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

still lay mute, as he had now since Sam's fierce blow upon the head. Maria gently turned his head and checked the head wound. It had finally quit seeping a colorless liquid. Guilt flooded her senses, as she remembered not having found the wound for two full days after his accident. Even the ship's doctor hadn't seen it. Doctor Rawson had fleetingly checked Alberto over, saying he would be all right in time, to not fret. But when Maria had continued to worry as each day had passed, seeing no change whatsoever in Alberto she had insisted that Doctor Rawson take a closer look at Alberto. That was when the head wound had been discovered.
    â€œIt don't look good, missic,” Doctor Rawson had drawled in a cockney sort of dialect. “It appears to me that your brother might or might not make it now that I see his head. Sure willpower will be the only thing to pull him through now. We will just have to wait and see.”
    â€œYou will be all right, Alberto,” Maria said, smoothing his shirt with her hand, so wanting him to awaken and pull her into his arms, to reassure her that indeed he would arrive on America's soil with her. Even to think of seeing his body heaved from the ship,into the ocean that had become a grave for many since having left Italy, made Maria's stomach turn into massive quivers.
    Looking down into her pail of water, fear gripped her heart even more. What had been rationed her and all on board just wasn't enough to keep her and Alberto's tongues wet, let alone to use it for anything else. Her eyes searched all around her, seeing all the others who were suffering from different maladies. The ugly moods of the weather continued to take their toll. Coughs and sneezes wracked all, it seemed. The children were the ones who had managed to stay the healthiest. But the elderly? So many . . . oh, so many hadn't made it.
    Maria clutched at her chest, coughing herself. Her eyes continued to travel through the throngs of people lining the rails of the ship, now looking for the familiar stance of Michael. He had let her be … since that night she had attacked him verbally for his having spoken so wickedly of her and Alberto's relationship.
    Now? She wished that her stubborn side hadn't been dominant that night. Now? She wished she had said yes to Michael's invitation for her and the wounded Alberto to share his cabin. Ah, to be in the comfort of his cabin . . . attired in comfortable clothes . . . being given all she desired to eat and drink. Yes, even Alberto would most surely agree that that would have been best for them. Maria now feared that Alberto might possibly have a sunstroke, instead of the usually fatal disease called pneumonia. She hadn't decided yet which was the worst. These past several days she had seen so much of both.
    Feeling suddenly exhausted, and oh, so sad, Mariastretched her legs out beside the bunk, pulling her breeches legs up beyond her ankles, and placed her head on Alberto's chest, sighing. She again hadn't seen Michael, but she knew that he was smart to stay below deck, where he was able to forget the stench of top deck and all those who were suffering so.
    With tears burning at the corner of her eyes, Maria took one of Alberto's hands in hers and let herself be lost to all that was around her … dreaming sweeter dreams than those of the present. .. reliving her one time with Michael. . . wishing it could be again. She didn't see Alberto's lips begin to move, or feel his heartbeats hasten against her cheek. .. .
    Alberto was aware of Maria's closeness. He wanted to reach out to her. Comfort her. Explain how he had happened to ignore her that day. Explain how he had happened to be below deck . .. where Sam had assaulted him. . . .
    Alberto had loved the feel of the cards between his fingers and the power that each card represented when he would spread them out, face side up, on the ship's flooring before him. He had found that the Aces were the best to be dealt, and that he