The Woman in Red Read online

  “I can’t send them.”

  “What do you mean you can’t send them? We are sorely outnumbered and are at a severe disadvantage.”

  “I can’t send them because I don’t have them,” Canabarro responded. “The whole Imperial army has descended on Laguna.” He waved a hand over the map covered with small wooden ships and toy soldiers.

  “What are we to do?”

  Canabarro sighed as he continued to study the map in front of him. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Not taking his eyes from the map, he swiped a handkerchief over his face. “Burn the ships.”

  I looked back at him in horror.

  “Burn the ships and fall back. We’ll rendezvous in Rio Grande do Sul, with whatever we are able to get away with. Laguna is lost.”

  * * *

  I pulled my horse to a halt as the harbor came back into view. I allowed the horse to step back in trepidation as my breath caught. José’s ship looked like it had taken more than its fair share of cannon fire since I left. I got down and slapped the horse on his haunch to let him run to safety.

  Griggs’s ship looked even worse than José’s. Its mast lay broken at the top and the ship listed to one side. I ran to a small supply boat that was loading fresh ammunition. After helping the sailors fill the hull, I jumped in and we rowed back to the Rio Pardo. The men rowed hunched down, but I stood at the front of the ship directing the sailors. Cannonballs and bullets hurtled past me, but I didn’t care. My eyes were focused on the Rio Pardo.

  “What are you doing back here?” José called down to me as I climbed up the ship’s ladder.

  “I am delivering Canabarro’s message.”

  “I told you to stay there!”

  “There was no one else to send.”

  “Anita, I told you—”

  “José, there was no one else!” I interrupted him before he could continue. “Canabarro has no men to spare even for a simple message. He says to burn the ships and fall back!”

  “Va fangul,” José cursed, throwing his hat down. “We need cover as we work on our retreat. Go back to shore.”

  “José—”

  “That’s an order, Anita!” He composed himself. “Go back to shore and operate the rear cannons. Let me clear this ship and I will join you.”

  I loaded the few things we needed along with as many of the men as we could fit inside the rowboat. I made several runs, loading up provisions before settling in on shore to lay cover fire. I ran up and down the line passing gunpowder and fresh supplies, pausing only briefly as the large cannon’s boom shook the world around me. I wiped the hair from my sweaty face, gazing at the Rio Pardo. Flames licked their way up the mast toward the heavens.

  José wasn’t on the first boats to arrive on shore. I dropped what I had in my hand and ran toward them, hoping to see his face among the sailors. As the last boat slid onto the sand, I launched myself at José, using all my strength to embrace him.

  “Tesoro mio,” he whispered into my hair. “Come, we have work to do.”

  I joined José, Rossetti, and the other men as we rowed to each ship, ordering the retreat. We pulled what supplies we could and splashed rum all over the decks. The pungent alcohol smell mixed with smoke made me feel dizzy. I ran with the others off the ship once José dropped the match. When we made it back to the shore, we stood for a moment laughing at the ridiculousness of what we had done.

  José and his men moved on to our final ship, the Republican, Griggs’s ship. I stayed behind to collect the remaining bottles of rum. José came off the rowboat with a small group of his men. His face was pale and there were tears in his eyes. He took the crate that I held in my arms from me and handed it to one of his men.

  “Anita, you are to stay here.”

  “What do you mean? I can help.”

  “Stay here!” he yelled.

  “Wait, where’s Griggs?” I asked, looking around at the soldiers who had evacuated the Republican. Why were there so few, and why wasn’t Griggs with them? “José, where is Griggs?”

  José took me by the shoulders. “I said I need you to stay here.”

  Something was wrong. He shook me slightly. “Anita, are you listening to me? I need you to stay here. Promise me.”

  I nodded my head yes.

  “Say it!”

  “I promise,” I whispered.

  He looked to Rossetti. “Watch her.”

  Rossetti put a delicate hand on my shoulder, but I pulled away, taking a step to the side. José took a few men with him and went about the business of setting fire to the Republican. When he jumped out of the small rowboat again, he stood next to me watching the funeral pyre put the sunrise to shame. I reached out and clasped his hand. He squeezed mine in return and we watched in silence as the ship burned.

  Part Two

  Rio Grande do Sol, Brazil

  Fourteen

  January 1840

  Our navy was decimated and over half of our men were dead. The battle of Laguna was a devastating loss to the Farrapos. As we rode away to safety José told me the fate of Griggs and the men on the Republican.

  “They took the full force of the cannon fire.” He steered his horse closer to mine so that only I could hear his words. “When I found Griggs, I didn’t know he was dead; his back was to me. I called to him to evacuate. It looked like he was leaning against some crates. His arm was up, like he was in the middle of giving an order. When he didn’t respond I walked up to him, grabbing him by the shoulder, but he was already gone.” José shook his head. “He was frozen in the look he had in life, but a cannonball had cut him in two.”

  “Oh God,” I said, breathing in sharply. “At least it was a quick death.”

  “It was a soldier’s death. The only way he would want to go.”

  My mind drifted to Ruthie. There was no cross to mark Griggs’s grave. No place for her to mourn the man she loved.

  Would there be a cross to mark José’s grave? Where would I go to mourn him when he died? My heart hurt for Ruthie and Griggs. Neither of them deserved this fate. I didn’t get to see her to say goodbye, but I knew she would go back to General Gonçalves’s estate. Once a favored servant in the household, she would be welcomed back with open arms.

  My thoughts drifted. When you are awake for well over twenty-four hours, your mind can make you believe just about anything. I could see the faces of every sailor we lost in the foliage of the trees we passed. At the turn of the bend, Griggs was there, his roguish smile on his face. He winked, then put a finger to his lips before disappearing. I shook my head and looked back over the path.

  My limbs felt heavy. Keeping my eyes open became my sole focus on the trail leading from Laguna to the untamed northern border of Rio Grande do Sul. If it weren’t for the angry rumbling of my empty stomach, I’m not sure I could have stayed awake.

  “We should be moving faster,” Rossetti complained loudly from two horses away. His long face shone with sweat. The perfectly tailored black suit that he always wore was tattered. He pulled sharply at his horse’s reins, making the animal swerve sharply to the right. “We don’t know whether or not the Imperial army is following us. I swear I could walk faster than this beast!”

  “That’s because you are doing it wrong,” I called. I pulled my horse back and navigated to the right, bringing myself between José and Rossetti. “Don’t hold so tightly to the reins, and when you want to move don’t pull so hard. Just a gentle nudge will do.” I looked over to José, who was struggling with his horse as well. “Your knees are pressing in too tightly. The more relaxed you are, the more relaxed she’ll be.” José did as I said, and his horse immediately calmed down.

  Rossetti scowled. “How do you know so much about horses?”

  “Because while your nose was in a book, I was trained to ride a horse. I’ve been riding since before I could walk.” Without warning I grabbed José’s hat and threw it as far as I could out into the air ahead of me. Kicking my heels into my horse’s side, I peeled away after it.
As we approached the hat lying on the ground, I swung low from my saddle and scooped it up in my hands. I held José’s hat high to the air as I pulled back on my reins causing my horse to rear up on her hind legs. “Perhaps not everything is better in Italy!”

  I kept my horse positioned in the spot while she stomped her legs up and down, marching in place like the four-legged soldier she was. She preened with pompousness. Smiling slightly I handed back José’s hat.

  Rossetti looked like he had a lime in his mouth, while José beamed with pride. “Also, Senhor Rossetti, we do not travel at a faster pace because we need to conserve the horse’s energy. A strong horse will get us much farther than a tired one. Likewise, these beasts, as you call them, are quite sensitive. If we ride them to the point of exhaustion, they will die.”

  “Oh, well of course.” Rossetti sputtered. “I was just expressing my frustration.” He turned his horse away from me, this time with a gentler touch.

  Our band of survivors consisted of about two hundred and forty, a third of what we’d had in Laguna. In addition to our fatalities, a large number of the soldiers who had once been our comrades had deserted us.

  The terrible secret that the new Rio Grande Republic was keeping had escaped: It was poor. So poor that it could not fulfill its promises to pay the wages of its soldiers. The Republicans had been counting on a quick and profitable victory, making oaths they weren’t able to keep. Once people learned the truth, they left. Those of us who stayed were truly ragamuffins.

  We moved along in silence, feeling the weight of our collective losses. We stopped to rest the horses and our tired, aching bones. The scouts that José had ordered to stay in Laguna caught up to our camp, letting us know we were not being followed, the Imperialists choosing to fortify their new stronghold. We were safe for now.

  It was a warm afternoon in late January when our troop stopped to make camp. The wind swiftly blew, caressing the hillside as it moved through the open land. I sat in the shade of a tree as I watched the men skirmish with each other while they taught José their style of fighting. “Why don’t you come here and learn to fight with us?” José called over to me.

  The other men’s eyes grew wide as they looked from him to me. “Teach me to fight like a gaucho?” I asked, getting up and bringing my poncho with me. I picked up a nearby facón, testing its weight in my hands. “The thing you need to understand is that this is the only way a gaucho resolves a fight.”

  A slim gaucho reluctantly stepped up to be my sparring partner. I swung my poncho around my forearm, using it as a shield as I countered the gaucho’s weak attack. I lifted my arm, creating an opening toward his soft belly, stabbing my facón at his kidney. I stopped just short of drawing blood. He was surprised and attacked again with more ferocity. I swung the tail of my poncho, whipping him in the face. He turned his head, exposing his neck, which I slashed at. “When you step back with your back foot, make sure your front foot follows,” I instructed the gaucho. “Your movements must always be synchronized. Like a dance.”

  He smiled and nodded, standing aside to catch his breath. I handed the facón to a waiting gaucho so that they could continue training.

  “You’re pretty good,” José said.

  “You seem surprised.”

  He paused, assessing me. “I shouldn’t be, should I?”

  “No.” I smiled, looking back over the men training. “My father taught me. He said if I was going to be a gaucho, I needed to learn to defend myself like one.”

  “So is the facón your weapon?”

  “I’m pretty good with a bola.” I looked at him from the corner of my eye; he had a lopsided smile as he intently watched me. I pointed to the two gauchos in hand-to-hand combat in front of us with their spurs. “Every tool that a gaucho has can be used as a weapon. Spurs are short knives; ponchos, shields. For us, nothing is wasted.”

  The sound of hooves approaching made us stop. A small regiment came to a halt before us. The man at the front of the group jumped off his horse. Removing his hat, he revealed a neatly trimmed beard that made his chiseled face look dignified and charming.

  “Senhor Garibaldi, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am General Terceira and I come with orders from General Canabarro.” The general nodded in my direction. “It may be a good idea to dismiss your woman.”

  José patted the seat next to him. “My wife stays.”

  Rossetti and I snapped our heads toward José. Wife?

  “Very well.” General Terceira cleared his throat and explained that he hailed from the western edge of Rio Grande do Sul. Our regiment was to combine with his before reuniting with General Canabarro’s forces in the south at Vacaria to relieve them from Imperial control.”

  Later that night José followed me into our tent. I sat on our bed, watching as he removed his boots. “Why did you call me your wife?”

  José froze in the middle of removing his belt, then shrugged. “What difference does it make?”

  “Well, I’m not really your wife.”

  “Tell me, Anita, what makes a wife? Hmm? She takes care of her husband both emotionally and physically. She is his rock. She supports him no matter what. She is his partner in building a future.” He removed his shirt, wiping his soiled face as he did. “Marriage is only a piece of paper. It shouldn’t matter, as long as we know what we are to each other.”

  “But the priests—”

  “Those priests know nothing!” José paused, composing himself. “Tell me, what does a priest know of having someone other than yourself hold control over your very being? What do they know of loving someone so much it feels like your heart is walking around outside of yourself and if anything were to happen to her, you don’t…” His voice caught. “You can’t imagine continuing on without her.”

  “Priests love the whole world,” I said.

  José climbed onto the bed next to me. His eyes focused on my lips. “Sometimes a whole world is no bigger than one person.” He kissed me so passionately I felt like I was going to melt into him.

  Fifteen

  As we moved to the south, the pine trees that I knew in Santa Catarina faded away. Large trees whose tops expanded outward like overgrown parasols shaded us from the beating sun. Humid tropical air filled my lungs.

  We made our way up steep ravines, slipping on moss and rocks. As we continued to climb, breathing became a chore. It didn’t matter how much air I sucked into my lungs, it never felt like enough. Moving took more energy than normal; every movement was an exertion of grand proportions. It felt as if Vacaria were a whole other continent. We reached the plains just at the top of the first set of mountains. Sweeping valleys below us took our breath away, but we had more climbing to do.

  When the men could barely move a muscle, José pushed forward, encouraging them. He was jovial and made us all want to continue to follow him. “At the top of this mountain we will be victorious! Remember, men, this is training at its finest! We’ll be the fittest regiment in all Rio Grande do Sul.”

  José thrived on adventure. He lived for the next battle. The potential for glory fed his soul.

  On the eve of crossing into Vacaria, General Terceira approached me as I prepared a humble supper for José and myself while José was entertaining his soldiers.

  “Dona Anita, I was wondering if I could have a few moments of your time.”

  “Of course, General, how may I be of assistance to you?” I wiped my hands on my skirt as I turned from our campfire to face him.

  “I understand that you like to think of yourself as a soldier of sorts.”

  “I suppose you could say that.”

  “I am coming to you as one soldier to another, out of respect for what you did in Laguna. Please, when we encounter the Imperialists, do not fight in the battle.”

  “Why?”

  “I know the commander. He is a vicious man. He will seek you out and use you as bait for your husband.”

  José approached us with a broad smile on his face. He stepp
ed between the general and me, kissing me briefly as he moved toward the entrance of the tent. “Tesoro mio, you missed a wonderful story tonight. The men ate it up.” He paused, sensing the tension. “Anita,” he said slowly as he drove his sword into the ground. “Is there something I should be aware of?”

  “General Terceira came here to ask me not to fight in the upcoming battle.” I turned to José, taking my eyes off the general for the first time. “I was considering his request.”

  “Senhora Garibaldi, it was not a request.” He swallowed hard.

  I pretended to be flattered. “Oh, it wasn’t? Well, how could a simple woman like myself refuse an order?” I batted my eyelashes and tried to look as sweet as possible. “You have my word, General, I will not fight in the battle.” I stood with my arms crossed, watching Terceira walk away.

  “Since when do you take directions so politely?”

  I looked over to José as he picked chicken from the spit.

  I swatted him away from the still-cooking dinner. “There are other ways to kill a panther.”

  José laughed as he let me shoo him into the tent. “I look forward to being a humble student under your tutelage.” He took my hand, pulling me inside with him.

  A week later we arrived at the Imperial camp. Their forces had taken position in the valley below us. I rode out with our regiment, feeling like the Empress Leopoldina, the Queen Regent who helped lead Brazil to its independence.

  General Terceira rode up to us. “Dona Anita, you do remember your promise, don’t you?”

  “Sim, General Terceira, I shall not take part in the battle, but surely you cannot rob me of my traditions.” I smiled prettily. “I always ride out with my husband. It’s good for morale.”

  General Terceira looked from me to José, who looked back at him with a cold regard. “Very well then,” the general said as he continued moving down the ranks.

  “José, your wife’s smile always seems to feel like a threat,” Rossetti said with a sigh, studying me as if I were a message that he needed to decipher.