Rapture's Rendezvous by Cassie Edwards Read Free Book Online Page A

she said stubbornly.
    â€œThen you refuse my help?” he argued, rising, glowering.
    â€œI would appreciate it if you'd help Alberto to his bunk,” she said softly, with wavering eyes.
    â€œYou sure you want me to help to even do that?” Michael boomed, placing his hands on his hips.
    â€œPlease, Michael?” she pleaded, sobbing openly.
    â€œOh, God, Maria,” Michael answered, stooping to lift Alberto's arm over his shoulders. “Don't cry, Maria. Please don't cry.”
    She wiped her eyes with the back of one hand and lifted her violin case up with the other and walkedbeside Michael as he semi-dragged Alberto until he had him stretched out atop his bunk.
    â€œThere,” Michael said, panting, then staring around him at the immigrants watching, seeing fear etched on each of their faces. It made Michael feel so damn helpless. But maybe once he reached America, they could all have a chance to thank him. Yes, once his mission was accomplished. . . .
    â€œAlberto,” Maria said, resting on bended knees beside his bunk. “Please wake up.” She accepted a handkerchief from Michael and began gently wiping the blood from Alberto's face. Then she remembered the commotion she had heard outside Michael's door . . . shortly before she and Michael had fallen into bed, wrestling, pleasuring one another. She closed her eyes as they burned with tears, knowing that this noise had been her own brother being beaten while she. … He had probably been searching for her.. . .
    â€œIs there anything else I can do, Maria?” Michael asked, touching her hand.
    She jerked free of him and glared upward. “Yes,” she said darkly. “You can leave me and Alberto alone. I will not leave my brother's side for the rest of this journey. It is he who now needs me to watch over him, and I shall do this, no matter what.”
    Michael clamped his lips together tightly and swung around and stormed away, leaving Maria with an aching, throbbing heart. “But I do love you, Michael,” she whispered after him.
    Then her eyes traveled around her, searching the faces, anger swelling inside her, hoping to find out who was responsible for her brother's injuries.. . .

Chapter Three
    The ocean had changed its mood. It now lay quiet. . . a canvas of blue stretched out as far as the eye could see. The only ripples in the water were from the ship's movements, and it didn't even appear to be making any headway.
    Maria peered across the endless body of water, thinking to never see land again and all the comforts it had to offer. Oh, if only she hadn't taken for granted such things as fresh drinking water … the softness of grass beneath one's feet… the song of the birds in the brush. She licked her lips thirstily, feeling the dried cracks of flesh peeling from them. No. Never again would she even be able to run with her brother through fields of tall grass, or be able to share a bed, where late in the night they could exchange their secret thoughts.
    Maria leaned down over Alberto, trying to shade him with her body. Now the rains would be welcome, for the sun was even worse punishment as it continued to beat down onto Maria's head, making her scalp tingle in a strange way. It had been this way for days. Nothing but sun and sea. The colors of blues and yellows meeting were now a constant blur to Maria. And she had to wonder if it was the same for Alberto, as his eyes looked into the distance in a bulgy, silent stare.
    â€œAlberto?” Maria whispered, dipping a cloth into a pail of water, then touching it softly to Alberto's lips. “Please suck on this cloth. Please, Alberto. You need the moisture in your body, or you might even dehy-drate and die a slow, lingering death.” She squeezed the cloth, watching the droplets settle onto his closed lips, only to run, as drool might do, down his chin and onto his sweat-soaked shirt.
    Alberto blinked his eyes and moved his head slightly, but