“What will they do for money?”
“Betty has a little. Mark had some. I loaned them some more. He explained that returning to the States would foul up this immigrante deal of yours. I rather imagine that eventually they’ll be living on Army pay.”
“He can’t do this to me!” Charles said heavily.
“Oh, but he has.”
“You explained why you didn’t want him to many your daughter. Why didn’t you stop them?”
“Please try to understand. He was a sweet boy all the other times we talked. When he came here last night he was very much a man. He grew up very quickly, Charles.”
“Does running like a thief make a man of him?”
“He told us that he wanted to tell you to your face, but he was afraid of the habit patterns of so many years. He said that soon he would be strong enough to talk to you about it, and that he would talk to you.”
“I can stop them, you know.”
She smiled at him. “But you won’t. You know why? Because in your heart you know that already he’s grown too strong for that. There’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. Stopping them will only delay them, and it will make them both resent you. Both of us, my dear Charles, are in the unhappy position of having to make the best of it.”
“So many things were planned.”
“I’m afraid Mark would have considered them pretty empty plans. I wish you could have seen them as they left. A kind of beauty that’s too rare. They’ll be married in Texas. Charles, don’t brood about it. If you love your son, you must know in your heart that this is a good thing.”
He did not want to meet her glance. A certain strange pride was stirring in him. He looked at her. She was a long-legged, handsome woman. Her eyes were kind and good. He forced a smile. “I’m going to be pretty difficult for a while.”
“Expected.”
A thought struck him. “Why didn’t you go with them?”
“Because somebody had to stay here and keep you from making a darn fool of yourself, Charles. If I’d gone, too, you would have had everything out but the Mexican Air Force. And your son would have ended up hating you.”
“I... I had better keep busy for a while. Maybe you could use a guide. Have you been down to Cuernavaca and Taxco?”
“Not yet.”
“It will keep us from feeling too lonesome, Jenny.”
He had lunch with her in the hotel. He was silent during much of the meal. She talked charmingly. At last he said, “Do you know where they’ll be staying?”
“I have the name of the Brownsville hotel written down, Charles.”
“I imagine there’s a waiting period.”
“Are you trying to say what I hope you’re trying to say, Charles?”
“My little car will make it. Aren’t there supposed to be, by law, two witnesses at every wedding?”
She reached across the table and placed her hand over his. Her fine eyes were misty. “If we try real hard, Charles, we may turn out to be pretty acceptable in-laws, after all. I detect something under that shirt of yours besides stuffing.”
Then they laughed, and it was warm, fond laughter. They left the table hurriedly, because there was a great deal to do, and the first one of these things was the wire which would carry both their names.
