Shaken to the Core (24 page)

“What?” Giuliana asked behind her.

Kate kept blocking her view with her back, not wanting her to see. “Nothing. Let’s just head down to the hospital and check on Lucy.”
If she’s still alive.

Downstairs, in the basement that housed the hospital, the large chandelier had crashed down from the ceiling. The lights were out, but by now the sun had risen and was peeking in through the half-cleared windows.

Nurses were rushing from bed to bed, checking on all patients.

Other than the doctor who may have slept in the bed, no one seemed to have been harmed.

Lucy Sharpe, the sleeves of her shirtwaist rolled up to her elbows, stood in the middle of the room, giving orders like a general on a battlefield. She looked up as Kate, Giuliana, and the policemen rushed in.

“Thank the Lord! I thought you had been…” Kate bit her tongue.

“What?”

“Nothing. Glad to see you’re fine.”

Lucy gave them a grim nod. “You two don’t look so great, though.” She stepped closer as if to examine Giuliana.

“No time. We need to evacuate the building,” one of the policemen said. “It’s not safe.”

“I take it you cleared the doors?” Lucy asked.

“Aye.”

“Good.” Lucy turned to her nurses. “Pack all the instruments, dressings, and medications you can get your hands on. Officers, if you could gather as many volunteers, automobiles, and horse-drawn wagons as possible, I’d appreciate it. We need to transport the patients—and judging by the strength of the earthquake, there’ll be many more injured people arriving within the hour.”

The highest-ranking policeman hesitated, clearly not used to being ordered around by a woman, but then he nodded and stormed off, followed by his men.

Kate exchanged a glance with Giuliana, who gave her an almost imperceptible nod. “We’ll stay and help too.”

“Help?” Lucy repeated. She let her gaze roam over Giuliana’s ripped dress and her cloth-wrapped foot. “You look like you should be lying down in one of the patient beds!”

Giuliana set her chin and straightened. “I am good. Only a little scratched. Where do we take the medicines and patients?”

Lucy seemed to think about it for several seconds. “Is the Mechanics’ Pavilion still standing?”

Kate nodded. The huge building across the street, where dances and costume balls were held, had seemed just fine.

“Then let’s take them there,” Lucy said. “It’s the only nearby building large enough to house hundreds of patients.”

“What if the door is locked?” Kate asked.

A steely glint entered Lucy’s green eyes. “Then we’ll force it open.”

For over an hour, they helped drag mattresses, operating tables, medicine chests, and enamel basins over to the Mechanics’ Pavilion. Every time Kate entered the building with another patient or another load of bandages, her gaze was drawn upward, to the red, blue, and yellow streamers dangling from the high rafters. Larger-than-life cardboard masks looked down at the nurses and volunteers who helped get the patients settled. Paper confetti littered the floor.

Lucy straightened after having checked on one of her patients and saw where Kate was looking. “Looks a little grotesque now, doesn’t it? There was a masked roller-skating contest held here last night. The winner with the best costume walked away with a thousand dollars.” She grimaced. “I was up all night, pulling splinters from the behinds of roller skaters who got intimately acquainted with the wood floor.”

Kate faced her more fully and looked her in the eyes. “Not the most pleasant task, I’m sure, but it might have saved your life.”

“Saved my life?” Lucy squinted over at her. “What the heck are you talking about?”

“One of the cots in the room where the doctors sleep…A huge piece of masonry fell on it. If the roller skaters hadn’t kept you up last night, you might have been in that bed.”

Next to her, Giuliana gasped. “What? Why did you not tell me this?”

Kate just shrugged.

Lucy’s fair complexion became even paler, but she quickly squared her shoulders and bent to check on the next patient.

A nurse rushed into the improvised hospital. “Doctor! They’re bringing in the first earthquake victims. There’s a man with a badly crushed leg. I think you’ll have to amputate.”

“Take him straight to the operation table. Did anyone apply a tourniquet?”

“I don’t think so,” the nurse answered.

A stream of curses escaped Lucy, making Kate raise her eyebrows.

Clearly, the good doctor hadn’t grown up surrounded by a mother and servants who started getting heart palpitations at the mildest curse from a woman.

“We need to act fast, or he’ll bleed to death.” Lucy strode toward the front of the building, where the operation tables had been set up. “Get the ether!”

The large double doors crashed open, and several men rushed in with a stretcher. Doctors and nurses immediately surrounded it.

Kate and Giuliana looked at each other. All patients had been evacuated and brought to the pavilion. There was nothing left they could do to help.

“Time for us to go home,” Kate said. By now, her parents were probably worried sick about her. She could only hope that their relief at having her back unharmed would make them more willing to accept Giuliana back into their household.

* * *

The cable cars weren’t running, so they had to climb up Nob Hill. With each step away from the area South of Market, the destruction lessened. Giuliana felt as if she had stepped into another world—a world in which no one had died or become homeless.

The Winthrop residence looked as dignified as always. The arched windows were intact; the granite pillars flanking the entrance hadn’t cracked, and not one cobblestone in the circular driveway was out of place. Even the stained-glass pane in the front door was unharmed, still displaying a ship sailing on a smooth ocean. Whatever slight damage the earthquake had done to Nob Hill, the residents must have already swept it away.

Had God spared the rich and sent the disaster only to the poor people on the other side of Market Street? Giuliana shook her head at herself. After nearly six years in Merica, she wanted to believe she was above the superstitious beliefs so common in Sicily. If the houses on Nob Hill had been spared, it was because they were built on firm ground and with better material than the cheap boardinghouses South of Market, not because God had wanted it that way.

When Kate opened the gate, Giuliana’s steps slowed. She stared at the front door; then her gaze veered to the back of the house, where the servants’ entrance was. Where was she supposed to go? She was no longer the Winthrops’ servant, but she also wasn’t a welcome guest.

Oblivious to her inner turmoil, Kate swung open the heavy front door.

Before Giuliana could decide whether she should follow her in, the Winthrops were upon them.

“Kate!” Mrs. Winthrop rushed down the hall and grabbed her daughter by the shoulders. “Where have you been? We’ve been frantic with worry!”

Gently, Kate freed herself of her mother’s grip. “I’m fine, Mother.”

“Fine? You call that fine?” Mrs. Winthrop pressed both hands to her mouth as she took in Kate’s appearance. “Your opera dress is ruined. And your good shoes…merciful heavens! What were you thinking?”

Mr. Winthrop shouldered past his wife. “Stop rambling about the dress and let the girl come in, Millicent. Can’t you see she’s hurt?”

He might have been the one to kick Giuliana out of the house, but he earned instant points with her by caring more about Kate than about her clothes.

His wife gasped. “Hurt?”

“I’m fine,” Kate said again, hiding her hands behind her back. “Which is more than can be said about the south of the city. A lot of houses were knocked off their foundations or entirely collapsed.”

“What were you doing in that part of the city?” Her mother tsked and shook her head. “A young lady has no business being anywhere near a dangerous place like that. You should have stayed home, where it’s safe.”

Kate’s father stared past her, directly at Giuliana. “I think I have a pretty good idea what she was doing there.”

Visibly stiffening her spine, Kate stepped to the side and held out a hand to usher Giuliana forward.

A lump formed in Giuliana’s throat as the Winthrops stared at her. She wanted to take cover behind Kate’s back but forced herself to remain where she was and face them without fidgeting. “Hello,” was all she got out.

“Kate, really,” Mrs. Winthrop said. “I hardly think—”

“Her boardinghouse collapsed, Mother. If she hadn’t lived on the top floor, she would have been crushed to death or burned alive. She barely made it out as it is. She’s probably scratched and bruised all over, and she lost all her earthly possessions. Would you really have me leave her behind without a place to turn to?” Kate stared down her parents until even Mrs. Winthrop looked away.

“I suppose we can put her up for one night,” Mrs. Winthrop finally said. “What do you think, Cornelius?”

Giuliana held her breath until he nodded.

“You’d better go and make yourself presentable,” Mrs. Winthrop said. “The Bakers will be over shortly. We invited them for breakfast.”

They were having breakfast with the neighbors as if nothing had happened? Giuliana gaped at her.

“Come on.” Kate gripped her elbow and pulled her to the staircase.

Biddy was just descending the stairs. When she caught sight of Giuliana, she froze and clutched the mahogany banister. “You!” It sounded like a squeak. Her mouselike face made her look as if she were about to bite Giuliana. “What are you doing here?”

What could she say to that? Giuliana didn’t really know what she was doing in the Winthrop residence either.

“She’s here as my guest,” Kate said, not unkindly, but with a hint of steel in her voice. Before Biddy could answer, she pulled Giuliana past Biddy to the bathroom. “Why don’t you get cleaned up? I’ll get you something to wear.”

The door fell shut behind her, leaving Giuliana alone in the tiled bathroom. Other than to clean it, she’d never been in this luxurious room before. After having the boardinghouse collapse on top of her, nearly burning alive, and then lugging mattresses across Larkin Street, the thought of washing up made her groan with pleasure. Her skin and hair reeked of smoke and sweat. Maybe she could even wash her hair if she was quick about it and didn’t waste too much warm water.

She slipped out of her dress, kicked off her shoe, and rolled her ruined stockings down her legs. The cloth around her left foot had gotten lost halfway up Nob Hill, so she now stood on the tiles in just her drawers and a chemise. Both were soaked through with sweat, but at least they were free of soot and bloodstains, so they’d have to do.

A glance in the mirror above the washbasin made her stare back at her reflection. No wonder the Winthrops had hesitated to let her into the house. She looked awful! Her hair was almost gray from the plaster dust. Flakes of paint and wood splinters stuck out of it. Soot and dirt stained her face, except for where beads of sweat had left track marks as they’d dribbled down her temples. Her forehead was crusted with dried blood.

The rest of her didn’t look much better. Tiny cuts crisscrossed her knees, and the larger cut on her palm still smarted. She had no doubt that she’d be black and blue all over tomorrow. Gently, she pressed against her shins and ankles, where beams had trapped her. Everything hurt, but it seemed to be just bruises, scrapes, and light burns, nothing worse. She’d been very lucky.

A knock at the door interrupted her scrutiny. At her “come in,” Kate slipped into the bathroom. She kept her gaze on Giuliana’s face and held out a stack of clothing. “Here.”

Giuliana accepted it gratefully. Only now did she realize that Kate looked nearly as bad as she did. Her hair wasn’t quite as gray with plaster dust, but her dress was in tatters and her normally elegant, upswept hair had come undone so that her tresses fell loosely onto her back, giving her a wild look.

Bella. Beautiful.
The thought startled Giuliana, but it was true. Even scratched, with soot stains on her face and smoke clinging to her, Kate was more beautiful than all the young, wealthy ladies Giuliana had met so far.

Kate grinned at her. “We look a sight, don’t we?”

“What do you mean? This is the new fashion in Paris, no?” Giuliana answered, using the haughty tone she’d often heard from Mrs. Winthrop and her friends. As soon as she’d said it, she lifted a hand to her mouth. What if Kate thought she was making fun of her mother? She and Kate might have been through a lot together, but it still wasn’t her place to—

Kate chuckled. “It’s fine,” she said as if guessing her panicked thoughts. She pointed at the bundle of clothes she’d given Giuliana. “I hope these fit. They’re loose on me, so…” A slight blush crept up her neck.

“They are good,” Giuliana said. “Thank you.”

With the bundle of clothes between them and Giuliana still in just her underclothes, they looked at each other.

“Uh, I should…” Kate pointed over her shoulder.

Giuliana nodded and watched her go. Exhaling, she turned back to the washbasin, twisted the handle, and held her hands under the faucet, eager to get clean.

Water trickled out, but before Giuliana could even wash her face, the stream petered out and then stopped. What was that? She closed the faucet and opened it again.

Nothing. Two drops of water splashed onto the porcelain; that was all.

She dried her hands on a towel and reached for the doorknob. “Kate?” she called quietly. Or should she call her
Miss Kate
now that her parents might be able to overhear? But somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to go back to that.

The door to Kate’s bedroom opened. “Yes?”

“The water is gone.”

Kate hastened over to her. She opened the faucet with the same result and then tried the claw-foot tub, which Giuliana hadn’t thought to check.

No water there either.

Mrs. Winthrop ascended the stairs. “What’s the matter? Why aren’t you getting washed up and changed?”

“Because there’s no water,” Kate said, grim-faced. “The earthquake must have broken the water mains. It was the same thing on Sixth Street.”