08/27/2024
People always ask me, where did the idea for this story come from? I can only say that it was a gift, a gift from Emily herself. I believe she led me to this story and wants her tale to be told. I had been living in Dallas and went on a business trip to San Antonio. I chose to stay at the Emily West (Morgan) Hotel, right next to the Alamo. At the time, I didn’t know beans about Emily, and the hotel had precious little information beyond a plaque in the lobby. It was enough to set me to dreaming about her. At the end of the trip, I took a stroll on San Antonio’s Riverwalk, a magical ribbon of river that flows through the old town, with shops, restaurants, bridges: truly one of America’s great cultural treasures. At the very end of the Riverwalk, I stumbled across an open-air theater. The seats were old mossy stone benches on one side of the river, with the stage on the other side. I sat there in the cool of the evening and suddenly, the entire musical came to life on that stage, fully formed. I could see the whirling skirts of the Mexican dancers, the fierce battle scene, and Emily walking up the steps to her destiny.
Photo: Yellow Rose statue in Houston
