Rapture's Rendezvous

headed up the stairs, alone, to the gambling room, I am sure,” he said. “When I saw him, I ducked out the back door.”

Maria's blood surged in a wild thrill, knowing that Michael was so close. She had to find a way to go to him. She had to be held in his arms once again. She knew that he would comfort her as no one else could do. But then she had to remember Nathan Hawkins's warnings. She was to tell no one of their plans. To do so would be possible death for her Papa and brother. Pains circling her heart caused her to gulp back a large lump in her throat, feeling desperation rising inside herself. She had to see Michael, yet she knew she couldn't. “So he was there … to only play cards . . . not be with … a woman . . . ?” she said softly, trembling.

“He looked as though he didn't have the money for which to pay for one of Ruby's whore's services,” Alberto said, laughing. “He looked like a bum. Nothing at all like he dressed while aboard the Dolphin. Seems your lover has fallen on hard times.”

Maria's eyes widened, remembering how smartly dressed Michael had been, and how he had served her only the best of wines and foods. “I can't… believe… that he would be poor,” she said, sulking. “He is a man of riches. I know this to be true.”

“I guess he played one card game too many,” Alberto said. “You know the cards can be one's enemy. They have turned on me as of late. You know that. Maybe this is what happened to Michael.”

“And you say that Michael didn't see you, Alberto?”

“Hell no. Do you think I'd let him see me? That would only lead him to you.”

Maria lowered her eyes. “Then why did you even have to tell me you saw Michael?” she said softly. “Wouldn't I have been better off to not know? Just the same as Michael?”

“I had to tell you that he has lost his luck. I wanted you to know that he is no longer one of the rich kind, that he is as poor as you and 1.I hoped that would make you forget him and the damn dreams you must have been having of some day meeting up with him to share his riches. If he has none, you can dream about someone else.”

“It is not the riches that attracted me to Michael,” Maria said, glowering. “It was Michael. I fell in love with him the first time I saw him. It had nothing to do with money. Nothing at all.”

“You… did… love him… Maria?” Alberto gasped.

“Did . .. do .. . and always … will,” she sighed, feeling tears surfacing. “But it is all lost. For me … it is all lost.”

“Because of what I just told you about him?”

Maria swallowed hard. “No, Alberto,” she said softly. “It's nothing to do … with what you have told me.”

“Then what?”

Maria's eyes wavered. She reached up and pulled her hair back from her face and let it settle in deep waves down her back. “Nothing. It is something I cannot talk about, Alberto,” she said, knowing that to mention Nathan Hawkins in the same breath would be to reveal too many truths to Alberto. Maria knew of Alberto's temper. She just couldn't let him know that this very next day she would be leaving for Nathan Hawkins's house … to become his wife.

“Alberto, will you please leave so I can get some sleep,” she said sullenly. “I am so bone-weary and tired.”

“Have I upset you, Maria?”

“A bit,” she said, stretching out beneath her covers. “But I will be all right. We will all be all right. You shall see.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” she said. “Now, Alberto, please go on to bed. Promise to not leave the house again tonight? I feel much safer when you are beneath the same roof as I. You know that Papa is ailing. You are the strong one of the family now. We depend on you.”

“You .. . do .. . ?” he stammered.

“Yes. You know that both Papa and I do.”

“I'm glad, Maria,” he said, leaning down to kiss her softly on the cheek. “I'm glad. You mean so much to me. I would die if anything would ever happen to you. I would just die.”

“I'll be all right, Alberto,” she said. “Now, please? I need to be alone.”

“To think about that Michael Hopper?” he growled, standing, doubling his fists at his sides.

“Him .. . and much much more,” she confessed.

Alberto swung around and stomped from the room, leaving Maria to stare after him, but glad to now be alone with her thoughts. “Oh, Michael,” she whispered, looking toward the window, seeing the blackness of night, wondering how she might arrange to possibly even get a glimpse of him.

“I could go to Ruby's. . . .” she said, sitting upright, biting a lower lip. “Yes, I can go to Ruby's, tell Ruby of my feelings for this man who is in her upstairs room gambling. See if she can arrange for me to take just one small peek at him. Surely it wouldn't hurt.”

Her heart thumped wildly against her chest, feeling the excitement building inside her. She knew that this was a dangerous scheme. She knew that a woman did not move through the darkness of the streets at night without taking a chance of being accosted by a drunken man.