“No. Alberto isn't here. Why? What has happened?”-He pulled away from her, going to pull the pot of turnip greens from the stove. Then he slouched down onto a kitchen chair, wheezing hard.
Maria saw the laboring of his breath. She went to him and touched his brow. “Papa. You aren't breathing naturally. Has your … health … worsened?”
He hung his head, inhaling and exhaling even more laboriously. “No. I'm all right,” he mumbled. With his hand, he covered the area over his heart, sighing deeply. “No. Now I am all right.” His gaze met Maria's and held. “Now. What is this about Alberto?”
Maria swung her skirt around and went to stand at the back window, wringing her hands nervously. “It is something between Alberto and myself, Papa,” she murmured. “Please understand. I cannot tell you.”
“He's done something foolish. Tell me what it is. He's acted strangely since coming to America.”
Maria went to the table and pulled a chair from beneath it and sat down onto it. “Like I said, Papa,” she said, her eyes wavering. “It's between me and Alberto. Where is he? Please tell me.”
“He took the wagon just as soon as we arrived home from the mine,” Giacomo said. “I have no idea where he went.”
Maria knew. She cast her eyes downward, thinking her Papa might be able to see some truth in the depths of her eyes. “Well, then I will have to seek him out later,” she murmured. Again she met her Papa's gaze. “Now I must explain why I went away with Nathan Hawkins.” She swallowed hard, then held her left hand toward her Papa, letting him see the largeness of the diamond that had been given her after the words had been spoken between her and Nathan, the words that had sealed .. . their . .. union. She chewed on her lower lip, watching her Papa's expression change to disbelief. .. then anger. He pushed himself up from the chair, breathing hard once again.
“You can't tell me that you have wed that. . . that evil man,” he said, amost choking. He leaned his full weight on the edge of the table, teetering. “Maria, why? Why?”
Maria rose and rushed to him, trying to embrace him, only to be brushed angrily aside. “Papa, if you will let me explain, then you will fully understand,” she cried. “You will see that what I have done was .. . quite . . . necessary.”
“Nothing would be explanation enough, Maria,” he said, moving from the room.
Maria felt an iciness fill her veins. Had she been wrong? Should she have refused Nathan Hawkins? Had he only been bluffing? Maybe he wouldn't even have done what he had threatened. She hung her head in her hands, sobbing. She cried for a few moments, then followed her Papa into the front room where he sat, staring out the window into space.
Maria fell to her knees in front of him. “Papa?” she whispered, taking his hands in hers. “Now you listen. You just listen to what I have to say. Then you will know that I only did this to make all of our lives better.. ..”
His dark eyes sought hers out, heavy and brooding. “You mean your life, don't you, Maria?” he said, accusingly.
“No. No, Papa,” she cried. “Please listen.”
“All right, tell me,” he said thickly. “Tell your Papa why you have disgraced the Lazzaro family's name . . . and all the Italians in this community. Tell me how you can let that craggly faced devil. . . touch … the flesh … of your beautiful.. . body. . ..”
Chapter Fifteen
Alberto drew the horse to a halt next to Ruby's fence, staring at the house. He knew that he was a bit too early and that he wasn't cleaned up as usual after his day of working, but he had nowhere else to go. Ruby's had become his second home. She seemed to know him so well now. She had even consoled him when he had failed to have sexual success with any of her girls. He wiped at the tears in his eyes, feeling so weak, so unmanly. He needed to prove himself a man even more this early evening than at any time before. Maybe Ruby herself could take him to a room and bring out the man inside him. He had the desires . . . the needs of a man. Surely someone as skilled as Ruby could ease his inner torment. Up to this time, her consoling had only taken the form of words.
He jumped from the wagon and tied the reins to a hitching post, then entered through the gate, eyeing the dogs cautiously. They came to him, sniffing, then went on their way. He was glad that they had finally grown used to him. He had always feared dogs and the sharpness of their teeth, especially these two that Ruby depended on for safety.
Trembling, Alberto went to the front door and tapped lightly. Thrusting his hands in his rear breeches pockets, he stood with bowed head. He could still feel, the softness of Maria's lips and what they had caused to stir inside him. Shame once again flooded his thoughts. How .. . could he . . . have . . . ? What must Maria be thinking . . . ?
When the door opened, Ruby's brown eyes traveled over Alberto, seeing the state he was in. “Alberto? What's the matter?” she said in her slow drawl. “You've never come to Ruby's house so early. And you look so distraught. What has happened? Have you finally suc-ceeded in finding Maria? Are you upset. .. about. . . your findings?”
Alberto looked quickly from side to side, swallowing hard, then eyed Ruby with pleading. “Can I come in, Ruby? I need to talk with you. I have nowhere else … to . . . go,” he stammered.
“Yes. Come on in,” she said, smiling awkwardly. “But what do you mean … you don't have anywhere else to go? You have your home in Hawkinsville. What's happened, Alberto?”
Once inside, Alberto lowered his eyes, feeling so awkward in the position he had put himself in. “Like I said,” he mumbled. “I'd like to talk with you. In private.”
“Do you mean … in … my room .. . ?” she said softly.
Alberto's eyes wavered as his face flushed crimson. “Yes. If you only would,” he blurted. His eyes raked over her and her skimpy attire. Seeing the fullness of her breasts and the way they came to such sharp points beneath the chemise made a throbbing begin in his manhood. He had never seen her dressed so skimpily.
He had most surely caught her as she had emerged from her bath, or possibly as she had begun to prepare for her evening's activities. His gaze traveled lower and saw the darkness of the vee between her legs. The brown flesh of her thighs looked like velvet, making Alberto lick his lips hungrily. Maybe Ruby could help him. She was already affecting him in a strange way. He even felt a bit giddy being so close to her as she began to guide him up the narrow staircase, then on into her private room. Once inside, all he could see was the greatness of the bed and the red satin sheets and pillow coverings. But instead of guiding Alberto to the bed, Ruby directed him toward .a chair.
“Now, Alberto, please tell me what has happened?” Ruby said, stretching out on her stomach on the bed, resting her head in her hands.
“I don't know where to start,” he stammered, stretching his long, lean legs out before him, flushing once again when he realized just how dirty he was. Coal dust. The damn coal dust that he seemed never to be able to wash off. It was worse than the dust from inside chimneys. Oh, how he hated it all. His existence had become almost unbearable.
“The beginning,” Ruby said, moving to an upright position, reaching for a cigar, lighting it. She'began to blow circles from between her thick lips, waiting.
“Maria has returned from Saint Louis,” he began, speaking so softly he wasn't even sure if Ruby could hear. But he had hated to say the words aloud. He hated to say that Maria was now … Mrs. Nathan .. . Hawkins. It still didn't seem possible. His Maria. His sweet, innocent Maria.. ..
“She has? When did you see her? Have you talked with her?”
“I went to Nathan Hawkins's house. Only a short while ago. Maria was there,” he said, then lowered his head into his hands, cursing softly to himself.
“You knew that Maria was with Nathan Hawkins,” Ruby said, drawing once again on her cigar. “What has upset you about that? I thought you had had enough time to get used to it. What has renewed your anger so?”
Alberto rose and began pacing the floor. “She not only was with Nathan while in Saint Louis,�
� he said, now angrily, “but she came back to this area with Nathan Hawkins . . . bearing … his name.”
Ruby jumped from the bed and took Alberto by the arm, stopping him. “What did you say?” she said. “What do you mean .. . bearing his name … ?” Had Clarence been telling the truth then that day he had come racing back on horseback? When he had told her that Maria was marrying Nathan, Ruby had laughed in her husband's face. Should she have taken him seriously? She hadn't… for … so … long….
“What the hell do you think I mean?” Alberto stormed.
“That she is now . . . Mrs. Nathan Hawkins?”
“Yes. She is now Nathan Hawkins's wife,” Alberto said, suddenly weeping, holding his face in his hands, as his body shook in violent trembles.
Ruby mashed her cigar out in an ashtray, then went to Alberto and pulled him into her embrace. “My God, Alberto,” she murmured, running her long, lean fingers through his hair. “Oh, my God. Maria? I hadn't under stood for one minute why she had gone to Saint Louis with Nathan. That was a puzzler. But now?To find that she's married him? Maria? Why? Why would she do such a dumbass thing as marrying that bastard? She doesn't love him. She loves. . . .”
Alberto tensed and withdrew from Ruby. “She loves? What do you mean? What did you start to say?”
Ruby covered her mouth and swung around, placing her back to him. She had almost mentioned Michael Hopper's name. She went to her liquor cabinet and poured a glass of whiskey and swallowed it in two fast gulps. She turned to face Alberto once again. “I meant to say that no one could love Nathan Hawkins,” she said. “There has to be more to this than what you've told me.”
“That's all one has to know, isn't it?” he said. “She's married to the man who imprisons all us Italians. She is no better than him now. Marrying him meant that she must approve of his evil practices.” He stomped back and forth across the room, glaring. “No. I cannot think it was for any other reason than that she had grown tired of the kind of life that has been forced on us in America. She took the first chance she was offered to free herself of such blight. Maria is no longer a Lazzaro.” He gulped back more tears. “She is no longer . . . my . . . sister. . . .”
Ruby went to him and tried to console him once again by whispering soft murmurings into his ear. When Alberto reached and touched a breast through the thin chemise, she leaned into his touch and moaned softly. “Alberto, what has taken you so long to desire me?” she whispered, beginning to unbutton his shirt. Her fingers were quick and sure as she reached downward and unbuttoned his breeches and helped to lower them to the floor.
“Ruby, there's something I need to tell. .. .” Alberto began, but was hushed by her fingers sealing his lips.
“Hush. I'll help to erase all sadness from your mind,” she said, urging him to step from his shoes, then guiding him onto the bed.
“But, Ruby. . . .” he said, almost choking on his words, fearing the worst. . . that he once again wouldn't be able to be a man … not even with Ruby. What then? Oh, God. What then . .. ?
“First some soft oils to perfume your body with,” she whispered, pouring some sweetly fragranted liquid into the palm of each of her hands. “After being in the depths of the earth all day, this will take the stench from your body. You will smell like a spring flower when I get finished with you. Then I shall slide my body up and down yours until you will beg to be finished with.”
When her fingers made contact with his flesh, Alberto closed his eyes, groaning softly. He moved his body with her as she rubbed and kneaded him, first his taut stomach muscles, then lower, to ease the liquid onto his manhood.
“Ruby,” he moaned. “You are making my mind leave me.”
Ruby laughed wickedly, then quickly removed her chemise and climbed atop him. She reached into her navel and removed the ruby and placed it on the table next to the bed, not wanting to scratch Alberto with it when she would scoot her body along his. Then with all the skills that she had learned, she began to slide her body back and forth over him, feeling the stiffness of his manhood, feeling desire mounting inside her, as no man had caused for some time now . .. not since Michael Hopper.
She had grown so fond of Michael's skills at love-making that it had frightened her. She had worried that Clarence would grow suspicious of her going with only one man. Clarence. Her husband—who had been so savagely castrated by some furious whites so many years ago, after it had been discovered that Clarence… had raped … a young white girl. Ruby had wanted to kill Clarence herself after finding out the ugly truth, until she had found what the men had done to him. It was Ruby who had then nursed him back to health, loving him even more as each day passed. But Clarence, not being able to quench her desires for a man any longer, had agreed to let her start this house of girls . . . enabling Ruby to hide her own lusts behind the skirts of so many other girls.
Ruby's lips crushed down onto Alberto's, making Alberto's mind begin a slow swirling. He reached upward and squeezed first one breast then another, arching his body upward until his manhood was swallowed deeply inside Ruby. She moved her hips up and down, moaning softly, but when Alberto began to tense, realizing that it was happening again, that he was becoming smaller instead of larger, Ruby's eyes opened wide, searching his face, seeing pain, torture, grief. . . .
She reached upward and caressed his brow, whispering, “Alberto, relax.” She continued to move her body up and down, but she felt his manhood come from inside her to lie limply beneath her.
“Ruby, please,” he said, clenching his teeth. He was once again humilitated. And this time with Ruby. God, how he hated her knowing. “I just… can't, Ruby“
Ruby reached downward and began to caress him, but saw that it was of no use. “Honey, why?” she said, moving from on top of him, handing him a towel.
Alberto climbed from the bed and began to wipe himself down with it. He knew that his face was crimson from the embarrassment. He had just proven to himself that he still was not a true man. In any sense of the word. “I don't know what causes me to react so,” he said, reaching for his breeches. He stepped into them, anxious to hide his manhood from her probing eyes.
“Is there someone else, Alberto?” Ruby asked, moving from the bed, toweling herself off. “Is that the reason you still cannot enjoy me or any of my women? If so, who is it?”
Alberto looked quickly away from her as he pulled his shirt on. “I do need to talk to someone about it,” he said thickly.
Ruby repositioned her red stone inside her navel, then pulled a robe on and tied it in front of her. “You can always talk to me,” she said, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. She had so hungered for his body. And damn. He was the first man who had actually been unable to have sex successfully with her. Whoever this female was who had captured Alberto's heart had to be truly something extra special.
“I don't know how to say it,” Alberto said, kneading his brow. He slumped down onto a chair. “It's such an unnatural thing. I don't know what to do.”
“What is it, Alberto?” She sat down on the floor in front of him, staring upward into his dark pits of eyes.
“I actually kissed Maria a while ago,” he stammered.
“All brothers kiss their sisters, Alberto. What's so unnatural about that?”
“What's unnatural?” he stormed. “I enjoyed it as a man enjoys kissing a woman. It gave me strange stirrings. I desired her. This is why it was unnatural. I've desired her for years now. I am tortured. Day and night. What shall I do?”
“I see,” Ruby exclaimed, rising, pacing the floor. “Yes, I see,” she said once again, lighting another cigar.
“And when I kissed her, I know she realized that it wasn't the kiss of a brother,” Alberto continued. “She must think I'm a freak. I don't know what to do.”
“Well, you said she was no . . . longer .. . your sister,” Ruby said. “So why even worry yourself about anything she will think?”
“But don't you see? That doesn't help me with my state of mind. I c
an't enjoy a woman the way I should. I should have been able to enjoy you. God, Ruby. You're beautiful. You had my mind and body going for a while. I don't know what happened. Just suddenly, it just quit feeling good. I couldn't feel anything. So see? What am I to do?”
“What are you to do? Wait until the right woman comes along. Just as most men do. You'll see, that will happen. This thing for your sister. It is just a passing thing. One day soon a beautiful, innocent thing will just happen along and your heart will be gone from you. Also thoughts of your sister.”
Alberto's eyes wavered as he looked upward at Ruby. “Do you really think so?” he murmured.
“I'm sure of it,” Ruby said, going to her wardrobe to search through her many dresses, choosing one for the night's activities.
“But until then? What shall I do? And what about Maria and that damned Nathan Hawkins?”
“About Maria? I am sure you will find there is more to her marriage than what you have permitted her to tell you. And as for the other problem? Why not go to the gambling room and have some fun? Gambling is sort of a way to seduction. You have learned that. We should have a wild game going soon. Go on and have some fun.”
She went to her liquor cabinet and pulled a bottle of port from inside it. She handed it and a long-stemmed wine glass to Alberto. “And in the meantime, get drunk.” She laughed hoarsely, guiding him toward the door. “You just make yourself at home. There might already be some action in the gambling room. Maybe some have come as we've been … uh … talking.”
Alberto turned to Ruby and lowered his eyes, then looked at her sternly for a moment. “I do appreciate your friendship, Ruby,” he said. “Without it, I don't know what I would do.”
She slapped him on the back, laughing throatily. “And I also enjoy you. One day, I plan to enjoy you to the fullest, if you know what I mean.”
“Yes. Let's hope,” Alberto said, then hurried from the room, and having both hands full, kicked at the door that led into the gambling room. When the door swung open and Alberto found himself face to face with Michael Hopper, he felt an inner excitement that he had momentarily forgotten. He smiled crookedly, and said, “Well, look who we have here. My ex-sister's ex-boyfriend.”
Rapture's Rendezvous Page 29
