A large dining room off the kitchen would serve a dozen guests, she figured. She was awed by the paintings that adorned the walls, mostly landscapes with Southwestern settings but several portraits of Indian and Mexican faces, one an ancient Indian with deep wrinkles carved in brow and cheeks.
Consuelo showed her through a door off the sitting room into a room that took her breath away: a library that she estimated was easily twenty-five feet long and fifteen feet wide. One of the walls had bookshelves from floor to ceiling the length of the room. And there was nary an empty space. At one end of the room was a rolltop desk and chair and an oak filing cabinet, indicating that the room doubled as an office. A round table with four captains’ chairs was not far from the desk, suggesting it might be conference space. There was a stuffed leather chair and padded rocker sharing a lamp table at the opposite end of the office area, and a Navajo rug covered much of the oak flooring in the center of the room. Smaller rugs were scattered about the seating areas, and there was a woodstove near what she thought of as the reading chairs and, of course, more paintings decorating any unused wall space.
“I don’t believe this. The academy in San Antonio didn’t have a library this big. Why on earth does he have all these books? He’s just a rancher, an old Ranger from what I’ve been told. He spent all this money for decoration?” She almost resented it when she considered the hard times her family had endured.
Consuelo laughed. “Jack reads constantly. So does Jordy. And the library is available to anyone on the ranch. Some of the books—not many—on those shelves are mine, mostly novels, to be shared with any who are interested. In the fall, the four or five children of fulltime ranch hands will gather here for school. Jack will hire a tutor, who will live in one of the cottages for the school year to teach the children. My family has been with him since the beginning, over fifteen years now. I received my education here. We worship Jack Wills.”
“You mentioned Jordy. Who is he?”
“He is like Jack’s son. Jack found Jordy when he was ten and took him in. He came here at almost the same time we did. I think of him as an older brother. I have a younger brother, Juan, who can be a pest, but then I remind myself that I have two brothers and a sister who are buried in the ranch cemetery. That makes me glad to have that pest.” A shadow of gloom crossed Consuelo’s face for just a moment, but her smile returned quickly. “But I should take you upstairs and show you your room. Follow me.”
Returning to the sitting room, Consuelo nodded toward the open staircase that led to the second floor. They climbed the stairs where they entered a short hallway that provided access to four doors that Sierra assumed led to bedrooms.
Consuelo said, “The larger bedroom to the left is occupied by Jack . . . and Thor. That old dog won’t let Jack out of his sight. And it works both ways most of the time. The first bedroom to your right is Jordy’s, and the next one across the hall is the guest room, where you will be staying.”
Consuelo led Sierra into the guest room, which had a single window opening to the east and like the remainder of the house was furnished with oak pieces. The white, plastered walls were decorated with a few more original paintings.
Sierra said, “Very nice. Mister Wills has a beautiful home.”
Consuelo said, “You call him Mister Wills. But you have the same last name. If I am being too forward, say so, but are you related? He didn’t say.”
Sierra said, “You would naturally be curious. I am his granddaughter. But I don’t think he believes it. Not yet.”
“But he always says he has no blood relatives. He calls all of us here his ranch family. My Mexican grandparents are all in heaven. I think of Jack as my grandfather. And how can you be his granddaughter if he does not know it?”
“We have not seen each other until today,” Sierra replied. “It is complicated. I do not know the entire story, but I am certain he is my grandfather.”
Consuelo said, “You have his eyes. Hazel, I guess they call it. The color changes with the light. Right now, they are a greenish-grayish brown. Jack’s eyes look more greenish in sunlight. I have never seen a person other than Jack with such eyes.”
“They are also my father’s eyes. My mother was mestizo, her eyes were dark brown like yours,” Sierra said.
“I wondered. Your skin is lighter than mine, but I guessed there was blood other than Anglo running in your veins. We are mestizo also, as are most Mexicans, mixed bloods descended from Indians and Spanish or other Europeans. Many whose bloodlines come only from the Spanish invaders take care to announce that their blood runs pure.”
Sierra said, “Yes, I encountered that sometimes when I attended the Riverside Girls Academy in San Antonio. Some of the girls did not hesitate to make clear that their Spanish descent placed them in a superior station, but not all were like that. It never bothered me, though.”
Consuelo said, “I wish we could talk longer, but I must help Madre with supper. You will find a pan and a pitcher of water on the vanity with a bar of lye soap and some cloths if you wish to clean up a bit. The chamber pot is under the bed. There is a bathtub in the tub room next to Jack’s bedroom, but you would not have time to use that before supper. My brother, Juan, will heat water and fill the tub later if you like.”
“That
