Spanish,” he’d repeated as if that reason excused and explained Luna’s blatant threats to her.
Frustrated, Ginny knew that flight was her only protection from him. She would go to Don Francisco at once.
But when morning came, Rafael Luna was at her door with a message from Díaz. “He requests that you remain in Mexico City, señora, for he recalls your assistance to him before.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” Already dressed to leave, Ginny stared back at Luna with defiance and growing dismay. Three uniformed policia were behind him, and moved to stand on each side of the door, as if guarding it.
Luna intercepted her glance and smiled. “And I am afraid that you have no choice at the moment.”
Seething, Ginny refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her rising panic, and merely nodded coldly. “I will be glad to meet with Díaz at his leisure.”
There was no point in arguing with Luna; only Díaz would be able to help her now.
But an audience with Díaz grew impossible to achieve in the following days, while Ginny grew more desperate. Luna became more persistent, more bold, too confident in his invulnerability.
He has his feet in both camps, she fumed, and whichever way the wind blew was the way he leaned. He was only in Mexico to further his own interests.
It mystified her why Díaz did not dismiss Rafael Luna and send him back to Spain, but he was allowed to remain in the country and in the employ of the president. The switch of his allegiance from Lerdo to Díaz was immediate.
“You are a traitor,” she accused Luna, and he laughed.
“I prefer to think of myself as a chameleon, mi bella,” he had murmured, “able to change colors as needed. But then, is that not true of most men involved in politics? What of your father? Your husband?”
“Don’t you dare mention them to me! I know you know where Steve is. Why won’t you tell me?”
“Is it that important to you? But I had understood that it was a marriage of convenience, a union merely for appearances’ sake. You have both had many lovers, and the marriage is a farce. It is true, is it not?”
Biting her lip, Ginny stared at him in frustration. She could not deny the truth of the past, but it was the past, not the present. Not the future.
“Steve and I have not always been close, no,” she said at last. “But our children have brought us together.”
“Ah, the children. Of course. There are three, are there not?”
“Twins,” she replied stiffly, “but I refuse to discuss my children with you!”
“Only two?” Luna frowned, shaking his head at her. “Ah no, I could not be wrong. I was told there are three.”
“Not unless there’s another one I don’t know about,” Ginny said irritably, turning away to walk to the long window that looked out on the street.
Behind her, Luna’s laugh sounded rueful. “But, of course, that is it. I had forgotten. My apologies, señora, for forgetting that you are not the mother of the other child.”
Ginny turned slowly away from the window to stare at him. “That is a lie. There is no other child.”
“Ah, but you are mistaken. There is a child, a son, I believe, who lives in New Mexico Territory with his mother.”
Suddenly cold, Ginny began to shiver uncontrollably, and moved to stand in front of the fireplace where a low blaze cast a small pool of heat beyond brass firedogs. It wasn’t true, couldn’t be true! They had no more secrets between them, had told each other everything. But she recalled with a sudden sense of nausea that it had been she who had confessed, she who told Steve about all the others in her past. He had told her nothing.
Oh, she hadn’t wanted to hear about the women, for she knew there were many, but this was different. This was something important, something she should have been told. A child was not just a casual affair, a night or two in another woman’s bed. A child changed everything.
Had that been the reason for his trip to New Mexico? Not Sam Murdock, but the mother of his child? Oh God!
Luna stood there watching her with that faint, supercilious smile on his mouth, as if he knew she had not known.
And, of course, he did. That was the reason he had told her, the reason he watched her so carefully to gauge her reaction. She refused to let him see the depth of her devastation.
“Really, Señor Luna, you are not so foolish as to think I would consider another woman’s child as my own, I hope. My husband and I have led separate lives much of our marriage and I simply cannot keep up with everything.”
“You are very European, Señora Alvarado. Not many women from America would be so casual about their husband’s child with another woman.”
“Perhaps because I was not reared
