Rapture's Rendezvous (29 page)

She had to divert her attention . . . her thoughts. “Did you say your name is … Clarence . . . ?” she asked softly.

“Sho is,” he said, stepping aside when he reached the back steps that led upward onto a small square of a back porch.

Looking toward the back door, Maria felt more doubts creeping into her mind. Now could she really . . . ?

“Jus' you go on up to the porch and wait until ah can go and speak tah Ruby,” Clarence said, moving on past Maria, two steps at a time.

“Okay,” Maria said, swallowing hard. She watched him as he moved on into the house, leaving her to stand alone. She clasped her hands behind her, afraid to move. The sounds surfacing from the house kept her alert and the two dogs now lying at her feet made a tightness, like a band being pulled, form around her forehead. She had never been so bold before.

“Oh, please let Ruby come and see who it is asking for her,” she prayed silently to herself. She continued to look around her, seeing only the total blackness of the
night crowding in around her. Doubts truly assailed her now. “I'll leave. Now,” she whispered. “What I'm doing is wrong. I shouldn't be at such a place. Especially after dark. What would Papa think if hecver found out?” She began to inch her way toward the steps but stopped, startled, when the back door swung widely open.

“Who's there?” Ruby said, stepping out next to Maria. “Clarence said a white femalefolk in man's breeches was here to see me. He didn't think to ask your name. That Clarence of mine. He doesn't use his brains at all.”

Maria sighed with relief when she saw the familiar face of Ruby as lights flickered through the back window, then onto her face. She was just as statuesque and beautiful in the semidarkness as she had been in the brightness of day. “Maria. It's mc. Maria Lazzaro,” Maria said, reaching up to pull her hat from her head. She shook her hair to hang freely down her back. “I had to see you. Ruby,” she added quickly, moving toward Ruby, touching her gently on the arm. She eyed Ruby's dress. It was red satin with a plunging neckline, revealing her magnificent bosom.

Ruby laughed softly, tossing her head back. Then she eyed Maria more closely, reaching up to run her fingers through Maria's hair. “Land's sake. It
is you.
I had thought you had forgotten about Ruby's invitation,” Ruby purred. “But why now? Dressed in such a way? And in the darkness of night? God, girl. Don't you know the dangers?”

“Yes. I know the dangers,” Maria said softly. “That is why I chose to dress as a man. To disguise myself from men's stares.”

“But you haven't revealed to me why you have chosen to come,” Ruby persisted, looking impatiently toward the door, as though she wanted to return inside, where the action was.

“My brother Alberto told me . . . that. . . someone is here that I. .. uh … know,” Maria stammered, feeling a blush rising from the neck upward.

“Your brother was here? Who did he see?”

“A man I met while aboard ship on our way to America from Italy.”

Ruby laughed throatily. “Oh, I sec,” she said “So your brother saw this man. What is this man's name? Maybe I will know him from all the others who are here this night”

Maria thrust her hands inside her front breeches pocket and lowered her eyes. “His name is . . . uh . . . Michael Hopper,” she murmured.

Ruby emitted a loud gasp. “Michael .. . ?” she said. “You are speaking of Michael Hopper? The Michael Hopper that I also know?”

Maria's heart began to throb wildly. It was true. Michael was at this place. He was only footsteps, heartbeats, away. “Then . . . you do . . . know of this . . . man?” she asked anxiously, looking toward the window, only able to make out fleeting shadows through the lacy, sheer curtains.

“Know of him? Yes. He's been quite a frequent customer,” Ruby said. “But I have to ask. Why is it you are so anxious to see him? Did you share more . . . than . . . uh . . conversation … on that ship?”

Maria turned her head from Ruby's imploring eyes. “I cannot say,” she whispered. “But I do want to see him. Only see him. Can you help me?”

Ruby moved toward Maria, lifting the tail of Maria's jacket up between her fingers. “You want to see this man dressed in this . . . this . . . outfit?” she said, laughing amusedly.

Maria moved away from her, embarrassment etched across her face. “You don't understand. Ruby,” she mumbled. “I want to see
him.
I don't want him to see
me.
Can you help me? Can you arrange this? I only want to take a look at him. I have a need to see him. Just one more time. Before. . ..”

“Before? Before what?” Ruby persisted, placing her hands on her hips.

“Nothing. It is of no importance. The thing that is of importance is that I want to see Michael.”

“But why would you want to see him, and him not you? I do not understand, Maria.”

“It's hard to explain, Ruby. But that's how it must be.”

“You are in love with this man, aren't you?” Ruby said softly, once again lifting Maria's hair from her shoulders. “No need to hide this from Ruby. It is only one person you will have to share this secret with. I talk to no one of gossip. Tell me. You love this Michael Hopper, don't you? You'd like to do more than see him, wouldn't you? You'd like to be with him. As man and woman. Tell me it's true. I sense it is a truth.”

Maria's eyes brimmed with tears wanting to surface. “Yes, Ruby. I love him. But it's no use. I can't confess such a love to him. There are too many things standing in the way of such a happiness between Michael and myself. Please. Please. I want to take just one look at him. If you can't help me, then I shall leave.”

“No. Don't leave, Maria,” Ruby urged. “You want
to be with this man. Right?”

“More than anything on this earth,” Maria admitted. “But… like I said … it is impossible. . . .”

“Nothing is impossible,” Ruby said, laughing throat-ily. “When one is at Ruby's house? Nothing is impossible.”

Maria's eyes widened. “I don't understand. What are you saying?”

Ruby leaned down into Maria's face. “Honey, I have an idea. Want to hear it? Ruby's mind works in many directions. At all times. Ruby can sometimes play the part of Cupid. Are you willing to participate in a scheme I have just thought up?”

“I don't. . . know,” Maria said, fluttering her thick lashes nervously. “What do you have … in mind… ?”

“You don't want Michael to know you are here?”

“He can't. . . .”

‘Then he won't,” Ruby said firmly.

“What are you thinking of doing, Ruby?”

“You will be with Michael. Tonight you will be with Michael Hopper if you are willing to play a role. Are you?”

Maria's pulsebeat quickened. She swallowed hard. “I don't understand …,” she mumbled.

“You do want to be with Michael sexually, don't you?” Ruby said, smiling almost wickedly.

“Well… I . . .”

“Yes. You do. This truth shows in your eyes. In the way your heartbeat races in the hollow of your throat. So you will be with Michael in this way. Within the hour.”

“But.. . how … ?”

“Michael usually wants a woman before he leaves
my house,” Ruby said. “Once he tires of gambling, he fulfills his desires of the more pleasurable side of life by choosing one of my best girls.”

Maria's eyes widened as she let out a loud gasp. She put her hands to her throat, listening further… .

“I was the one who personally gave him his pleasures at first,” Ruby continued. “But I don't make it a practice to stick with one man too long. It's bad for business. But tonight? I will lead him to a room where there is. a new girl. One that will set his heart to racing. One who will make his mind leave him. Arc you ready to be . .. this . .. girl… ?”

Maria flushed fully. The thought of Michael having been with so many different women made her heart ache. But she had to know that a man had needs . . . needs that possibly needed to be fulfilled each and every night. She had had such needs . .. but had had to leave them to lie dormant, tormenting her insides to shreds it seemed, since having last left Michael's bed on the ship. And now? To have the opportunity to be fulfilled . .. and at the same time to be with the man she loved … the man she would always love? She couldn't say no.

“What must I do?” she asked quietly, wishing the trembling would cease inside her.

“Just follow me,” Ruby said. “But first. The hat? Place it back on your head. You must look the part of a man for just a short time longer … a man I am taking to my room to entertain privately.”

Maria's heart lightened. She giggled as she placed her hair beneath the confines of the hat once again. “I don't know about this,” she said. “Are you sure … ? How will Michael not realize who it is? Won't he
see … ? Won't he recognize my voice?”

“You'll soon see, honey,” Ruby said, circling her arm through Maria's. “Now just act the part of a man. Walk into the house with me very casually, then walk beside me up the steps. My room is upstairs. Next to the gambling room. But keep your head lowered. Damn. One look at that face and those eyelashes and the fellas would think I was going to have fun myself with a female tonight. Don't want to get that reputation. Men are my cup of tea. Not women.”

Maria giggled once again, suddenly feeling lightheaded. She had never suspected for one minute that anything like this could happen. She had never thought Ruby could be so much fun … so full of wonderful schemes…. “I don't see … I still don't see how you are going to pull this off,” she whispered, as they moved into the parlor. It was hard for Maria to not look around her. She heard so many things being spoken between men and women. And the music was soft. Music played for lovers. The warmth of the house wrapped her in its embrace, making her almost sigh, and then she was led up the steepness of the stairs and whisked into a bedroom before Maria could even stop to see the door that led into the room of gamblers.

“We must hasten,” Ruby said, already helping Maria with the removal of her clothes. “Michael has been here for some time now. I have to be sure to catch him before he heads down the steps, looking for someone to take to bed. Here. You just hurry with disrobing, splash some of that oil from those bottles over there on my dressing table over your body, then wait for further instructions when I return.”

“Where are you going?”

“Togo and tell Michael that I have this beautiful new thing that needs to be broken in by the right man.”

“But.. . what will I wear . . . ?” Maria said, looking desperately around her, standing cross-armed, partially nude, in the middle of the room.

“Honey, for what I have planned, you don't need a stitch on,” Ruby laughed, then rushed from the room, slamming the door behind her.

Maria turned and stared at the room and its plush furnishings. When she looked toward the huge bed and its sheets of red satin, she closed her eyes, trying to not envision Michael on that bed with Ruby. She wanted to think of him as only her own. How marvelous it would be to say that he was hers . . . only … to love and cherish forever. But she knew this could not be true. This was a man who had had many women. Would he even think her skilled enough this night to quell his hungers? He at one time had . . . but possibly because she had been the only one available at the time. Had he truly loved her as he had professed to? Or had he only loved . . . her.. . body?

The polished mahogany bedstead and tables shone back at her in dark wines, and the carpet beneath her feet was soft beige, inviting her toes to curl into it. She glanced down at the underthings she still wore and wondered if she could indeed disrobe to only bare skin once again for a man's fingers to explore her body. She shivered, thinking of the thrill of such touches from Michael. Somehow it didn't seem quite fair to not be able to reveal her identity to him. And how was Ruby going to succeed at even doing this?

Maria went and slouched down onto a thickly upholstered chair, biting her lower lip. None of this was
real. It just had to be a dream. Surely she would soon awaken and find herself in the bed in her own bedroom, surrounded by the most drab of settings. Her gaze moved around her once again, seeing the red rosebud design of the wallpaper that graced the walls and the brocade draperies that hung in pale beiges at the window. Then the breath caught in her throat when the door opened once again.

“Oh, it's only you, Ruby,” Maria sighed, rising.

“It's all taken care of,” Ruby said, moving to the bed, smoothing the pillows.

“What did you do?” Maria asked, going to Ruby, to cling to her arm. “What am I supposed to do?”

Ruby swung around, all smiles. She took Maria's hands and squeezed them. “I went to Michael and told him that I have me this new girl who has never been with a man in such a house as mine before,” she said. “I told him that to break the girl in, the girl has only agreed to take this man to bed with her if the man would agree to walking into a room of total darkness. I even told him that this girl would be too afraid to speak. He immediately became interested.”

Maria paled. “Do you .. . mean … he would actually … ?”

“Honey, don't you know? Any man would. All men like challenges. What better challenge than this … ?”

“But, my brother Alberto said that Michael looked .. . uh . .. down on his luck,” Maria murmured. “If he is down on his luck, how can he afford to gamble so much and have women? This all takes money.”

“Honey, I know all about this Michael Hopper,” Ruby purred. “Only I know his true purpose for being
in this area. One day? Maybe you will even find out, whenever you can reveal yourself to the man you love. But until then, just take my word for it. You are just about to be bedded with one of the richest gents in Saint Louis.”

“Then he is still rich? Truly? And he still lives in Saint Louis?”

“Correct.”