by Jae
“Sorry I took so long,” Lucy said. “I had to guess at your sizes, but people tell me I have an eye for women. I mean…for what sizes they might wear.”
Now a flush did rise up Lucy’s neck.
What did it mean? Giuliana tsked under her breath. It didn’t mean a thing. Just because she and Kate looked at each other that way didn’t mean Lucy shared that affliction or whatever it was. Maybe she was blushing because she sensed that her words were no longer completely innocent for Giuliana.
Belatedly, she took the clothes Lucy still held out, while clutching the towel to her front with the other hand. “Thank you.”
Lucy nodded and stepped backward, grazing a stack of metal bowls and surgical instruments in the process. Rattling and clanking, the stack collapsed into a messy pile. Instead of staying to clean up, Lucy retreated to the tent’s entrance. “I’ll…uh…wait outside.” She ducked outside without waiting for a reply.
Giuliana and Kate looked at each other, both half-covered by a towel and clutching their new clothes to their chests.
“Do you think…? Is not possible that Lucy…?” Giuliana gestured helplessly, almost dropping her towel in the process. She didn’t have the words for what she wanted to ask. “That she is…?”
“Yes.”
The answer, so sure and without pretenses, took Giuliana’s breath away. Surely Kate had misunderstood what she had wanted to know. “You mean…she…? She is like…?” She pointed back and forth between them.
Her towel and the clean clothes dropped to the ground. Quickly, she picked them up and covered herself with the towel. When she looked back up, Kate’s cheeks were as flushed as Lucy’s had been. How adorable. A tentative smile tugged on Giuliana’s lips.
Staring at the tent wall, Kate nodded. “Yes,” she said again.
“How do you know this?”
Kate shrugged. Her towel slipped a little, revealing the upper curve of one breast. “She told me so herself.”
Once again, the breath fled from Giuliana’s lungs. The towel and her new clothes nearly escaped her limp grip again. “She told you?” Why would Lucy take such a risk? Giuliana trembled at the mere thought of telling anyone that Kate had kissed her—and that she’d kissed her back.
“Remember when Lucy took care of your burned hand and she and I talked afterward?”
Giuliana nodded. Of course she remembered. “This is when she asked you to get more medicines for her patients.”
“Um…” Kate rubbed her cheek on one bare shoulder. Her face looked sunburned, either from the fire or because she was flushing again. Possibly both. “That’s not exactly what she said.”
“No?”
“I didn’t mean to lie to you, but it was just easier to let you assume…I wasn’t ready to tell you how I felt…how I feel.”
What exactly do you feel? Giuliana wanted to ask, but Kate hurriedly continued.
“What Lucy really said is that she’s not in love with you.”
Giuliana’s bundle of clothes dropped to the ground again. If they continued like this, the shirtwaist would be stained with grass and dirt before she could even put it on. “Of course she is not. Why did she say that?”
Kate turned away for a moment and quickly slipped on a chemise and a pair of drawers, as if feeling exposed.
Giuliana used the chance to slip into her own set of clean undergarments too.
“Well,” Kate said, her back still to Giuliana, “I think she…she might have gotten the impression that I’m a tad…that I might be a tiny bit, well, jealous.”
“Jealous? Of her?”
Kate peeked over her shoulder. When she saw that Giuliana was halfway decent, she turned back around. “You have to admit she’s awfully friendly toward you.”
“Friendly…” Giuliana nodded. “Yes. That is what friends are, no? At least in Sicilia. What is awful about it?”
“Nothing, I suppose. It’s just…” Kate waved her shirtwaist through the air as if it were a flag of surrender before slipping it on and buttoning it. “Forget it. There’s nothing wrong with Lucy or her friendliness. I like her. And she’s right. I am jealous.”
That put a smile on Giuliana’s face because it meant Kate cared for her—in that new, scary, and at the same time exciting way. “And Lucy…she knew this?”
“She called us kindred spirits, and I think she wasn’t just talking about both of us trying to be successful in a man’s profession. Maybe that’s how she knew why I was staring daggers at her.”
Deeply in thought, Giuliana rolled up her stockings, slid up the new skirt, and buttoned the shirtwaist. She trailed her hands over the crisp, white cotton and felt more than saw Kate’s gaze track the movement of her fingers. Her body tingled all over, and it wasn’t a result of the light sunburn or the scrapes and bruises covering every inch of her skin.
Kate cleared her throat. “You look beautiful.”
It was the first time someone had ever told her that, at least someone she wasn’t related to. The compliment brought new heat to her cheeks. “Thank you.” She glanced down at herself. Everything fit as if it had been tailored just for her, and a quick peek over at Kate revealed that her new clothes fit just as well. “You look beautiful also.”
Kate cracked a thin smile. “Maybe Lucy does indeed have an eye for women.”
They looked at each other and started to laugh at the same time.
It was as if someone had pulled the cork out of a bottle of champagne, which Giuliana had seen the Winthrops’ butler open once. She laughed so hard that she had to gasp for breath and warm tears rolled down her cheeks. Kate’s comment hadn’t been that funny, but she couldn’t stop. It was as if the laughter washed away the fear of the last three days from her soul, the way the lukewarm water had washed away the soot and ash from her body. But instead of clean skin, the laughter revealed more terror beneath that first layer.
Kate was bent over, laughing a little too loudly and gasping for breath too.
“Kate…” Giuliana reached out for her like a drowning person trying to grip a lifeline.
When Kate straightened, tears were running down her face too.
They came together in the middle of the tent and gripped each other in a fierce embrace that made Giuliana’s bruises ache. Ignoring the pain, she squeezed back even harder. The laughter now gone, silent sobs shook Giuliana’s body.
She laid her face against Kate’s warm neck and breathed in her scent. Burrowed safely in her little cocoon, she allowed the images of the last three days to come. They rushed through her like a series of Kate’s photographs, all strung together—the boardinghouse collapsing on top of her, the screams of the people burning on the floors beneath, Kate nearly being shot by a soldier, the ride in the blood-soiled ambulance, running into the burning house to save Biddy, almost being burned alive by a firestorm…
The stream of mental images wouldn’t stop, and neither did the tears.
“I make your new shirtwaist wet,” she choked out against Kate’s collar.
“Shh.” Kate cradled her head against her, pulling her even closer. “It’s fine.”
Fine. We’re fine. We’re both fine. Slowly, the tears slowed and then stopped. Their arms around each other loosened a little. She sniffled and looked up at Kate, whose cheeks were damp too. The urge to kiss every single teardrop off that beautiful, beloved face gripped Giuliana with unexpected fierceness. She reached up and cradled Kate’s cheeks between her hands.
Kate held very, very still. Was she even breathing?
Giuliana wasn’t sure if she, herself, was drawing breath. Her focus was on Kate, not on herself. Her entire world had narrowed to the woman in front of her. Kate’s once-fair face was reddened as if she’d been sunburned. Her blonde eyebrows and the clear blue of her eyes stood out against the puffy redness.
Slowly, Giuliana leaned up on her tiptoes and brushed her lips across one red cheek. It was overly warm and oh-so soft. She pulled back and sent a questioning gaze up at Kate, who still
stood frozen but didn’t seem to mind at all, so she leaned in a second time and kissed the other cheek too. This time, she lingered a little longer, nuzzling the sweep of Kate’s cheekbone. When she pulled back, salt coated her mouth. It stung a little since her lips were slightly burned. She touched her upper lip with the tip of her tongue and licked off the taste of Kate’s tears.
Kate stared at her. She tugged a strand of hair behind Giuliana’s ear. Her fingers brushed the rim of Giuliana’s ear, sending goose bumps down her neck and the rest of her body. Slowly, Kate leaned down.
Their breaths mingled.
All thoughts of this possibly not being right fled Giuliana’s mind as their lips brushed lightly, just a whisper of a kiss.
Both pulled back an inch. Giuliana tried to gauge Kate’s reaction, while Kate searched her face.
At the same time, they leaned toward each other again.
Giuliana’s eyes fluttered shut as their mouths met again. Her body seemed to melt into Kate’s, drawn in by her heat. Kate’s heart thrummed against hers, assuring Giuliana that Kate was alive and well.
They traded kisses, first short, tentative brushes of their lips, then lingering caresses. How could anything feel so good? Almost dizzy with pleasure, Giuliana clutched Kate’s shoulders to keep herself upright.
Kate did the same. Her fingertips drew light circles over the fabric of Giuliana’s shirtwaist, sending shivers all over her body.
Giuliana slid her hands up, beneath Kate’s tangled hair, up the warm nape of her neck. It was amazing how soft Kate’s skin was. She couldn’t get enough, couldn’t get her close enough. With gentle pressure, she urged their mouths together more firmly.
“I forgot to give you some ointment for your—”
The voice from behind brought Giuliana back to reality. With a gasp, she let go and stepped back from Kate. Her body screamed out in protest, wanting that warm contact back.
When she turned, Lucy stood at the tent’s opening, a small tin in her hand. Her cheeks were flushed as if she’d fought the fire for hours too. Slowly, the pinkness faded and was replaced by a grin. “But now I’m not so sure you need it. I bet you’re not feeling any pain right now.”
True. For the moment, the aches and pains all over her body had disappeared as if by a miracle—the miracle of Kate’s touch. She ducked her head, unable to look Lucy in the eye.
Lucy entered the tent and pressed the ointment into Giuliana’s hand. “No reason to be ashamed. To me, you’re just like any other courting couple.”
Giuliana’s mouth opened and closed, but before she could form even one halfway intelligent word, Lucy was gone. “W-what was that?”
“A kiss,” Kate whispered. “And it felt…” She sucked in a breath through her nose and exhaled through her mouth. “…heavenly.”
It did. Giuliana traced her lips with her fingertips. When she realized what she was doing, she lowered her hand. But she hadn’t been talking about the kiss. Lucy’s words still echoed through her mind. Courting couple…Was that what she and Kate were…what they felt for each other? Her head said it was impossible—one of them would have to be a man for that, right?—but her heart insisted that it was true.
She opened the tin Lucy had given her and stared down into the greenish-white substance, for a moment not comprehending what she was supposed to do with it.
A light touch to her shoulder startled her out of her daze. “Come on. Let’s put some ointment on ourselves and then let’s see about food and that place to sleep Lucy promised us. You look like you’re about to fall over.”
Nodding numbly, Giuliana dipped her finger into the tin. She wished she could spread the salve over Kate’s scrapes, burns, and bruises instead of her own. Quickly, she averted her gaze and rubbed the ointment into her skin.
* * *
Clean, fed, covered in a thick layer of soothing salve, and with two quarts of water sloshing around in her belly, Kate felt like a new woman. Or maybe the vivid memory of Giuliana’s lips on hers was what made her feel as if the world was a wonderful place where everything was possible, even though clouds of smoke still darkened the sky. Not even thinking of her parents and the earful she’d get for jumping the ferry could put a frown on her face right now.
“Lucy is very nice,” Giuliana said as they went in search of the tent for unattached women, where Lucy had found them a place.
Kate studied her expression. A warm smile tugged up the corners of Giuliana’s mouth, but there was none of the glow Kate had seen in her eyes right after they’d kissed.
No reason for jealousy, she tried to tell herself. Yes, Giuliana might be more appreciative of a woman’s beauty than Kate had assumed, but she, Kathryn Winthrop, was the lucky person Giuliana had kissed, not Lucy.
“She’s great.”
They wandered down the row of tents, Giuliana carrying the blankets they had gotten from one of the army relief stations while Kate gripped her carrying case. Despite the tiredness weighing on her, Kate felt as if she were walking on a carpet of clouds.
When they reached the circular tent Lucy had described, resembling the lodges of Plains tribes Kate had once seen in a book, they stopped.
Kate turned toward Giuliana. There was so much she wanted to say before they entered the tent and were no longer alone, but her exhausted brain couldn’t come up with a single sentence.
Giuliana brushed her hand over Kate’s, as if she, too, was at a loss for words, and then quickly withdrew it. She wobbled and looked as if she barely had the strength to stay upright. Dark shadows smudged the puffy skin beneath her eyes.
Kate’s heart squeezed at the sight. The urge to take care of Giuliana immediately chased away part of her own exhaustion. She opened the flap and wrinkled her nose. Ugh. The inside of the tent smelled like dirty stockings, sweat, and damp wool. On any other day, she would have turned around and looked for another place to stay, but right now she was so tired that she didn’t care. Her nose would probably go numb in a second anyway. At least the canvas walls would keep out the cold wind and the rats.
She felt Giuliana hold on to the back of her shirtwaist as they entered.
The tent was high enough to stand with six feet to spare in the very middle, where an iron pole held up the canvas, spreading out at the base like a camera tripod. It looked big enough to hold a dozen people comfortably, but now Kate counted at least fifteen women in the tent.
Some of them were Kate’s and Giuliana’s age; others looked like spinsters twice as old. One silver-haired woman sat in a wheelchair, her face as lined as the shell of a walnut and just as tanned.
“They’re sending over more people?” a young woman with one black and one brown shoe said instead of offering a greeting. “Can’t you stay somewhere else? It’s already crowded in here.”
“Don’t listen to her.” Another woman swept her hand in invitation and dragged her blanket to the side. “There’s room next to me.”
“Thank you.” Kate gave her a grateful nod. When Giuliana put one of their blankets down in the vacated spot, she sank down on it and carefully placed her carrying case next to the canvas wall, where no one would stumble over it.
She’d meant to sit down only for a moment, rest her weary feet, but as soon as she sat, her body wanted to lie down. She felt like the automobile when they’d had to leave it behind; she was running out of gasoline, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Giuliana settled down cross-legged next to her. Her nostrils quivered as she tried unsuccessfully to suppress a yawn. Her eyelids drooped, and her chin sank onto her chest, but she forced it up and opened her eyes wide. After a few seconds, her eyes drifted closed again and the routine repeated.
Kate no longer cared that it wasn’t evening yet and that the other women might think them lazy. She let herself sink down and pulled Giuliana with her into a horizontal position. Her arm felt like dead weight as she reached out and pulled Giuliana’s blanket over them both. Her heavy eyelids sank down immediately.
&nb
sp; The conversation of the women around them drifted over her like waves on a beach. With Giuliana’s warmth along her front, she finally gave in to her bone-deep exhaustion and allowed herself to succumb to sleep.
* * *
Giuliana felt as if she were drifting on the warm, gentle waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea, as she had as a child. Home. She was home.
Then sounds intruded—the noise of a rusty saw, interspersed with piglike snorts.
She opened her eyes. Blackness engulfed her. Help! She had sunk beneath the surface of the water and was drowning! She struggled and kicked out her legs.
Someone stirred against her back. “Giuliana?” Kate mumbled, her voice drunken with sleep.
Giuliana stilled. She wasn’t drowning. She was with Kate. The fog of sleep dissipated, and she sank back against Kate’s warm body behind her. The gentle lifting and falling of Kate’s chest must have been what had lulled her into that dream about drifting on waves in the cove back home.
When her eyes got used to the darkness, she could make out the shapes of the other women sleeping all around them. Without a warming fire, the temperature in the tent had dropped after sunset, so most of the women had cuddled up in pairs to share body heat. Just the old woman had nodded off alone, sitting up in her wheelchair. The rusty-saw-and-pig-snorts noises were loud snores escaping her wide-open mouth.
Giuliana rolled over, careful not to dislodge the blanket. Her sore muscles protested the movement, but she instantly forgot about the aches in her body as her knee brushed Kate’s.
They stared at each other in the near darkness. The tiny bit of light filtering in through the hole at the top of the tent reflected off the white in Kate’s eyes.
“How do you feel?” Kate whispered.
Her hot breath brushed over the shell of Giuliana’s ear, making her shiver.
“Cold?” Kate pulled her a little closer.
Giuliana was everything but cold, but since she didn’t know how to explain what she was feeling, she simply nodded.
