Leon Uris Read Online Free PDF Page B

several months the families lived together. Cautious at first, there was space enough to grow easy with each other. Siobhan in particular was ecstatic about the entirely new ways of cooking, and she adored Consuelo.
    Come springtime, the top priority was to build onto the caretaker’s cabin a mile toward Troublesome Creek. To add to the urgency, Consuelo was due to have a second baby.
    They finished the house in a rush. In the next month or two, every man in the valley pounded nails, making a charming lodgepole log cabin. The Mexican part of the valley pitched in, as did some Mormons and Catholics and Protestants as the finish drew near. A fiesta exploded when they raised the roof! In this time and place they all seemed less threatening to each other. Dan caught the sight of some of the Mormon men nipping booze out of view of their wives. From then on Dan kept a “Mormon” bottle in his cupboard.
    The Martinez family no sooner moved into their place than Consuelo went into labor and gave birth to wee Pablo. The joy of a new child was tempered by Dan and Siobhan’s situation.
     
    Once settled, every month for three years Dan waited for her to tell him the good news that she had missed her period. It never happened.
    As they grew prosperous, the O’Connells became total Coloradans. Both of them flew the ranch’s twinengine Cessna, inched out their ranch boundaries,sent money home, were magnificently generous to the church, the school, and even the Mormons. Dan was elected state assemblyman. All that was missing was a baby for their waiting nest.
    Joy gave way to an ever-present sense of sorrow. Their bed grew colder and colder. When he sang “Danny Boy” these days it was maudlin, and the Bottomless’s owner had to caution Dan about getting mean. The day after an apologetic sheriff dumped Dan off, after putting him in the cooler for the night, Siobhan reached the breaking point.
    Their bed held a half-full suitcase, the French one of the set he had bought her for Christmas.
    “What the hell’s going on here?”
    “I’m going into Denver. I’ll be at the Brown Palace.”
    “What for?”
    “To get a complete fertility examination.”
    “It’s about time,” he said. “I pray to God they are able to find out what is wrong with you and cure it.”
    “I want you to come with me,” she said.
    “Me? You mean, me?”
    “Yes, you.”
    “I’ll have none of that voodoo black-magic quackery.”
    “Very well. I intend to continue on to New York. I’ve been missing everyone sorely. I haven’t seen Father Sean in over three years.”
    “Is this a threat?”
    “No, I want to see them. But I think it’s time you face up to the fact that something serious is the matter. Are you scared to go to Denver with me? Is that why you’ve never suggested it before?”
    Dan started for the door.
    “One of these nights you are going off one of the hairpin turns, the way you’re guzzling.”
    Dan opened the door.
    “Sleep in the guest room,” she commanded.
    He slammed the door but remained in the room.
    “Are you going to a Catholic hospital?” he asked.
    “Of course.”
    “Then maybe, well, pack a bag for me, too.”
     
    The eminent Dr. Leary at St. Anne’s Hospital put Siobhan into a regimen to chart her ovulation. It could be months before they had an accurate reading on her.
    Meanwhile, Dr. Leary got access to Dan’s Marine Corps medical records. He had had the usual Marine ailments, cat fever in boot camp, jaundice and malaria after Guadalcanal, dengue fever at Tarawa, and a blown hip at Saipan. Dan was shocked when Dr. Leary asked him for a specimen of his semen.
    “It couldn’t possibly be! I mean, I, the cause?”
    “This is routine, Mr. O’Connell.”
    Dan grunted in displeasure but did as he was told.
    A time later, he was called by Dr. Leary and asked to come to Denver alone.
    “I’ve some difficult news,” Dr. Leary said. “It’s taken this long because I had to be certain.”
    “She can’t