Summer 1560
My good bearded and concerned husband,
The landscape of your Guanajuato enchants me and our son. It is incredibly beautiful and very soon I hope we all will see in the same breath the fields and yellow flowers. I can feel the honey flowers wrapping me and the warm air kissing my skin, how wonderful.
I'm grateful to have such a husband absorbed, preoccupied as your letter shows over his wife. Yet, please, I beg you to know that I am satisfied and content in this house with the funds you provide. You don't need to work your head or earn a real more to appease me. And I don't care a pin prick for what clacking tongues have to say. Forgive me, my truth is blunt.
My love, you are pure as any Old Christian free of Moorish Blood and any other blood except that of your honorable Spanish ancestry. Many would more than happily trade their horse with yours. Our son for example, he is as fair as your lily bottom, but can he ever claim to be like you? As I have mentioned many times to you, you seem to not hear, perhaps you will from the page where you can read and re-read, my son and I have blood in common that which you pretend is normal and yet refuse to speak about. My mother is the source of that blood so many equate to that of the Moors, but which I have no shame to house and will teach no shame to my child.
Following this I hope you understand why I find it impossible to think to enslave our Mexican people no matter how invisible the fact of my lineage may remain to your eyes.
But don't let this piece of information gray your hope for a happy home. As you have seen I am capable of mastering the meals, the cleanliness, and child care in our house. And I have spare time to do the activities in the garden that bring me so much pleasure. I have faith that my letter brings you at least some peace, now you have no doubt that your part and work and its fruits are good and appreciated and we feel no lack. Your warm home awaits your return.
Your charmed wife,
María
YOU ARE READING
The Letters: Prequel to Cenquizqui the Novel
Historical FictionThe Letters The most intimate journey into the characters of Cenquizqui lies beneath the broken wax seal of The Letters. What they reveal is entirely dependent upon their relationship with the recipient. Gaze through their masks and discover t...
