Love’S End - and Then: Two Palo Alto Adventures

By B. Palma

AND THEN


The saga of Leora, Rafael, Juanita and Pedro continues as Ramons insane fixation and stalking of Leora puts them all in danger. His drug gang has grown into a private army, terrorizing all of Mexico and especially the victims he captures.

They fly to South America for Manuel and Rafael to compete in the Pan American equestrian events along with millionaire Seor Robless son and daughter, Marisol and Sebastian, all trained by Juanitas Uncle Enrique.
Leoras terrible accident has left her defenseless and they return to the Robless well protected private villa where even those intricate defenses are destroyed by Ramons army. His last well planned attack causes Rafael and Manuel to go to extreme measures to save their friends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468555141

B. Palma

Beverley Blount lives in Mexico City and El Paso,Texas, where she has completed 30 years of training Montessori teachers in her schools. She is now consulting in schools in Mexico and the United States.     Under her pen name, B. Palma, she has written seven bilingual books for young adults, weaving her husband’s tales of growing up on his family’s haciendas with her own adventurous teens in the Mexican countryside.     Silversuit III is her first Science Fiction adventure book and Silversuit I and II will soon follow.     Blount had an eight page article published in the award winning centennial issue of the Montessori Life journal and two lead articles in The Kappan, the ADK International Teacher’s Organization’s biannual journal.     In 2008, the Mexican National Circle of Reporters awarded her their Golden Sun statuette for special educational merit.     In November 2013, her book El Dorado was awarded the “Worthy of Being Called “Excellent” Book Award 2013.         Her life’s work THE BLOUNT GUIDE TO READING, SPELLING AND PRONOUNCING ENGLISH, 2ND EDITION, is being used in schools in Mexico City and the United States.

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© 2012 by B. Palma. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Derechos reservados. Ninguna parte de esta publicación puede ser reproducida o transmitida en cualquier forma o por cualquier medio electrónico o mecánico, incluyendo fotocopias, grabación o de cualquier sistema de almacenaje y recuperación de información, sin el permiso por escrito del editor.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/24/2012

ISBN: 978-1-4685-5516-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-5515-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-5514-1 (e)

Use of the image on the inside cover is authorized by the Patrimonio Artístico del Banco Nacional de México.

El uso de la imagen de la contra portada es autorizada por el Patrimonio Artístico del Banco Nacional de México.

Oil Painting of El Dorado painted by Rafael Merino Orea (MERINOO)

Art work by/ Dibujos hechos por: Leticia Ramírez de la Mora

Some photographs by author / algunas fotografías por la autora

Some photographs on back cover and in text copyrighted to author by Dreamstime and Fotolia.com

Photograph of Thunderbird on front cover by Beth Argus and illustrator Imad Obighi

Palo Alto Adventure Books by B. Palma:

The Treasure of the Haunted Hacienda

Lucifer

The Secret of the Tarascan Ruins

The Monarch Mystery

10 Horses and a Pony

El Dorado

Love’s End

And Then

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012903367

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Chapter 1    Changes

Chapter 2    The Awards Party

Chapter 3    Forebodings

Chapter 4    Evening Promises

Chapter 5    The Charriada Awards Ball

Chapter 6    Juanita and Pedro

Chapter 7    Rafael and Ramon

Chapter 8    The Hidden Valley

Chapter 9    Rescue

Chapter 10    Change in Plans

Chapter 11    Last Dance

Chapter 12    Goodbye

To Lovers Everywhere

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Figure 1 Hacienda Palo Alto circa 1740

Prologue

The youthful bond between longtime friends Rafael and Leora and Juanita and Pedro has blossomed from their teens into love deep enough to stand the distances that now separate them.

Leora Hunter is allowed to return to the Palma’s Hacienda Palo Alto for the ten year celebration of the inauguration of the factory her father has helped start. They have been assured that their enemy, Ramon, is safely in prison and his drug army has been disbanded.

The money from the treasures the young friends discovered in the caverns under the hacienda has enabled the Palmas to rebuild the ruins of the hacienda and make a very successful hotel and equestrian center run by Juanita’s Abuelo (grandfather). The amazing Tarascan ruins they found in the caverns are a treasure that attracts scholars from many countries.

Chapter 1

Changes

Leora rushed into the once-familiar stables. Juanita, Juanita, where are you? she called, hoping her old friend would be there to answer. Disappointed, she stopped in front of El Dorado’s empty stall. Where are they? She thought, I’ve been dreaming about Hacienda Palo Alto for so long. I wanted it all to be the same.

The equestrian center’s head trainer ducked under the top of the double doors of the corner stall and greeted her, "Buenas Tardes, Señorita Leora, Señorita Juanita has still not arrived from Mexico City. She will be back this evening for the movie awards at the hacienda. Would you like for me to saddle Fiesta?"

Oh, yes, Octavio, please. How is he? I guess he’s not so young anymore. Do you think he will remember me? It’s been three years.

He’s fine for his age, the tall ex-Calvary man assured her. "don’t worry, we’ve taken very good care of him, Señorita Juanita makes sure of that. If you would like, I’ll take one of the young horses and show you around."

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The iron horseshoes of their mounts clicked on the ancient cobblestones as they walked their horses down the lane from the stables. When they started to cross the new bridge over the river that flowed from the waterfall cave and down into the fertile valley, Leora pulled Fiesta to a stop. She looked out over the hacienda lands where she and her friends had ridden during their early teen years. It’s so neat and formal looking. Everything’s changed.

Octavio pointed up the slope to the foot of the cliff, That’s Carlos and Elena’s new house, he only has to walk down the lawn to get to the veterinarian buildings.

Leora looked at Juanita’s favorite cousin’s beautiful Mexican Colonial home and the toys on the lawn. Then she couldn’t help looking at the skeleton of the other house up the slope to the left where Elena’s brother had shown her the plans for his home. Would Rafael still remember the way he had held and kissed her after rescuing her from the drug lord who stalked her?

Octavio looked at her, Rafael’s house hasn’t been finished yet. He seldom comes back from Mexico City. Juanita and Pedro come more often and they played bit parts while the three movies were being filmed. His stern demeanor softened a bit, "I played several riding parts and one time when I was all made up, Señorita Juanita didn’t recognize me."

They rode past the veterinarian building and toward the cross-country course. Fields of corn had been replaced by neat grassy plains with solid jumps for the advanced three-day-event equestrian competitions. Steep hills of boulders from an ancient lava flow formed the border of the northern side of the course and the black stones stretched for miles to the distant classical shaped volcano from which the lava had flowed.

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The westering sun was beginning to paint the huge valley with golden light and seeing it brought back the years of homesickness she had felt when thinking of how she had loved watching the play of the sun’s rays on the lovely valley bordered by extinct volcanoes.

Leora looked at the long double lines of young trees bordering the river on both sides. They’ve grown so high! We worked so hard to plant them. Do their roots really keep the pesticides and fertilizers out of the river like Uncle Larkin said they would?

Octavio nodded, The hacienda’s won prizes for the way their ecological planning is being put into effect. We grow all the food for the hotel and the horses.

He pointed to a long fence that paced off from the river into the valley. This is Palo Alto Inc.’s newest project. He put his horse into a collected gallop and they rode beside the white fences that enclosed wide pastures where beautiful mares peacefully grazed and frisky foals galloped in the warm sun.

These are our breeding grounds for both Dutch and German Warmbloods and registered Thoroughbreds. Rafael’s uncle bought into the project with the Palo Alto lands that his family was given when all the haciendas were divided in the 1930s. Juanita’s Abuelo and her cousins have also brought their lands into the hacienda Palo Alto complex and the hacienda is now almost the size it was centuries ago. All the horses get their initial training here and then are sent to Juanita’s Uncle Enrique in Mexico City for advanced training or to be shipped to the Santa Fe, New Mexico ranch and the American market. Just recently one of Lucifer’s colts brought an unheard of price. Two of the Dutch Warmbloods are showing great talent for jumping.

Leora looked behind her at Rafael’s house with its bare windows and empty door frames. He hadn’t mentioned it in his texts and she had wondered if it was being built at all. Looking east out over the meadows and valley Leora thought that she could want nothing more than to live there for always.

They started back toward Abuelo’s ancient stables and outbuildings. What are all those rocks for? She asked looking at the truckloads of black lava boulders on the far sides of the buildings.

With a stern look Octavio answered. Michoacan is no longer the peaceful state it used to be. Ramon is not the only drug lord fighting to have the strongest gang in this state and those rocks are the beginning of a huge fence being constructed around the entire property.

Leora shuddered at the thought of the burly gang leader whose pathological obsession with her and her hair had made him attack and try to kidnap her and was the reason her parents had not let her return to her friends. Ramon hasn’t escaped again, has he? she asked, fearing to hear an affirmative answer.

No, don’t worry. He’s in a maximum security prison.

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Chapter 2

The Awards Party

Leora opened the door and slipped out of her father’s car. She held it as she stood up, trying to balance her very high heels on the rounded cobblestones of the courtyard of ancient Hacienda Palo Alto. Huge torches around the central fountain reflected the jewels of famous movie stars as they stepped out of their limousines and walked up the red carpet that led into the stone interior. Huge banners hung above the entrance reflecting the splendor of the hacienda in all its former glory as portrayed in the award winning trilogy of its history. Life sized posters of the actors in the three films decorated the halls.

She turned to thank the tall person who held the door and was offering his arm to assist her across the cobblestones. Thank you, she started to say and then, surprised, looked into the piercing gaze of her childhood friend. R-rafael, she stuttered, suddenly unsure of what to do and for a minute just stood without being able to say a word. How could he make her heart beat so fast when they had been apart for so long?

She laid her hand on his outstretched arm and took a wobbly step to cross the remaining cobblestones to the entrance. By her third step she was clinging with both hands and on her next step, he had to catch her. He turned to her and easily picked her up and carried her to the entrance, placing her down facing him on the second step so that