by Jerry Sacher
SERGEI WOKE to find everything quiet at last, and looking out the window of the hotel, he found the streets empty. He was certain that he had seen Benjamin last night, and had even called his name. He believed he saw the man pause and begin to turn around, but then the other soldier pulled at him, and they were gone. Sergei sat down on the bed, his hands on his knees. No. He shook his head. There was no way that could have been his Benjamin, his angel. He was in the trenches, somewhere here in France.
Sergei rose slowly, threw on his coat, and left the hotel. He walked toward the harbor. It was the faint blast of a ship’s whistle that had woken him up, so now would be the perfect opportunity to find out where the ship was destined, and if they needed any hands.
Walking past the same buildings he had seen before, he stopped to look at the ship anchored at the docks. It was a former passenger liner with a single funnel; the hull was painted white with a giant Red Cross in the center, just below the superstructure. Sergei noticed that even the name had been painted over, a clever disguise to fool the enemy, but he thought he could read the name Cambria under the heavy coat of white paint. He was getting nowhere standing around, so he made up his mind to go on board. The harbor area was empty, with the exception of himself and a lone soldier with a white armband, who sat alone on a packing case, his face turned away from Sergei and the ship.
Sergei walked confidently up the plank. He felt as though someone was staring at him, perhaps the lone soldier on the wharf, but he didn’t turn around to see if his feelings were correct. A heavyset man in a white jacket stepped out from behind the door, and seeing Sergei, said to him curtly, “What is it you want? Are you injured? Then see them on the wharf.”
“No, I’m fine. I was looking for someone,” Sergei replied.
“You’re in the wrong place to look for one of your comrades, Frenchy, unless you want to help us bring some of the wounded on board. They should be arriving any minute now.” The man pointed over the side of the ship where several trucks were beginning to pull up.
“HEY YOU, can you give us a hand here?” a man in a khaki uniform and red moustache asked Benjamin.
Benjamin stood just as two doctors and an Army officer stepped out of one of the trucks that had arrived on the docks, followed by two men carrying a stretcher. One of the doctors asked Benjamin to assist in carrying the other stretcher to the ship. He agreed and stepped out of the way as an ambulance with a Red Cross on its side panel pulled in to the dock area.
When Benjamin and the other medical personnel got the men settled on board in the wards, the doctor thanked Benjamin. Exiting the room, he turned the wrong way and ended up going further down inside the ship than he intended.
SERGEI MADE his fourth trip up the gangplank helping with the wounded. In a ward that in peacetime must have been a lounge, Sergei helped a nurse get a man with bandages over his eyes into a bed. As he was about to leave the ward, another soldier lying on a cot near the door grabbed the hem of his jacket.
“Water…,” he whispered in a raspy voice.
Sergei smiled and went to get him something to drink. Seeing another nurse outside in the hall, he asked where he could find water for the patient.
“Down in the dining hall.”
Sergei thanked him and went in search of the room he’d been directed to. He finally found it, but on his way out he turned right when he should have turned left toward the stairs.
BENJAMIN FOUND himself walking down a long corridor with white unmarked doors on each side. He heard footsteps coming toward him, and he called out. “Hello, is anyone there? I’m lost.”
He got no answer, so he called again. This time he turned around a corner—and he came face-to-face with Sergei. Benjamin couldn’t believe his eyes, and he had to rub them to make sure he wasn’t seeing a vision. He was too overjoyed, too stunned to speak until finally Sergei broke the spell.
“Is it really you… my angel?”
“Yes, Sergei, it’s really me. I never thought I would see you again.”
They stood an arm’s length apart, afraid to make a move in case the vision would disappear, and then finally they rushed into each other’s arms. Benjamin felt tears running down his cheeks, and he reached up to wipe them away, then reached to touch Sergei’s face.
“I never thought I would see you again,” Benjamin repeated, moving his hands from Sergei’s face to his shoulders.
Sergei pulled him close, and he whispered into Benjamin’s ear, “I was just a little detained, but I told myself I would get here, and by God, I did. I… I love you.”
“How… how did you know I was here? Where did you get the uniform?”
“One day I’ll tell you about my journey, but all that matters is that we are together at last.”
“It’s the happiest day of my life, Sergei. I can’t stop smiling.”
Chapter 26
SERGEI TOOK Benjamin back to his hotel room and shut the door. He couldn’t wait to take Benjamin into his arms and share the kiss they had longed for since they had been apart.
Benjamin raised his hands to stroke Sergei’s smooth face, then kissed along his cheek to nibble on his ear. He lowered a hand to tug back on the arm of Sergei’s jacket; finally, using both hands, he removed the coat and threw it on the floor. Sergei did the same with Benjamin’s jacket, and undid his tie and the top button on his shirt.
They fumbled with shirt buttons and unfastened the buckles on two pairs of pants, which joined the heap of clothes on the tile floor.
Sergei lowered Benjamin back on the bed, leaning over to kiss his lips and neck. Benjamin ran his fingers down Sergei’s chest, through swirls of hair. He sought Sergei’s erection, took it in his hand, and stroked its length. Sergei moaned softly.
Sergei ran his fingers down Benjamin’s chest and let his hand wrap around Benjamin’s shaft as well, both of them moving in unison, kissing and groaning. Using a smear of oil on his fingers, Sergei probed Benjamin’s opening. Soon Sergei entered Benjamin, while continuing to kiss him. Benjamin moaned again as Sergei pulsed and suddenly climaxed, followed seconds later by Benjamin’s own orgasm.
Naked and sweating, Sergei kissed Benjamin once again and moved off his lover to lay behind him, holding him close.
“My angel, I love you.”
They fell asleep in each other’s arms.
WHEN BENJAMIN returned to his barracks a few hours later, he was summoned into his commander’s office. While he waited nervously outside the door with John, he was happy to have found Sergei again and nervous that his absence was going to bring trouble down on his head. He was so anxious that he almost didn’t hear his commander calling him. Putting his hand on the doorknob, John whispered.
“Good luck, Ben….”
When he came out twenty minutes later, he told John his news. “I didn’t have to worry after all, John. I’m being sent to GHQ in England to oversee medical operations,” Benjamin said incredulously. He couldn’t believe his ears when the chief Army surgeon had told him. He almost could have kissed him, but he restrained himself.
“I have to leave tonight on that hospital ship tied up to the pier,” Benjamin told him as they walked back to their quarters, Benjamin to pack, and John to rest before he went on duty.
“Well, Ben, I’ll miss you, but I’m glad you found Sergei. You’ll have to write and let me know how your life is going. I really want to know if you’re happy.”
Three short blasts on the ship’s whistle signaled departure. The gangplank was removed and the lines taken in as the ship moved slowly off from the pier side. Slowly the propellers began to churn, taking the ship farther from land with each passing moment.
The sun was sinking low on the horizon when Benjamin walked alone on the upper deck. He had arranged to meet Sergei near the forward lifeboats. It was getting colder, and Benjamin pulled his coat tighter around his body. He heard a voice behind him.
“Ben… my angel.”
Sergei walked up to him, smiling. Benjamin returned
the smile, pleased that Sergei had called him Ben for the first time. They had made love again before dinner, and Sergei had told him briefly about his adventures—the prison, his loss of memory and being homeless on the streets of Petrograd, the train trip across the country, and finally ending up here on this hospital ship, at Ben’s side.
They stood side by side at the rail, watching the waves roll from the ship’s side.
“I wish that I could touch you, Sergei.”
“You’ll get your chance.”
They were silent for a few moments, letting the shipboard sounds and even the water below surround them with a blanket of warmth.
Sergei sighed and said, “I wonder if I’ll ever see my homeland again.”
“You will. I mean, we will go back someday, Sergei. The war and the revolution can’t last forever.”
“I love you, Ben… angel.”
“I love you too, Sergei.”
Sergei and Ben leaned together, staring ahead into the darkness. Ahead of them lay peace and the endless possibilities of life.
Epilogue
Two years later, May 1919
SLEEPING ON Sergei’s shoulder, Benjamin was jolted awake as the train jerked to a stop beneath the cracked glass skylights of Finland Station in Petrograd. Peasants and soldiers stepping down on the platform cast curious looks and then ignored them, hurrying on about their business. They walked on under the red crudely painted banners and out of the station into the spring sunshine.
“It’s such a beautiful morning, we can walk across the river and get a taxi from there,” Benjamin said at last, breaking up their reverie.
Sergei reached out and touched his arm, then said in his accented English, “Why don’t we walk to the house? It will do us both good to stretch our legs after the journey.”
Benjamin agreed, and they walked side by side to their destination. They viewed their surroundings in silence. The past two years had wrought countless changes in Saint Petersburg. Red banners and soldiers were everywhere. The Imperial Eagle had been removed from the facades of government buildings and public spaces, and endless lines stretched for blocks in front of shops. Pointing this out, Sergei observed, “I wonder what other changes the revolution and the civil war have brought since we’ve been gone.”
Ben saw Sergei’s face filled with a wistful melancholy for a land that didn’t seem to exist any longer. They cut across a park and turned down a tree-lined street that stopped in front of the mansion where so much life had once played out.
Proletarian slogans were painted on the walls and the heavy oak doors facing the street, and faded newspapers replaced the damask draperies that had once covered the windows. A policeman with a red armband, walking past and observing them, stopped and informed them, “If you’re looking to live in there, I would try somewhere else. A sign painter and his comrades live there, and they’re crowded in like dogs, I hear. The junk that belonged to the former owners is piled in the gardener’s shed out back—you might be able to clean it up and live there.”
He noted their clothing as he spoke, looking at them with a mixture of revulsion and envy, and then he bid them good day and walked on.
Benjamin said, “Shall we?”
“We’ve got nothing to lose, let’s go.”
They crossed the street together, mounted the cracked limestone steps, and rang the bell. A broken electric ring sounded faintly through the heavy oak. A long pause followed, then shuffling footsteps, and one of the doors swung open. Benjamin recognized the old woman who poked her head from behind the barrier of wood, but if she recognized him, she gave no sign.
“What do you want?”
It took some convincing, but Sergei was able to convince her that they didn’t want to live there or steal anything. She finally relented, and reluctantly gave them access to the unused room on the third floor. A damp, musty odor from two years of weather and disrepair greeted them when the door swung open on rusty hinges. The pair stood on the threshold, letting the memories rush over them.
Sergei entered the room first and held out a muscular hand to Benjamin. He closed the door behind them, and they leaned together for a kiss.
“This is where it all began.”
“I like to think it began in that abandoned house on the road back here to Petrograd. It was where I really knew how I felt about you,” Benjamin replied.
“Ah, but this is the room where we made real love for the first time. That gives it a special place right in here.” Sergei patted his chest, just over his heart, and then he pulled Benjamin’s face to his and kissed him.
Time seemed to melt away for them. Benjamin Carter and Sergei Breselov, former soldiers in the British and Russian armies, met again in the dingy room.
THE SUN was beginning to send red-gold rays in through the dusty windows of the Carters’ former mansion when Sergei opened his eyes and looked down at Benjamin, sleeping in his arms on the floor of what had once been Benjamin’s bedroom. Sergei woke him gently, and they dressed and left the house without any of the rowdy residents noticing.
In the street outside, Benjamin and Sergei paused to look back up at the house for the last time. The past was stripped away, and the realities of peace and civil war came flooding back upon them.
Benjamin sighed. “I really want to rest my head on your shoulder, but I know it isn’t acceptable in public. I’ve seen enough, though, Sergei. We should be going. The train leaves in a couple of hours.”
“Yes, but it was nice to relive the past for a while, wasn’t it?”
“It was, Sergei. Oh, we’ll never forget what brought us here, but there’s nowhere to go but forward.”
Sergei looked on Benjamin for a brief moment, and then reached out and took his hand.
“Daring, aren’t you, Sergei?”
“Maybe, but I love you, and that’s bigger than war and peace and what everyone in this mixed-up world thinks. You see, I’ve come a long way from the man I was.”
“Come on, Sergei, let’s go.”
Benjamin smiled, and gripped Sergei’s hand tighter, and they walked off together into the twilight.
About the Author
JERRY SACHER was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, but he’s always had a soft spot in his heart for San Francisco. He has been writing stories since he was able to put pen to paper, and he’s come a long way since those stories about the Titanic. He currently lives in the Boystown area of Chicago in an apartment crammed with books.
You can check out information about this novel on Facebook: Facebook.com/Jerry Sacher or contact him via e-mail at [email protected].
Romance by JERRY SACHER
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Romance by JERRY SACHER
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Also from DREAMSPINNER PRESS
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Also from DREAMSPINNER PRESS
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Also from DREAMSPINNER PRESS
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Also from DREAMSPINNER PRESS
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
