Gathering Fallen Rocks Ch. 15

This chapter, including the Epilog, is the final submission for this story. I sincerely hope you liked the story.

Once again I thank my editor, Erik Thread, for his tireless efforts to help me give you an enjoyable read.

"All right, gentleman," Atwood nodded at Gail and smiled, "and lady. Let's get a little curious. We are going to play a game of'What If and If, Then What' and the more participants we have in the discussion, the better.

Atwood put his right hand on the large paper on the right side. "For the remainder of our discussion, we will deal with only this land. The other side is Blaze and I have no information or knowledge of any disputes there.

"I believe our main contention is that about four generations ago, a younger son, who was perhaps a bastard, was disappointed he didn't inherit from his father's estate. With the river at his back, he went around to all the homes near his own and ran everyone off, diligently working farther inland. If you recall the Pleas family was not very careful about creating a paper to evidence what land a certain individual should be using. There was so much land, that with primitive farming and open grazing their 'gentlemen's agreements' or patronage assignments of specific portions of the land, seemed to work well for them.

"How violent those confrontations were, we don't know. Okay, so if that method worked, let's do it again. He went a little further inland and ran off some more residents. He continued to do this until he controlled most of the land along the river that had been the originalporciones or about one third the size of the original Pleas grant, somewhere in the range of eight thousand acres. Basically, that is the story Martin Pleas told his sons, Howard and Frank. In conversations with Frank, he can only recall a few snippets of what his father told him, he was so young it seemed more like a nursery rhyme than family history.

"Martin Pleas was an only child, as was his father before him and, as far as we know, the father before him. Three generations of only one child, or only one surviving child, all of whom were sons. All of whom died without writing a Last Will. These men were solemn, often silent men, who did not discuss weighty issues, nor did they share much of their family's oral history. With the life expectancy of those days, and the continued reduction in number of family members, the property was being consolidated into one man's ownership, the father of Howard and Frank Pleas, Martin. Howard's recollection of his father's few comments were the basis of our contention. I believe they were something to the effect that, 'He took land which did not belong to him.' Moreover, the documents provided bear out this scenario."

Atwood paused for a moment then answered a few questions posed by Alex who indicated his knowledge of the few documents available which allowed the land to pass from one generation to the next.

After a general discussion, Atwood continued, "In essence the original Pleas grants were increased by the purchase of someporciones. Then they were reduced by a few sales and a gift to a favorite son who married a Blaze woman. That man died and his son received a small portion of the Pleas land. A short while later that land was claimed by Aguirre, the son of hisnovia, which can be interpreted as bride, fiancée, lover or girlfriend. That undocumented heir proceeded to enlarge his property by taking other land simply because he could—or because no one stopped him from doing so."

Atwood looked around the room, waiting for anyone who cared to make a comment. "At no time has Senor Santos Aguirre, or any of his representatives, provided a legal document to prove that ancestor's legal ownership of the land in question, the large boot heel on the Pleas side of the center strip. It is true, however, that the county taxing authority assesses taxes in his name. It remains unclear if an Aguirre, or any ancestor, informed the Catholic Church that he owned the property. The church was sometimes used as the official tax collector, and at other times soldiers collected taxes which could account for the taxes being collected from an Aguirre or an Aguirre ancestor, information which in turn was passed along to the county taxing authority. Yet, the fact remains that there is no document to establish that legal ownership."

Alex and Jimmy began to shake their heads. Atwood held up his hand for a moment. "There is, however, a document. I call your attention to it now and am providing additional copies for you to review, in the event you did not realize the significance of the document. The writer of the document is not known. It was probably a clerk paid by the man who signed the document, and it is signed with a name, not with an 'X' to which his names would have been added. It is a signature. The date of that document is about the same date as the church record of collecting taxes from the son of the man's novia. His name was Heriberto Pleas, the then currentpatron. He wrote that he wanted his entire estate to pass to his oldest son, Jaime Pleas, specifically stating Aguirre Pleas, was not permitted to have ownership of any land. The term used isnon-permisso and restated using the wordssin consentimento."

Atwood paused a moment, "Heriberto Pleas did not specifically name Aguirre Pleas as his son, nor did he deny he had fathered Aguirre. He simply excluded him from any ownership. It could be conjectured that Aguirre was angry he was treated in such a manner. To demonstrate his animosity he proceeded to take any additional land he could get by chasing people from their homes and driving them from the land."

Atwood took a drink of water and cleared his throat. "Now, gentlemen, Martin Pleas and then Howard and Frank Pleas are direct decedents of Jaime Pleas who, upon his father's death, became the newpatron. I will now entertain any alternate views or discussions in which you would care to participate."

What followed was a heated discussion, not argumentative but intense. Squatter's Rights, also known as Adverse Possession, was repeated over and over. Atwood continued to shake his head, reminding the other side that a violent taking could not be called Adverse Possession, it was outright theft.

The eight hundred pound gorilla in the room was the possibility that two men wrote their wills on the same date and proceeded to have a duel over a woman. No one mentioned that Heriberto Pleas excluded Aguirre Pleas from his estate because he feared hisnovia had been unfaithful to him and gave birth to Aguirre, fathered by another man.

Neither Jimmy nor Alex offered an alternate scenario to the one described by Atwood. As the conversation was winding down, Jimmy asked, "Tell us what you want so we have a beginning point for negotiation."

"Restoration of ownership of the property to Howard and Frank Pleas, including all land and any improvements and livestock thereon, plus reasonable reimbursement of income lost for a reasonable number of years because of the denial of use and ownership." Atwood spoke calmly and didn't blink when he said it. He paused a moment, then said, "Plus written admission of knowledge of the fraud, binding Senor Santos, his heirs, transferees, and/or assigns to any court ordered restitution."

"Will Mr. Pleas agree to a reimbursement of expenses for improvements and livestock?"

"It's negotiable."

Alejandro Vargas and Santiago Tovar calmly stood and shook hands with Atwood, Gail, and Howard. They offered their polite thanks for the documentation that had been provided and also accepted the additional copies. Jimmy said he looked forward to receiving copies of the additional documents Atwood would receive from the state. They left the office and drove out of the parking lot before any of the remaining occupants of the room dared to draw a deep breath.

"I'm not coming in tomorrow. I'm going fishing." Atwood announced and rested his forehead against the top of the table.

"Atwood, you are a big fraud," Gail had difficulty hiding her wide grin. "You enjoyed that too much. You need to learn how to sweat. You were too calm and you frightened those two men. They're both going to get drunk tonight and curse you all the way home tomorrow."

"Perhaps you're correct, my dear, perhaps." He stood and patted Howard on the shoulder. "You're buying the steaks tonight. I'm going to call Olivia to join us. Now that's a woman who can make a man sweat, but don't you tell her I said that." ****

Howard and Gail smiled at each other for the entire time they ate and chatted with Atwood and Olivia. Mrs. Atwood questioned all three of them about the afternoon's meeting, checking from one to the other to see if their observations were similar or different.

Once inside the small townhouse, Howard stopped Gail, taking her hand and leading her to the bedroom.

"Come on Gail, I want to make love to you." He stood beside the bed and put his hands on her cheeks. "Sweetheart, I want to know if you're ready to go see Doctor Jackson again."

"Why do I need to go to the doctor?"

"So you can stop taking your pills. Remember? He said in a couple of months we could try for another baby."

"A baby?" Gail could not hide her smile, but it was tentative. "But, Howard, we ... we're not ... what about the church?"

"I know what the church teaches." He grinned and kissed her quickly then said, "I seem to remember you said that legally we already have an informal marriage. We can have a civil wedding. After we satisfy the church's requirements we can be married by a priest."

Gail was slowly nodding her head when Howard added, "I've always heard the third times the charm. Gail Fisher, will you marry me two more times?"

****

EPILOG:

Although it was a long complicated process, the local priest was very helpful when Gail approached him for help to obtain an annulment of her first marriage. It took both Howard and Gail some time to satisfy the requirements for a church wedding.

David and Betsy Fletcher did not return to live in their townhouse that winter. David's bypass surgery was successful, but his heart was not strong. Their children convinced them to stay home that year, giving them more time to be together as a family. When it was time to plan the next trip south, they decided they had experienced their last time of being Winter Texans and sold the townhouse to Howard Pleas and his new wife, Gail.

Curiously, there were no charges of criminal activity against the young loan officer at the bank. However, he did seek employment in another profession in another state. The bank agreed to a generous financial settlement with Howard Pleas, which included payment of his attorney's fees to reproduce the abstract, which was never found. Had it been located, it would have needed extensive revision to include the additional documents discovered during Atwood D. Atwood's review of documents from his father and grandfather's legal practice.

An audit at the County Clerk's office corrected the accounting errors without admission of any wrong-doing. Howard Pleas, and several other property owners, accepted full refunds plus interest offered by the tax office. Four employees in that office were dismissed. The County Clerk did not seek reelection. Deputy County Clerk Javier Mendoza's political campaign was very successful.

****

Through his lawyers, assisted by additional lawyers representing his spouse, Santos Aguirre was unable to challenge the documentation and arguments of Atwood David Atwood, who represented Howard and Frank Pleas as they sought to correct a disagreement, several generations old, on the ownership of a very large segment of land, which included a large home within a walled compound. The final court decision greatly increased the amount of land each brother owned, with appropriate corrections to land titles, where needed. Any initial financial settlement reached with or without a formal court hearing, was done with the parties in full agreement to keep the details private.

However, because of his criminal activity, assets and accounts Santos Aguirre owned were frozen by Federal authorities. A financial settlement would be a long time in coming.

Howard and Gail's first son was born in a private hospital in Mexico City, thus entitling him to dual nationality because of recent changes to laws in Mexico. He, his brother, and sister were teens before Santos Aguirre's wife, a citizen of Mexico, suffered her first loss in the legal battle. Atwood Charles Atwood, handling the reins his grandfather had laid down, showed he was quite successful in steering the Pleas case through US, Mexican, and international courts on behalf of the parents acting for their older son, Emilio Pleas.

****

Overshadowing the local news of a startling increase in the amount of land owned by Howard and Frank Pleas, were ongoing investigations of a large operation involving human smuggling and sexual slavery. The investigations soon lost their place on the front page of newspapers with the announcements of several counties combining efforts to create an economic development corporation. The incorporation permitted the counties to act as one entity, successfully activating a Foreign Trade Zone to create new warehouse and management jobs for local residents.

****

Drive several hours south of San Antonio and you might see a sign announcing the entrance to the Pleas Ranch. The decorative metal arch above the much improved entry shows the bold letters which spell the name of the family that has owned the land for many generations. On each side of the entry are stone pedestals serving as anchors for the sign.

On each side of the name is the reproduction of aquién sabe cattle brand which is much like a lower case letter 'g' with three curlicues hanging from the lower oval of the letter. Beneath the large letters, which spell out the family name in flowing script, is the family's Basque name, Maguna-goikoetxea, as it was shown on a Pre-Alamo document where their forbearer was cited for special guard duty with a visiting dignitary from Tamulipas, Mexico, during the early 1800's.

Beside one of the pedestals is a small billboard announcing a museum located about two miles from the highway. The billboard advises the public that displays in an adobe building track ranching activities from the time the land was part of New Spain, when Mexico gained her independence. Family ownership continued through the years when Texicans fought for their own independence to form the Republic of Texas. Later the Pleas family's cattle production fed soldiers of the Confederate Army during the War Between the States and continues to operate as one of the largest single—family ranches in the United States.

Visitors to the museum are usually greeted by Liana Pleas, who will accompany them through the photos and memorabilia displayed or allow them to browse on their own. Although she is still a teenager, Liana is the official curator of the museum and a published author and photographer whose pictorial history of the ranch documents the people who live and work the ranch, including her parents, Howard and Gail Pleas.

Within the pages of the book are photos of Liana's father, Howard Pleas, working his cattle and managing the large family ranch, including the annual auction of his purebred cattle. Other photos show Gail Pleas as hostess of social events within the walled compound of the family home.

However, to get a true picture of the current generation of the Pleas Ranch, one would need to attend one of the quiet family dinners and listen to the laughter of their sons, Emilio and David, and watch the demure Liana turn aside when Howard teases Gail until she blushes.

THE END

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