Out of the Ashes (24 page)

“Here, hold this.”

David grabbed the funnel with one hand and the hose with the other. Sera scooped up a glob of plaster with a small bucket and poured it into the funnel. The white, pasty mixture was just runny enough to slide through the tube with the help of a plunger-type instrument.

Working the hose at different angles to get the plaster into every hollow and crevice inside, they continued the delicate process in tandem as
Moretti
and the others worked on other sections. As one hole would fill, they’d move on to the next, working their way from the bottom up. When the plaster ran low, the workers behind them would refill the troughs with more. On and on it went, until the cavity was completely filled and the plaster overflowed.

“It is done. Good work, Serafina.”
Moretti
patted her on the shoulder before he left. Watching him go, she felt like a schoolgirl who’d just gotten a gold star from her teacher.

“Thank you,” David’s soft voice whispered in her ear.

She turned, a thrill running through her body as it did every time he stood this close to her.

“For what?”

“For letting me share this with you.”

“I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Slowly, the crowd around them began to disperse, each person congratulating Sera on her find before they left. When everyone was gone and they were completely alone, David and Sera stood side by side, looking at the filled cavity as the sun started to set over the ruins, casting a shadow over the mound like a blanket over a child put to bed.

“So, how long does it take to set?” he asked.

“With the amount of plaster we put in? About a week.”

They stood as they were for a few more moments, staring at the dirt mound now covered with white dots of gooey plaster where the holes used to be.

“Kind of like watching paint dry, isn’t it?”

Sera laughed. “Yes, I guess it is.”

“So, now what do we do?”

She sighed, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up to her.

“We wait.”

“And what do we do while we wait?”

“We go back to what we were doing before we found the cavity.”

“Can we?” he asked, a mixture of hope and doubt in his voice.

She knew what he was asking. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the answer. Before they found the cavity, she thought he was Italian. Before, they were close to becoming friends. Now, everything was too complicated.

“I don’t know.”

David nodded and returned his attention to the body mound. He was so close, she could feel the heat of his body warming her side like the setting sun on her face. She ached to touch him, to hold him and celebrate this special day.

Slowly, he reached out and took her hand. Holding it casually between them, he gave it a gentle squeeze. She glanced up at him, and he smiled down at her, the look in his eyes so tender, it nearly took her breath away.

It wasn’t the look of friendship or passion that she’d come to expect to see in them. It was a look of intense pride for her and what they had accomplished today.

Right now, that meant more to her than anything.

After the excitement of making the plaster cast, Sera was finding it very hard to sleep. The July night was so hot, she’d kicked her worn cotton sheets into a wadded pile at her feet hours ago. The window beside her bed was open to catch any hint of a breeze that might make its way in, but the lace curtains barely stirred, and only voices from the street below carried on the still night air to keep her company as she willed sleep to come.

Although she blamed the heat, her thoughts were what kept her awake.

Thoughts of David.

The memory of his warm look of pride when they’d finished filling the cavity with plaster together. The heat of his touch in the darkness of the gladiator barracks. The fire in his kiss that nearly burned her alive each time she relived it. Why couldn’t things be different for them?

Shouts from the street below jarred her from her thoughts, David’s image vanishing from her mind’s eye like a wisp of smoke in the breeze. The voices grew louder, the entire town seeming to come awake at once.

Glancing at the clock on her bedside table, she saw that it was nearly eleven o’clock. She rose and looked out her window. People were everywhere in the street below, shouting and running about.

Was an air raid coming? The sirens had not sounded.

A fierce pounding on her door had her clutching the window sill in alarm.

“Serafina! You will not believe what has happened.”

Grabbing her robe to throw on over her thin nightgown, she opened the door to Maria’s urgent pounding.

“What is it?”

“Come quickly, and you’ll see.” Maria grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down the hall. For a little old lady, excitement lent her a great deal of strength as she nearly dragged Sera down the stairs.

Maria guided her into the front room of the
Angelicos
’ apartment, where all the other tenants stood gathered around the only radio in the house. Apparently most had been pulled from their beds just as she had.

Ushered to a spot near the others, Sera bent to listen to the broadcast.

“… as was stated earlier, the Grand Council convened yesterday and voted to strip Benito Mussolini of his authority and remove him as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Today, King Victor followed up the Grand Council decision by accepting Mussolini’s resignation and placing him immediately under arrest. Mussolini was escorted by armed guards…”

“What does this mean?” Sera asked as
Heberto
wrapped her in a giant bear hug.

“What else could it mean?” Maria answered. “Mussolini is gone. Italy is out of the war!”

Italy out of the war? Could it be true?

If Italy was out of the war, then wouldn’t that mean the Americans were no longer an enemy of the Italians?

Suddenly an impossible future with David now seemed possible.

David. She had to see him.

Sera turned on her heel and ran out the front door.

As she raced into the night, people danced and cheered in the street, many still in their nightclothes and with no shoes on their feet, just as she was.

She wove in and out of the undulating crowd of people. Men and women bumped into her from all sides, some almost knocking her down in their jubilation.

She had to step over broken glass from framed photographs of Mussolini tossed into the street from the apartment windows above. A flash of white fell in front of her, crashing into a dozen broken pieces at her bare feet. She glanced down at a shattered bust of Mussolini, his blank eyes staring at her in stunned silence.

Stepping over the debris, she could not believe what was going on around her. Several fires blazed in the street, their flames fed with Fascist signs and banners torn down from buildings and lampposts. She watched in bewildered silence as remnants of Mussolini’s reign floated up with the cinders to dance in the dark night sky.

Sera ran on, finding herself near David’s street without knowing how she’d gotten there. She fought through the mob blocking her way.

Then the crowd seemed to part, and David was there, only a few yards away. He still wore his dusty work pants, but his shirt hung open as if he’d hastily thrown it on without bothering to button it.

They stood and stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, she rushed into his arms, and he wrapped himself around her.

No words needed to be said. They both knew what the news meant for them.

He held her tightly and kissed her hair, her cheek, the side of her neck. Then he was kissing her mouth with a passion that stole her breath away. He pulled back, and they looked at each other, both breathing heavily, their arms locked around the other as all of Italy rejoiced around them.

The shouts and cheers seemed to fade into the distance as her whole world centered on his face. David looked at her with a hunger that nearly consumed her, and she read the unspoken question in his eyes.

She nodded her answer, not daring to break the magic of the moment with even one word.

* * *

David took her hand and led her through the crowd, plowing through the revelers with single-minded determination. He entered his building and pulled her down the stairs to his rented basement flat, jerking open the door, then slamming it shut behind them.

The cramped apartment was dark, and David thanked heaven for small favors. He hadn’t cleaned it in days. Christ, he hadn’t even made the bed, but that wouldn’t matter in about ten seconds.

When he’d heard the news broadcast on the radio, his first thought had been of Sera. He had to see her. And like everyone else, he had rushed out into the streets in the middle of the night.

It seemed as if she’d been summoned by his very thoughts because suddenly she was there, more beautiful than he ever could have imagined. Her white nightgown and bare feet made her look like an angel. One sleeve of her robe had fallen down her arm to reveal a creamy white shoulder. Her wind-tossed hair fell in amber waves about her face, and she glowed like a fiery seductress in the bonfire’s firelight.

Now here she was, his angel-siren, warm and willing in his arms. The meager light from the street lit her profile, and he reached up to trace the line of her cheek. She turned her face into his hand and kissed his palm, then looked up at him, a wealth of emotion vivid in blue eyes gone dark in the dim light.

His hand moved to her shoulder, peeling away the remaining sleeve of her robe and letting the garment drop on the floor to pool at her feet. David bent and swung Sera up in his arms and for a moment just held her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder.

He gently laid her on the rumpled sheets, the moonlight coming through the window casting a patchwork of light and shadow across her luscious body.

David jerked off his shirt, thankful it wasn’t buttoned or they would have ricocheted all over the room like bullets. He followed her down on the bed and pressed her body into the thin mattress, causing the springs to groan beneath their weight. The twin-sized iron bed had always seemed small when he slept in it alone. Now, with the two of them in it, it felt incredibly tiny.

He kissed her, and she returned his passion with her own. Then he trailed his lips along her jaw to her neck, moving slowly across her collarbone to her shoulder. He kissed the thin strap of her nightgown, then ever so slowly slipped it off her shoulder and drew it down her arm. The dark nipple on the soft curve of her breast rose and fell with every breath she took, begging him to take it in his mouth.

He trailed his lips down the swell of her breast to lick at the quivering nipple, and it hardened with a single touch of his tongue. He circled the areola with his tongue, closing in on his prize in ever smaller circles.

Sera arched off the bed, digging her hands into his hair and offering more of herself to him. And he took it, sucking the nipple into his mouth and swirling the rigid tip with his tongue. He tugged it gently between his teeth, drawing a low, throaty moan from deep within her.

He moved to kiss the underside of her breast while his hand skimmed down her ribs and over the curve of her hip. She raised her knee, rubbing her bare foot up and down his trouser-covered calf.

Trailing his touch down her leg, he lifted the hem of her nightgown and slowly slid it up her leg to bunch at her hips. His hand moved to cup her between her legs, where her cotton panties proved to be a thin barrier to the secrets hidden inside.

His fingers rubbed in small circles, pulling the moisture from within her to wet the material with a warm, musky scent. Sera arched her hips into him, pinning his hand between their bodies.

David looked down at her. Her head was thrown back and her hair fanned out on his pillow in a tangled mass. The moonlight from the window showered down on her, illuminating her in a soft, ethereal glow. She literally took his breath away.

“God, you are beautiful.”

She looked at him and licked her lips, leaving a trail of moisture to glisten like tiny specks of glass. He kissed her again, their tongues dancing and twining about each other.

Breaking away from his lips, she trailed kisses along his jaw to his ear, taking the soft lobe between her teeth and panting softly.

“Please, David,” she whispered. “Touch me more.”

He grabbed the edge of her panties and tugged them down her hips and over her thighs. He eased them down her long, slim legs and tossed them somewhere over his shoulder.

His hand returned to find her, delving between soft curls to find the warm folds beneath. He inserted first one, then two fingers inside her, touching the moist inner walls. Her muscles clamped around his fingers, squeezing them so tightly, his straining erection felt it at the same time. David reached down and started to undo the buttons on his trousers, his fingers trembling in his haste.

Shots rang out from the street as his hand paused on the last button. They both went still, the sound of their heavy breathing loud in the sudden silence around them.

The cheering outside had stopped. The thunder of stampeding footsteps sounded through the open window above their heads. Voices that had been shouting in celebration were now crying out in alarm.

“What’s happening?” Sera asked.

“I don’t know.” David stood on the bed and peered out the window, but couldn’t see a thing in the dark alley on his side of the house.

Jumping off the bed, he threw his shirt back on, buttoning it as he headed for the door. He stopped short of opening it when he heard Sera’s soft footsteps behind him. He turned to her just as she was pulling her robe over her wrinkled nightgown.

“Stay here until I find out what’s happening.”

Even in the dim light, he could tell she was glaring at him. It didn’t matter—she could get as angry as she liked. Her safety was important, and she’d be safest if she remained where she was.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” David kissed her and closed the door before she had a chance to respond.

Caution slowed his steps as he made his way down the darkened hallway and up the stairs to the first floor. He cracked opened the front door to the building just enough to look down the street.

People were still on the street, but not nearly as many as before. Those who remained were mostly young men standing back in the shadows. Several bonfires still blazed in the street, their flames left unattended.

“What’s happening?” Sera’s voice whispered from the dark behind him.

David groaned. Had he really thought she would listen to him?

“I’m not sure yet.” He held his hand out to her and drew her to his side, opening the door a little further so she could see out, too.

Two men raced from the shadows out into the street. They were young—barely more than boys—and yet they alone braved whatever it was that the others apparently now feared.

When they reached the lamppost at the corner, one braced himself against it while the other climbed his shoulders. The latter reached up and grabbed the Fascist banner that hung from the pole, ripping it down with the weight of his body.

As the two ran toward one of the fires with the banner, shots rang out from the street. David pressed his back to the wall, pulling Sera closer to his side. When he looked through the narrow gap in the door again, the boy who had torn down the flag lay sprawled on the street, his young body gone deathly still. The other boy ran in their direction, obviously hoping to find refuge in the darkened alley. The rattle of gunfire ripped through the night, and the young man crumpled on the sidewalk before he could reach the shadows.

Sera covered her mouth with her hand and pressed her face into David’s chest, muffling her cry of anguish. His arm tightened around her shoulders, drawing her closer to the safety of his body.

The sound of truck engines warned of approaching vehicles. Several armored trucks bearing the Fascist emblem on their sides rolled down the now silent street. As the convoy passed the body of the fallen boy, a loudspeaker mounted on one of the trucks blared an announcement to the citizens of the town.

“The war is continuing. Italy, the jealous guardian of her age-old traditions, remains loyal to her pledged word. Any sign of rebellion against the new Badoglio government will be considered an act of treason against the Fascist regime, and offenders will be shot on sight.”