Rose of Anzio - Moonlight (Volume 1)

by Alexa Kang

  Outside, everything felt cold. Not just temperature cold, but the entire place. She could see now the dilapidated buildings for what they were, impersonal, merciless jail cells. Unlike the Ardleys’ mansion hidden far behind the driveway and rose garden in the front, the homes here offered no protection to those who lived in it.

  All this time, she thought St. Mary’s and the Ardleys’ home were the prisons from which she wanted to break free. Only now did she realize how this place was its own trap to those who dwelled in them. Worse, actually. For Jack, it was not only a trap, but also a wild jungle in which he must fend for himself, and everything here ensnarled him and pulled him back until he was entangled in all its quagmire.

  If she could, she would help him escape. He, Ruby, and Henry welcomed her here with open arms when she sought refuge, and yet, she had no way of doing the same for them. She felt so powerless.

  Chapter 23

  Three weeks passed before Jack fully recovered. When Tessa saw him again, he announced to everyone he had decided to join the Army.

  Stunned into silence, they sat in a booth at Murphy’s. Tessa thought of Uncle William, Aunt Sophia, and Uncle Leon at home. Whenever the subject of the military came up, keeping Anthony out of it was all they ever talked about. It only occurred to her now that no one in Jack’s home or neighborhood ever worried whether Jack would be drafted.

  Jack said he wanted to get away for a while.

  She couldn’t believe it. The Ardleys’ worst fear was Jack’s way out.

  “The Army will pay me,” he said to Henry. “I’ll send money home.”

  Henry stared at the table. His soda was only half finished and all the ice had melted.

  Jack sat back into his seat. He barely touched his sandwich. “I don’t know what everyone’s fighting about here, but if I’m being sucked into fighting one way or another anyway, I might as well go fight for something worthwhile. At least I’ll be fighting a real war. Against real bad guys. We are the good guys, right?” He glanced at Tessa, as if she would know. “I hope so. I don’t keep up with the news.”

  Henry’s face scrunched up like he wanted to cry. Jack pushed him playfully on his shoulder. “Cheer up! I’ll come back a war hero.”

  Tessa looked away. She felt like crying herself.

  “It’s probably for the best,” Ruby said later on after they left the Tavern.

  “Why?”

  “Benny and his boys are pushing Jack to join their side. They’re going after Carlos’ people for beating him up, whether Jack wanted revenge or not.”

  # # #

  The last night before Jack left for basic training, Frank and Janie, his friends who always came dancing with them, wanted to throw him a going away party. Henry, Ruby, and Tessa were all for it. They wanted to take him to dinner and swing dancing one more time. At first, Jack refused, saying he wasn’t in a party mood, but he gave in because they all insisted.

  And because Tessa told him in private she would ask Carmina to come see him one last time.

  She went to the diner where Carmina worked. As much as it made her heart ache to do this, she knew it would mean a lot to Jack if Carmina would see him off. Surely, Carmina would do at least that.

  But she wouldn’t.

  “There’s no point. It’ll only prolong the misery and drag things on. Better to not give him any false hope.” Carmina continued wiping the table without looking at her.

  She couldn’t understand how Carmina could refuse. It would be such a small thing for her to do after all he had been through. “Can’t you stop by anyway? You don’t have to stay long. He’ll be gone and you won’t see him again for a long time.”

  “I don’t plan to see him again, ever.” She picked up the dirty dishes and headed to the back. Tessa followed her. She couldn’t hide her resentment. Did Carmina not care how much she had hurt Jack?

  Carmina put down the dishes. “It hurts me too, you know.”

  It was hopeless. Poor Jack. He had a spineless girlfriend.

  “We’ll be taking him to the Chez Parée Saturday night,” she told her before she left. “Please think about it. It would mean the world to him if you come.”

  She did not have the heart to tell Jack Carmina said no. She told him Carmina would think about it. Maybe Carmina would change her mind.

  Even if Carmina didn’t care Jack was going away, she cared.

  She clipped on the red polka-dot ribbon Jack gave her. Looking into the mirror, she adjusted it several times so her hair would flow down the side of her face and highlight her profile exactly the way she wanted. The ribbon matched her scarlet red dress perfectly.

  When she came downstairs, Aunt Sophia’s eyes popped open and fixed on the low neckline of her dress. Quickly, she headed for the door before her aunt might comment on what she wore. “Goodbye. I’ll be back by eleven.”

  To make it the best night ever for Jack, they took him to Chicago’s hottest nightclub, the ever-sensational Chez Parée.

  Jack looked to be in good spirits when they arrived. When they told the club’s host that Jack had enlisted and this was his send-off party, the host took them to a table near the stage next to the dance floor. In fact, the club had reserved all the most coveted tables for men in military uniforms and their guests.

  “Look! You’re special now,” Frank joked when the host pulled out the seat facing the stage for Jack. For once, Jack let go of his usual humble self and took the seat like he was entitled.

  The spectacular setting of the Chez Parée awed Tessa the minute they walked in. Its art deco style lobby, with its red carpet and large paintings of nude women hanging on the walls, instantly set it apart from the Melody Mill. Stylishly dressed guests congregated on the long, elegant white leather seats in the lounge. In the ballroom, tables covered in white linen and set with fine china and silverware surrounded the dance floor. A gold curtain hung in front of the performance stage. When the curtain opened, the brilliantly shining stage lights took her breath away.

  The band began. Instantly, their fantastic big band music energized the room. Out came the Chez Parée Adorables, a troupe of dancers in glittering outfits with large, dramatically designed feathers attached to the back. They waltzed around the audience, performing their dances and dazzling acrobatic moves to fire up the crowd. She had never seen anything like this even in the West End.

  After the Adorables, it was the guests’ turn. They flooded the dance floor, swinging to the band’s fast, rolling tunes. Frank and Janie dragged Jack out of his seat. Tessa followed them with Henry and Ruby. For a while, Jack seemed to have left his troubles behind. He pulled Tessa in and out, circled around her, and lifted her up and rolled her off his back like he always did. He almost convinced them he was okay again.

  But he was off. His movements were a beat behind and his feet were less adept than usual. Between steps, he gazed at the doors, distracted. They danced farther and farther away from the others while he led her around the ballroom as though he was looking for someone. The joy on his face disappeared as the minutes passed.

  Suddenly, he stopped. He pulled Tessa in and said into her ear under the loud music, “I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore.” He let go of her hand and went back to their table.

  She went after him. At the table, he sat down, picked up his whiskey and drank the entire glass. She stood next to him, her heart broke for him.

  “She’s not coming, is she?” he said to no one in particular.

  Tessa didn’t answer. How could she tell him Carmina wasn’t coming?

  “I guess it’s better this way.” He stared at the door, dispirited.

  She sat down next to him and gently touched his face. “Jack, remember this ribbon?” She turned her head to show him the ribbon clipped to the right side of her head. “You gave it to me the first time we met.”

  He smiled.

  “You know that when a girl wears her hair ribbon on the back of her head, it means she’s not interested in any boy. When she wears it on th
e top of her head, it means she’s out to get a boy.” She half closed her eyelids and held up her chin like a flirtatious actress in a movie and it made him laugh.

  “When she wears it on the right side of her head, it means she’s deeply in love.” She looked him in the eyes, not playing or joking anymore. “Tonight, Jack Morrissey, I’ll be the girl who’s deeply in love with you.”

  Jack started laughing again. “Tessa, you don’t have to try to cheer me up…” She leaned forward and kissed him softly on his lips. Surprised, he tensed up. But as her soft breath fell on him, he closed his eyes, relaxed and accepted her kiss.

  When she pulled back, he looked at her. Those green eyes that she had wished would look at her, although until now she dared not admit it.

  “Tessa. You little vixen. Where did you learn to look at a guy this way?” He reached out and lifted a lock of her hair. “You’re beautiful, do you know that?”

  She gazed at him, waiting for him to tell her more.

  “If we had met at a different time, in a different place…” He looked down. “If my heart wasn’t already taken, I might seriously fall in love with you.” He looked up again, stroking her hair. “If our worlds weren’t so different. If you were in my world, or if I was in yours…” He didn’t finish what he meant to say.

  “You and Carmina are in different worlds.” She leaned closer into him. “That didn’t stop you.”

  “That’s not the same.” He pulled back away from her. “She and I, our people are different, but she and I are the same. Our world is the same.”

  She didn’t understand.

  “You’re in a different world, Tessa. Whatever you think you see in me, whatever you’re infatuated with, it’s an illusion. In a few years, you’ll find me very…uninteresting.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “You have bigger and better things waiting for you. You really don’t have to be here with us.”

  “You think I’m a snob!”

  “That’s not what I mean. It’s not what I mean at all.” He withdrew his hand. “In a couple of years, maybe even less time than that, you’ll change your mind.”

  “No, I won’t. I won’t change!” She didn’t know how to convince him. “I’m not that type of person.”

  They looked at each other. Rather than contradict her, he gave her hand a light squeeze. “Of course you won’t change. You’re very special. And, wow! The most beautiful girl in Chez Parée tonight just confessed to me and kissed me. I can’t possibly get a better send-off than that!” As he said this, his eyes brightened. For a fleeting moment, she thought she caught a glimpse of the fun-loving, carefree Jack she had always known.

  By this time, Frank, Janie, Ruby, and Henry had returned. “What are you two doing here?” Henry asked. “We were looking all over for you. You’re not dancing anymore?”

  “No,” Jack said. “I’m done for the night.” He looked at all of them. “Thanks for such a great evening. At such a great place too. Must have cost you all a fortune.”

  “Don’t mention it,” Frank said.

  “We’ll miss you, Jack.” Ruby gave him a hug.

  “I’ll miss you all too.”

  “When you come back, we’ll dance together again,” Tessa said to him, her voice still hopeful.

  “Of course,” he said without hesitation.

  She didn’t believe him. Something in his voice was missing. She had a bad feeling things would never be the same again.

  # # #

  At first, they were all depressed. When Jack departed, he took all the energy and excitement with him. They were now on their own. Jack was no longer here to look out for them. No more Jack to drive them and take them to dance halls or any other place.

  He gave Henry the car, but it didn’t feel right for anyone else to drive it.

  Henry especially had a hard time. When Jack was here, he always took care of his family. He made sure Henry got good part-time jobs, stayed out of trouble and stayed in school. He saw to it their mother didn’t have much to worry about with money. Henry couldn’t do half of what Jack did. He couldn’t handle it.

  “I’m letting him down,” Henry told Tessa and Ruby. “He was only fifteen when Dad died. I thought fifteen was so old back then, and he always knew what to do. I’m sixteen! Jack stopped going to school when he was sixteen. I don’t know how to do anything. Maybe I should quit school and work too. Learn a trade or something.”

  “He wants you to stay in school,” Tessa said. “You promised him.” It must have been so tough for Jack growing up. Henry was falling to pieces.

  “Let’s write him together,” Ruby said. “He’ll be happy to hear from us. We can send postcards too. The post office sells them.”

  “What if we go trick or treating on Halloween and send him all our candy?”

  “We’re too old to trick or treat, you idiot.”

  Tessa had no heart to join their banter. She wondered how long it would be before they would see Jack again.

  By December 7, it was clear to her it would be a very long time before he would return.

  The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

  America was now at war too.

  Jack wired his family shortly after that. He was being deployed overseas.

  Chapter 24

  Nervous agitation filled the room as Anthony and his fraternity brothers gathered around the radio to listen to what the President had to say.

  “Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan…”

  Until yesterday, they were all ambivalent about enlisting. Risks and dangers aside, why would they want to be grunts in the Army? They were scholars among the brightest minds of their generation. Their possibilities and potential were endless.

  The attack on Pearl Harbor changed everything. It shattered their trust in the safety of their own world. Reality set in as they realized the war was not bound by distance to a faraway land. Overnight, foreign attackers could come and destroy their own ports, their own cities, and their own people.

  Five American battleships sunk.

  Two hundred aircrafts shot down.

  Two thousand four hundred people dead.

  Goosebumps chilled his arms as he thought of the number of people killed. People who were going about their day one moment and violently killed the next without warning. So many lives lost.

  Brandon was right. He had been right all along.

  The president’s stern voice continued from the radio. “The American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”

  Before yesterday, those words might have sounded empty. Today, they were what he needed to hear. He needed reassurance that they would prevail. He wanted to bring back what was lost and restore everything back to the way it should be.

  You know, sooner or later you’re going to have to decide which side you’re on, Brandon had said to him.

  Maybe that time had come.

  Everyone felt the same way. In the following week, the patriotic sentiment on campus rose to a fever pitch. Droves of students left to join the armed forces. No one blinked an eye when Congress amended the conscription law to lower the age of induction to eighteen.

  He had no doubt anymore. He would have to enlist. They all had to. If they didn’t defend their own country, who would?

  There was only one thing he must settle before he joined. Uncle Leon’s phone call came as though he had read his mind.

  “Don’t make any hasty decisions,” Leon urged him. “Come home this weekend. We’ll all talk about it.”

  He didn’t want to say no to Leon on the phone. He owed it to him and his parents to tell them in person.

  “Promise me you won’t do anything until you’ve talked to us,” Leon begged in a state of panic.

  Not wanting to upset his uncle any further, Anthony agreed. “Okay. I promise.” It was the only thing holding him
back. He would have to break the news to them when he went home.

  Meanwhile, he watched a number of his friends and classmates leave for service. Even Warren Hendricks had decided to go. In fact, he volunteered the very next week after Pearl Harbor.

  “Thank you, Anthony, for everything.” Warren came to him before he left. “I never would have qualified to do this if you hadn’t helped me train all these months.”

  In three months’ time, Warren had already improved to the point where he could keep up with the rest of the class during Phys. Ed. That wasn’t all. He found new confidence and transformed before everyone’s eyes. No longer the self-pitying young man who only wanted to deflect attention, he pushed himself to the limit and beyond no matter what their instructor threw at them.

  “I only gave you a push. You did all the work yourself.”

  “Do you plan to enlist?”

  “I’m breaking the news to my parents this weekend.” Uncle Leon would not be happy to hear what he had to say, but he could not stand by and let the Japanese get away with this. The enemies would have to answer for what they had done. They would see what America was made of yet.

  As expected, Leon was dead-set against any suggestion of him enlisting. “You can go to Chile. Our trading partner owns a company there. He’ll set you up with a good job. You can stay there till the war’s over.”

  “And be an outlaw? That’s absolutely out of the question.” Anthony couldn’t believe Leon would even suggest this. “Many of my friends have already left. Brandon’s gone. I’m not running the other way when all my friends are risking their lives.”

  “It doesn’t matter what others do.”

  “Of course it does. There’s no other acceptable or honorable option. I want to go. They attacked us on our land. Don’t you care about that?”

  Leon sat down lamely on the couch. “This is a nightmare. It’s Lex all over again. And Anthony too.” He was referring to Anthony Browning. “Our family doesn’t need more young people dying before their time. Won’t you at least think about us?” He looked at Anthony with pleading eyes.