Dearest Niece,
Enrique tells me that he has already dispatched a letter
to you with his thanks, but I wished to add my own as well. You have
my eternal gratitude for your heroic efforts on my behalf. If ever
there is anything that I can do to repay you, you have only to make the
request.
I am recovering well from my wound (or at least as
well as a woman of my years may be expected to recover from such things)
and my doctor says that I may hope to be up and about within a month.
This convalescence is difficult for me – I am so unused to spending my
days sitting about! I am afraid I make a rather poor patient but
I am anxious to heal. I fear that if I do not recover quickly, Enrique
may put to sea without me.
Later – my dear one, you must forgive my husband.
He is under much pressure these days, and affairs of the Navy consume almost
his every waking moment. In truth it has been nothing short of a
miracle the way he has rebuilt our Navy over the past year, but the demands
of his beloved ships do tend to drive out "lesser" concerns. Enrique
has just spoken to me and admitted that he completely forgot to mention
to you that he has recalled a memento of his brother, your father!
It is an old journal of his. He instructed Enrique to give it to
you on your twenty-first birthday should anything happen to him.
Alas that day has come and gone, and it only now that the poor man has
remembered it!
Enrique tells me that you will be in San Cristobal
on the 16th on business. I do hope that you will consent
to stay with us for a few days. I shall have some guest rooms prepared.
Feel free to bring your cousin Lucas.
Your Aunt,
Margarita Orduño
