Shaken to the Core (30 page)

“What? No! I’m not taking a thing for myself.” Well, other than the grape juice, but it was better not to mention that. With sweaty hands, Kate attempted to turn more fully so she could show him the Red Cross badge pinned to her chest.

“Don’t move an inch, or I’ll blow your brains out!” He lifted his rifle higher until she looked directly into the black muzzle. “Don’t think I won’t do it just because you’re a woman.”

Kate didn’t think that for a second. Her knees shook so badly she was afraid he’d pull the trigger because he thought she was trying to run. Her gaze darted back and forth between the rifle’s muzzle and the soldier’s narrowed eyes. He was squinting as if he was calculating the best place to aim to kill her with one shot.

“Please, listen. I have a—”

“Shut up,” he snarled.

A loud click made both of them freeze.

“Drop the rifle,” Giuliana said from behind the soldier. Her voice was shaking.

Careful not to move too fast and make the soldier squeeze the trigger, Kate turned her head and looked over to her.

Giuliana stood in the entrance. The carrying case with the camera rested at her feet as if she hadn’t wanted to leave it behind. She was holding Lucy’s revolver in both hands, the muzzle aimed at the soldier. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her fingers trembled just the tiniest bit, but her eyes, dark and intense, shone with determination.

The soldier held out his rifle to the side. His gaze darted left and right, but he didn’t dare turn to see what was behind him. Seconds later, his weapon clattered to the floor.

Quickly, Kate bent and picked it up. Her heart was still beating wildly, this time with the joy and relief of knowing she’d survive. “Now will you finally take a look?” She drummed her hand against her chest, where the Red Cross badge still rested. “We’ve been sent out by a doctor who’s got nothing but her bare hands to save her patients. They need bandages and medicine.” She pulled free a corner of her petticoat, revealing the bottles in her bundle.

The soldier’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed. “I…I didn’t know.”

“I was trying to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen. Heavens, the citizens of this city have been through enough. They don’t need some power-drunk boy going around, shooting people at will.”

Glass shards crunched as he shuffled his feet.

Now what? Kate couldn’t very well shoot him, as much as she wanted to. She traded gazes with Giuliana and then waved at the soldier to step away from the door. When he did, she pressed the carrying case into Giuliana’s free hand, piled the rifle and the bundle of medicine onto the crate, and urged Giuliana out the door.

“My rifle!” the soldier called after them.

Kate stared at the weapon. She couldn’t take it with her, or every soldier in the city would stop her, demanding to know how she had gotten her hands on a military weapon. Neither did she want to give it back. She set down the crate and picked up the rifle. After a moment’s hesitation, she gripped the barrel, swung it the way Corny had taught her to swing a baseball bat when they’d been children, and smashed the rifle butt against a brick wall with all her strength.

Wood splintered.

Kate swung the weapon again—and again. Each time, a satisfying crack echoed along the street. Images of the man with the canned goods lying bleeding on the cold cobblestones danced in front of her eyes.

“Kate.” A soft touch to her back finally stopped her. “This is enough.”

Dazed, as if awakening from a dream, Kate dropped the remainders of the rifle, picked up the crate, and took one last glance back at the drugstore.

The soldier stood staring at her, his hands lifted to shoulder height.

Side by side, she and Giuliana hurried to the automobile. The engine was still running. Within seconds, they peeled down the street, not knowing where they were going, just away, as fast and as far as possible.

Kate couldn’t stop shaking. Tremors vibrated through her entire body. Only her death grip on the steering wheel kept her from falling off the speeding automobile.

After half a dozen blocks, a fallen telephone pole lying across the street stopped them.

Kate brought the automobile to a halt. Breathing heavily, as if she’d run the entire way, she bent forward and leaned her head against the steering wheel.

“Kate?” The soft touch to her back came again. “Are you all right?”

Another tremor ran through Kate. Slowly, beneath Giuliana’s hand that gently rubbed her back, her muscles loosened and the shaking stopped. She sat up and sank back against the leather seat. Exhaustion overcame her without warning, settling across her shoulders like a too-heavy coat. She turned off the engine and just sat there, listening to the silence.

Giuliana let her sit without saying anything. One hand kept resting on Kate’s arm, anchoring her, while she was still clutching the revolver with the other.

Finally, Kate straightened and turned toward her. Her gaze was drawn downward to the gleaming weapon on Giuliana’s lap. “Would you have shot him?”

“If he hurt you—yes.” The answer came without a second’s hesitation, and the expression in Giuliana’s eyes left no doubt about how much she meant it.

Kate stared at her. So far, Giuliana had barely defended herself against Biddy or when Kate’s father had dismissed her from her position. The fire in her eyes was a surprise.

Giuliana looked down at the revolver and then peeked back up at Kate. “Does this scare you?”

Did it? Kate searched her emotions for any trace of fear but found none. “No.” A small smile formed on her lips. “It makes me feel good. Protected.”

In the sudden silence, the ticking of the engine as it cooled off sounded overly loud.

Kate peeked over at Giuliana. Had she said too much?

But Giuliana smiled back, the intense gaze from before softened to something Kate couldn’t read.

Was it possible…?
Nonsense. Don’t start imagining things.
Kate climbed down and walked to the front of the automobile to turn the crank and get the Packard moving again. No time to woolgather. She glanced at the backseat, where they had piled the crate, the bundle of medicine, and her carrying case. They had a delivery to make.

* * *

The worn grip of the revolver fit perfectly into the curve of Giuliana’s hand, as if it had been made for a woman’s fingers. She stared down at the weapon. Had Lucy ever shot anyone with it? And how about her? Had she really been prepared to take a human’s life—she, who hadn’t even liked killing the fish Turi and their father had caught?

The answer was yes. The moment she’d seen the soldier train his rifle on Kate, the image of blood pooling on cobblestones went through Giuliana’s head, filling her with white-hot determination to do whatever it took to stop that from happening to Kate. The fierceness of that urge surprised her. She’d been protective of her siblings and the rest of her family too, but never like this.

It was to be expected, she tried to tell herself. Dangerous times like these brought out the worst in people. She glanced at Kate.
Or the best.
They also brought people together and forged friendships faster than ordinary times ever could. Maybe that was why the thought of anything happening to Kate was so unbearable.

But that explanation didn’t seem quite right. There was something else. She could feel it but had no words for what it was. It was almost like a tug, a strange kind of force pulling her to Kate.

A sputter from the engine wrenched her out of her thoughts. The automobile jerked like a person with a hiccup.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Kate murmured. “This can’t be happening.”

“What is wrong? Is the automobile too hot again?”

“No. I think we’re out of gas.”

“Out of gas?”

“Yes. The engine is fueled by gasoline,” Kate said through gritted teeth. “Without it…”

Right on cue, the automobile slowed. Kate shifted her weight forward as if that would keep it rolling just a few yards more and pulled it over to the side of the street.

What now? They sat there for several moments and looked at each other. The helplessness on Kate’s face reflected how Giuliana felt.

“I saw a canister of gasoline in the drugstore,” Kate said and glanced back over her shoulder to where they had come from.

Giuliana gripped her arm. “No, Kate. We cannot go back!”

A sigh escaped Kate. “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea either.”

“What do we do?” Giuliana glanced around.

The street in which they had stopped looked abandoned. A front door stood open, as if the house’s owner had left in a hurry. There was no one around to help them.

“Only one thing we can do.” Kate jumped down from the automobile, picked up the carrying case that held her camera, and put Lucy’s revolver inside. “Walk.”

* * *

Maybe Biddy’s shoes didn’t fit as well as Giuliana had thought. Her feet burned as if they were on fire, and she was fairly sure that blisters were forming on her heels. The cramped muscles in her legs ached, and pain flared through her left ankle with every step. The bundle of medicine bottles hadn’t seemed to weigh that much when they had started out, but now it was getting heavier by the second.

To make things even worse, they had to detour several times because a huge fire was eating its way through Hayes Valley.

Madonna, how much longer to Golden Gate Park? Would they even be safe there, or would the inferno head that way eventually?

“I bet you never thought you’d have to live through something like this when you came to America,” Kate said.

“No,” Giuliana answered with a wry smile, “I did not.”

Before she and Turi had set out from Sicily, she’d had no concept at all of Merica—or earthquakes. Her grandmother had told her tales about the great earthquake that had destroyed the hometown of her ancestors over two hundred years ago, but Giuliana had never personally experienced a natural disaster.

She had also never driven in an automobile, never had her picture taken, and never spent the afternoon at the vaudeville. Since meeting Kate, her life experiences had rapidly expanded.

Kate was quiet for a while. After walking across the next intersection, she asked, “Do you…? Is anyone waiting for you back in Sicily?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Oh.” Kate kicked at a tin cup someone had lost or left behind. “There is?”

“
Naturalmenti.
My mother, my little brother, and my three younger sisters. They grow like flowers.”

Kate blinked at her and then laughed. “Weeds. You mean they must be growing like weeds.”

Heat pooled in Giuliana’s cheeks. “Yes, that is what I meant. I always get these little sayings wrong.”

“Don’t worry about it. You speak English really well, considering you’ve lived here for just a few years.”

Giuliana shrugged and then hefted her bundle a little higher against her chest. “I found out quick that people buy more fishes when I talk to them. So I tried to learn fast. But your sayings…There are so many of them. They bring me trouble.”

The shadows lifted from Kate’s eyes as she smiled. “It’s actually adorable.”

Now it was Giuliana’s turn to blink. A flutter rippled through her belly. “It is?”

Looking away, Kate nodded.

They continued on in silence until Kate said, “What I meant before was…is there anyone waiting besides your family? A young man who’s courting you?”

Giuliana shook her head. Truth be told, she’d never paid much attention to the boys in her village. She had been too young to consider marital concerns when she’d left, and she had always assumed that she’d return to Sicily one day, so she’d never paid any attention to American men either. “And you?”

Kate waved her hand. “Well, you know what happened with William Jenkins, and I’m not eager for another suitor.”

“Young Mr. Baker seemed to like you.” Giuliana had watched him closely during breakfast, which seemed like weeks ago but had indeed been this morning.

“Me?” Kate pointed at her chest and shook her head. “I got the impression that he was quite interested in you.”

A snort escaped Giuliana. “Me? Riddiculu! Look at me!” She gestured at her body—not as tall and willowy as Kate’s—and at her boring dark hair and eyes. Why would Mr. Baker be interested in her when he could court Kate, who was beautiful and intelligent, not to mention rich?

“I am looking,” Kate said so quietly that Giuliana almost couldn’t hear her.

Did that mean…? Did Kate find the way she looked pleasing to the eye? The thought made Giuliana tremble deep inside, but not the way she had when the soldier had aimed his rifle at Kate. She wanted to ask, yet words escaped her.

Kate ducked her head and quickened her steps, marching ahead of Giuliana.

Other people joined them from all directions, all heading toward the park, so they fell silent.

After a few more minutes, Kate lifted her hand and pointed. “Oh! Look, we made it!”

With difficulty, Giuliana wrenched her gaze away from Kate and peered ahead to where Kate was pointing.

The white canvas walls of the tents in Golden Gate Park stretched in front of them.

If feet could talk, Giuliana’s extremities would have let out a whoop of joy, but she wasn’t entirely happy that their time alone together was about to end.

They walked up to the main hospital tent. The sheet-covered bodies in front of the tent sent shivers down Giuliana’s spine. She swallowed but then followed Kate in.

Lucy was just finishing the last stitch to close a nasty cut along a patient’s temple. When she saw them, she laid her instruments aside, washed her hands in a basin, and stripped off her soiled apron. “Darn, am I glad to see you!” She patted Kate’s shoulder. “You were gone so long that I thought for sure something had happened to you.”

Giuliana and Kate looked at each other. How could they sum up their adventures since setting out from the tent hospital? It was impossible to describe the terror Giuliana had felt when she’d seen the soldier aim his weapon at Kate, so she didn’t even try.

“We ran out of fuel and had to leave some of the medicine behind,” Kate said.

“I’m sorry. I should have thought of that. I guess an automobile isn’t content with a mouthful of grass or hay.”