After Mariano's declaration of love to Nieves, a sense of peace and splendor grew on the Esperanza farm. One spring evening, husband and wife, for the first time, went to the Milanés Theater in Pinar del Río, to see the play Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla, which was performed by a Spanish company.
Nieves never forgot the year 1893 because in Pinar del Río, the first electrical plant was inaugurated. “Look at what beautiful lighting the theater has. The lighting is no longer gas, but electric. I will remember the year 1893 because you declared your love for me,” she said, kissing him.
“You know that since I left my hometown I have not seen a play,” he whispered in her ear. From their box they saw on stage Don Juan kidnapping Doña Inés.
When they left the theater, Nieves told him, “If we have a girl, I would like to call her Inés and Juan, if it is a boy.”
“I agree with Juan, but if it's a girl, I would like her to be named Teresa, like my mother.”
“You men always have to be in charge, but this time I'll let you have your way. I also like the name Teresa.”
Another evening they went to dinner at the restaurant The Pearl, a renowned establishment that had opened in the city ten years ago, where it had never crossed their minds to enter. On that occasion, Mariano told Nieves that many years ago he was left speechless with admiration when he entered the restaurant in Barcelona for the first time, The Set Ports.
“I was in Madrid and, like you, I was amazed at the splendor when Ángel took me to eat a stew at the restaurant. LHardy of the San Jerónimo Race.”
The couple, in love, began to go out more. They went to nightclubs and consequently made new friends. The boy, Ángel, who had already turned twelve years old, stayed comfortably at home and spent the evenings reading or playing cards with Gabriel and Lucas.
However, uncertainty and fear that another war would break out was increasing throughout the island. José Martí, after having convinced Maceo and Gómez to join the CRP, both exiled abroad, dedicated arduous work abroad to raise resources and unite wills for the Cuban libertarian feat, which lasted almost three years. In April 1895, José Martí and his allies set sail for Cuba and landed near Baracoa. Their arrival was greeted with joy by the people and many peasants joined them. The poet called it “The Necessary War.” They recruited 40,000 men and headed west, where on May 19 they faced the Spanish army for the first time, at a place called Dos Ríos.
The first day José Martí entered combat, he was shot and killed on the battlefield, while leading a suicidal charge towards enemy lines. Had he survived, he would surely have been elected president of Cuba, but after his death he became a hero and martyr.
Despite the hardships of the war that had just begun, in 1895 fireworks exploded on the Esperanza farm to celebrate the birth of Juan, Nieves and Mariano's first child. When Teresa Moragas and José Defaus read their son's telegram announcing the birth of little Juan Defaus Herrera, they jumped for joy.
The war in Cuba gave no respite. Gómez and Maceo, aware of the mistakes made during The Ten Years' War, marched westward, razing and burning all the Spanish camps and barracks that they found in their path. The first victories led to a continuous offensive and in January 1896 Maceo penetrated Pinar del Río, while Gómez resisted near Havana. Precisely when Maceo was entering Pinar de Rio, a few kilometers away Nieves was giving birth to José, her second son.
When Teresa read the telegram announcing the birth of José Defaus Herrera, she felt great joy. Her husband, who had just turned seventy, did not show the joy she expected.
José Defaus Ballesté had been growing sad. He had been feeling the ailments of old age for some time and he was scared because he sensed that the hour of death was approaching. Little by little, he lost his appetite and began to leave the house less.
Teresa had been suffering in silence for a long time, thinking that the three children who were away from home would receive very little of her husband's inheritance, but she did not dare to talk about it with him, because she had no inheritance of her own. It was all his. However, when José began to mention that the time had come to make a will, Teresa dared to tell him, “You should treat Mariano, Isidro and Mariona a little more generously.”
“But, I am following the law.”
“Leave the law behind, José, and give them more goods.”
“The three of them have made their way in life. They don't need our money. Especially Mariano who, by marrying Nieves, has become a landowner.”
“Mariano is not the master, Nieves is the owner of everything. The same thing applies to Maríona - the house belongs to her husband and she thinks that poor Isidro is living in a rented shack. Isidro is the one who needs it the most. Everyone could use a bag of coins. Life takes many turns and you don't know what could happen to them.”
“Well, Teresa, I will do as you say. Francisco will be my universal heir, you will be the usufructuary of all my assets, and the other children will receive a good inheritance. What do you think of two thousand pesetas?”
“Now you are acting well, but perhaps you should leave something more for Isidro. He would have been the universal heir if we had not sent him to sea,” Teresa told him.
“Stop telling stories. My heir is Francisco.”
“I don't want to argue with you, but you have to admit that we have treated Isidro worse. That's why he doesn't do much here. I think he resents us.”
“I'm calm. We did him a favor by keeping him away from the bad life.”
“The last time he came, he told me that he felt like the black sheep of the family. But let's hope that all that resentment will pass. With his job of selling barrels, I don't think he will get rich.”
“You are always exaggerating! You will see that Isidro will be happy with his share of the inheritance.”
Teresa was worried about Isidro and for a few days she stopped thinking about Mariano. But soon, listening to the radio, she learned that a new war had started on the other side of the Atlantic and she became distressed again. The news from Cuba was very confusing. Teresa never understood what was really happening on the island.
In Cuba, the Spanish responded with force and atrocity to the attacks of Maceo and Gómez and began to adopt brutal tactics to limit the movements of the rebels and weaken the clandestine resistance. The peasants were imprisoned in concentration camps and everyone who supported the rebellion was executed. In Spain, out of the desire not to lose the colony, patriotism and support for the war grew. On December 7, 1896, the rebels suffered a severe military blow when Antonio Maceo was killed south of Havana while trying to escape to the east.
By then, Cuba was in chaos: thousands of people had died, and people were burning down the cities. These were terrible times. At the end of 1897, the Spanish government found itself with empty coffers and an army exhausted by tropical diseases and the resistance of the rebels. However, troops loyal to Spain continued to control all of Cuba's cities, ports, and vital infrastructure. The United States government claimed that the war affected its interests and demanded reforms from Spain to achieve peace, but that war did not seem to have an end as it failed to completely defeat the rebels.
In January 1898, the battleship Maine was sent to Havana to protect American citizens, but the task was never carried out. On February 15, 1898, the Maine exploded unexpectedly in the port of Havana and 266 American sailors died. The Spanish claimed it was an accident, the Americans blamed the bomb on the Spanish, and some Cubans accused the United States of using it as a pretext to intervene. Despite the various investigations in the following years, the true origin of the explosion is perhaps one of the great mysteries of history. After the disaster of the Maine, the Americans offered 300 million dollars to Spain for Cuba and when this agreement was rejected, war broke out.
The Americans sank the Spanish ships in just four hours off the bay of Santiago de Cuba. The only major land battle took place on July 1, 1898, when the American army attacked Spanish positions on San Juan Hill, west of Santiago. Despite being much smaller and having limited and outdated weapons, the besieged Spaniards resisted for two weeks. It was the beginning of the end for the Spaniards who had to surrender unconditionally to the Americans on July 17, 1898.
While Spain was losing Cuba, José Defaus Ballesté was dying in his house in Malgrat without being able to say goodbye to all his children. His death was quick. One evening he had a heart attack that left him immobile in bed for twenty-four hours. His wife, his children Francisco and Mariona, and his daughter-in-law Teresita did not leave him for a single moment, day or night. In her agony, Teresa repeated incessantly that Mariano and Isidro were going to arrive very soon. José was conscious until the end and instructed his wife to embrace his children on his behalf as soon as they arrived and give them the goods he had arranged for them.
“Francisco, take care of your mother, your wife and your children. Now you are the head of the family.”
“I will. Trust me, father.”
“And you, Mariona. Don't forget your mother.”
“Father, you know that I will never forget my family,” Mariona answered.
“Thank you Teresa, for the love you have given me and for having dedicated your entire life to me and our children. Without you, I would not have been a just father, nor a faithful husband, nor a good Christian, I would have been a nobody.”
“Don't say that because you make me cry,” Teresa replied, caressing his head.
“But before I die, I want to confess something that I did and that perhaps you would not have allowed. Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?”
“Of course,” Mariona told him, leaving the room with Francisco and Teresita who were starting to cry.
“You won't believe what I'm going to reveal to you.”
“Don't force yourself to speak! I don't care if I know it or not.”
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