Chapter 8 — Letters for Isabel
The second year of the war arrived without anyone quite noticing when the first had ended.
The days blurred together.
The seasons followed one another.
The fields changed color.
The armies moved across vast distances.
But for Bento, there was one simple way to measure time.
Isabel’s letters.
Each one marked a chapter of his life.
Every envelope that arrived became an event as important as a military victory.
Sometimes more important still.
That cold morning, the camp woke wrapped in thick fog.
The men were getting ready to march out when a messenger arrived carrying the mail.
Bento recognized the envelope at once.
Even before reading the name.
Even before touching it.
His heart seemed able to recognize those letters on its own.
He took the paper with a smile he couldn’t hide.
“Again?” Ant?nio Maciel teased.
“Again.”
“Keep smiling like that and the enemy’s going to think we’ve got gold hidden in camp.”
The men nearby laughed.
Bento simply tucked the letter away carefully.
He would wait for a quiet moment to read it.
That had become a ritual.
A sacred moment.
Hours later, sitting beneath a tree some distance from camp, he opened the envelope.
The faint scent Isabel liked to leave on her paper still lingered.
It seemed almost impossible.
After so many weeks of travel.
Of rain.
Of dust.
But it was there.
A trace of her.
An invisible presence.
He began to read.
“My beloved Bento,
Winter has come to the ranch fields today.
Frost covered the pastures at dawn.
For a moment, everything looked made of silver.
I stood watching the scene and thought of you.
I wondered whether you were seeing that same sky.
Whether you felt that same cold.
Sometimes I try to imagine your life in the army.
And then I realize I will never fully understand everything you face.
But there is one thing I do know.
With every day I grow more certain that I love you.
Not as the girl who was charmed by a young ranch hand.
But as a woman who has found the man she wants to spend her whole life with.
Come back to me.
I am still waiting.
Always yours,
Isabel.”
When he finished, Bento sat for a few minutes gazing at the horizon.
Her words warmed his heart in a way no campfire ever could.
He folded the letter carefully.
Then took out all the previous ones from his pocket.
He kept them together.
Sheltered from the weather.
Sheltered from the war.
Guarded like a treasure.
Because that was exactly what they were.
That night he began writing his reply.
But something felt different this time.
For the first time, he decided to open his heart completely.
Without holding back.
Without fear.
Without hiding the depth of what he carried inside him.
Lamplight lit the page as the words took shape.
“My beloved Isabel,
I read your letter three times before putting it away.
And even now I can still hear your voice in every line.
I have already fought in battles.
I have crossed fields laid waste by war.
I have watched brave men fall at my side.
But nothing frightens me as much as the thought of losing you.
I know I shouldn’t write this.
Perhaps a man ought to seem stronger.
More certain of himself.
But with you I cannot pretend.
The truth is I think of you every day.
At dawn.
At dusk.
Before sleep.
When I ride.
When I fight.
When I pray.
If I survive this war, it will be because there is a reason to come back.
And that reason is you.
Yours forever,
Bento.”
He finished the letter late that night.
He smiled.
For the first time, he felt no shame in laying his feelings bare.
Because he knew Isabel would understand every word.
Meanwhile, back at Santa Vitória Ranch, Colonel Anselmo’s suspicions kept growing.
He watched.
He listened.
He weighed what he saw.
Without saying a word.
Years of experience had taught him that the greatest secrets rarely stayed hidden forever.
And there was something in his daughter’s manner he didn’t like.
Something he couldn’t quite name.
But he felt it.
One September afternoon, he very nearly discovered everything.
It was an accident.
A small detail.
A moment’s carelessness.
Nothing more.
Isabel was writing a new letter when she heard footsteps approaching in the hallway.
Startled, she tried to hide the page quickly.
But part of the sheet slipped and fell to the floor.
At that very moment, she heard her father’s voice.
“Isabel?”
She rose at once.
Her heart pounding.
“Yes, Father?”
The door opened.
The colonel stepped in.
His eyes swept the room.
For one endless second, they drifted toward the fallen page.
Isabel felt the blood drain from her face.
If he picked up that paper…
If he read even a few lines…
Everything would be lost.
But at that very instant another maid appeared at the door.
She brought urgent news concerning the ranch.
The colonel’s attention shifted.
The conversation changed course.
And a few minutes later he left without ever noticing the letter.
Only once she was alone could Isabel breathe again.
Her legs were shaking.
She realized how close the secret had come to being exposed.
That night, she wrote to Bento telling him what had happened.
His reply arrived weeks later.
“My dearest,
Reading your letter frightened me more than many a battle has.
Promise me you’ll be careful.
If your father learns the truth now, everything could change.
I am not yet the man I want to be.
I still have no standing.
No fortune.
No influence.
But one day I will.
And when that day comes, I will ask for your hand before any man in this world.
Including Colonel Anselmo himself.
Until then, we must be patient.
Trust me.
Trust the future.
Trust our love.”
Reading those words, Isabel felt tears run down her face.
Not from sadness.
But from hope.
Because Bento was still dreaming.
Still believing.
Still fighting.
Not only in the war.
But for their future as well.
The months that followed brought new battles.
New marches.
New hardships.
But also new promotions.
His superiors were beginning to take notice of the young gaúcho from Santa Vitória Ranch.
His courage was spoken of.
His leadership drew attention.
More experienced men began to respect him.
Some officers began watching him with real interest.
Without realizing it, Bento was moving steadily toward a destiny far greater than anything he had imagined when he left the ranch.
At the same time, the love between him and Isabel kept deepening.
The letters stopped being mere messages of longing.
They became confessions.
Plans.
Shared dreams.
Blueprints for a future still far off.
And for that very reason, they grew more dangerous.
Because every new letter held proof.
Proof of a forbidden love.
A love that, if discovered by Colonel Anselmo, could unleash consequences neither of them could foresee.
Writing yet another letter to Bento that spring, Isabel watched the sunset through her window.
The fields turned shades of gold.
The very same setting that had witnessed their meetings.
Their promises.
Their first kisses.
She smiled.
Not knowing that, at that very moment, someone had begun following the trail.
Small clues.
Almost invisible.
But enough to bring the colonel closer to the truth.
And when the truth finally came to light, no letter would be able to hold back the storm approaching.