Love, She Thought . . .
By Nancy O'Brien
Chapter one -
Finally seated on the plane, Samantha allowed herself the luxury of tears. Long held in check, the release of crying overwhelmed her, she heaved and sobbed into her hands, her tissues long gone. She mourned her dream of a romantic life in the picturesque Italian countryside with Rafaele, her wish of a normal life with her child and husband, her narrow escape from her father-in-laws henchmen, her needing to swallow her pride and call for rescue by her parents. It overwhelmed her. And now, she would be a divorced woman. She had no idea how divorced women were received in Delaware, but she was sure that her life would be different.
She continued to cry as the plane climbed well into the air. She was still sniffling and drying her eyes when she looked up to see that her seatmate had slipped in next to her during her tears. He must have been sitting all the while as she cried, she was embarrassed, flushing at her display of intense emotion. What must he think of her, she thought. Yet he seemed accepting, not at all distressed by her emotional state.
He was an American, a tall, well built man with long dark wavy hair pulled back in a ponytail and deep blue smiling eyes, framed in crinkles at the corners. He held a ten gallon hat on his lap as though he were only going to stay seated for a moment. He asked if there were anything he could help her with, when she declined he did not pry.
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Rafaele was dark and handsome, tall, and charming. He was twenty eight years old. Samantha was towheaded, with just nineteen young years to her credit. He was worldly, accustomed to having his way. He was well heeled, from a land far away. She was sheltered, sweet and innocent, still living with her parents. It might have become love, eventually.
They met on the beach at Loveladies, a small town on Long Beach Island off the New Jersey coast. Samantha was at the beach with friends for a long summer holiday weekend. She looked sweet, innocent and tempting in her tiny bikini. He impressed her with his well muscled brawn, his V shaped back and his shimmering bronzed tan. It was obvious to everyone around them that she was taken, basking in his gaze. She was certain that this was love at first sight. They dated for a few months, then she moved into his apartment in Chelsea in New York City. A few months later they were married in her home state of Delaware. She had been swept off of her feet by his handsome, dashing, dark looks and Italian accent. Her parents, though they were not pleased with the match, did not protest loudly. They said their piece to her alone in their home in Delaware a week before the wedding. They expressed their misgivings, her father doing most of the talking, then they left the subject alone.
Samantha dismissed her parents advice as old fashioned and not at all understanding. She was determined to marry this stranger. The pair of newlyweds flew to his homeland shortly after her family witnessed her wedding. They were off to northern Italy, via Rome. Sitting on the tarmac in the plane before takeoff in Philadelphia, Samantha's insides turned to jelly when she closed her eyes and thought of her future with her Rafaele. She was over the top, blinded by his sophisticated sounding Italian accent, his warm, sincere looking, even, snow white smile and and his sharp, well tailored suits.
The flight was uneventful, they slept most of the thirteen hours as they had been out late at a going away party in New York the night before. They arrived in Rome hungry, having slept through the dinner service. They just made the connecting flight to Genoa arriving at the gate as the doors were being closed. They were given stale nuts, prepackaged in a tiny bag and a glass of flat soda on the connecting flight. Samantha was starving by now. She sipped the soda but left the nuts, they tasted of the plastic bag they came in.
His parents picked them up at the airport in a hired car. They stopped on the way to her new home for a welcome home dinner with Rafael’s family and friends. She was still in her travel cloths, rumpled and none to happy to be greeted by dozens of the family's friends welcoming her to Italy at the elaborate dinner. Before entering the dining hall she begged to be excused to the restroom to at least freshen up and wash her face. Her husband selfishly protested, he was in a hurry to see his waiting friends. He had taken care of himself in the lav. on the plane. She had been unable to enjoy that facility as the line of passengers waiting was too long. The, “Fasten Seat belt,” sign came on just as she was nearing the door. Told by the stewards to return to her seat, she did. Samantha entered the dining hall to be greeted by his many family members and friends,. She was rumpled and disheveled without the benefit of so much as a touch of lipstick. She was unhappy to say the least, frowning as she was pushed along by her mother-in-law with her new husband. This was not the reception she had been looking forward to.
The conversation around her at dinner was entirely in Italian, except for the word, “Welcome,” uttered by his family when they were introduced, the talk flowed over and around her leaving her tired, alone, frustrated and bored. She understood only the occasional word, the name of a city or the words, petrol or Euro. She felt like a fish out of water while her husband laughed and chatted amicably for what seemed like hours.
Pushing her food around on her plate and wishing she were anywhere else, she daydreamed about her home town and her younger sister. If she were home she would be eating breakfast with her sister instead of this strange cheese with the worm holes in it and the whole fish that was placed on the table, head and all. She was startled by a live worm in the cheese that launched itself at her when it was disturbed by a piece of bread. She jumped up and shrieked, she was totally unnerved. Of course her surprised reaction was the subject of much laughter and fun at her expense for the rest of the evening. Old men at the table jumped and shrieked in pantomime whenever there was a lull in the conversation, this was followed inevitably by riotous laughter and crimson blushing on her part. She was chewing the inside of her cheek, her stomach was churning. She was close to tears, she could not have felt more miserable and alone.
They drove to his parents compound in Genoa later that evening. The newlyweds shared a bedroom suite but the rest of the home was used by everyone in the family. She was cooked for and the house was cleaned by a staff that came in daily. There was nothing to keep her occupied. Even her laundry was collected during the day and returned on hangers the next day. There was a small balcony off of their room where she sometimes sat in the afternoon sun and daydreamed that she was back on the beach in Loveladies with her friends. She wished she had thought to bring a book or any music for her own entertainment, her life without the color or texture of music or books was even worse then it might have been with these amenities. Even the television was all in Italian. The re-runs of Bonanza in Italian did nothing for her.
She could not believe how foolish she had been to marry Rafaele and come here, so far from all she knew. What was she thinking? Rethinking her decision now, she realized she should have insisted that he stay in New York with her. He already spoke English and they had their own apartment, his, in New York City. It could have been perfect, she sighed when she thought of this lost option. Now she was stuck in his parents family compound limited in what she could do or with whom she might speak.
This was not the life she expected at all. Most of the food was strange to her, the people seemed rude and unfriendly, his mother whom Rafaele had said spoke English, did not seem to understand anything she said. Even her darling Rafaele ignored her, only at night when they were alone did he notice her. His appetite for her was insatiable between the sheets, he left her sore, bruised and in tears nightly. Not surprisingly, she was assumed pregnant with in one months time.
He realized that her monthly schedule was interrupted before she did. He delighted in announcing her situation to her,
“Sa
mantha, you are with child.” he declared, he seemed happy when he said it. There was something in his voice though, it seemed to harbor something else, she thought, was it deceit.
This statement made her tremble, he grinned, strangely delighted. Samantha thought. She needed to see a doctor to verify her pregnancy. She did not have a doctor in Genoa, she needed to find a woman’s doctor.
Once a baby was on the way, his night time interest in her evaporated. When the news was broken to the family, his family celebrated with delight. The, “Bambino,” to them was everything. They did not seem to notice nor did not seem to care about her deepening distress and loneliness.
Her mood darkened further when she realized that now she was trapped. She would not be able to leave this lonely godforsaken place with a new baby. There was no way out for her.
At one month into her interrupted cycle she hit upon a possible solution. Perhaps she should to try to miscarry, she was after all, only in her first month, if she really was pregnant. She still had not found a doctor. Then she imagined the baby and it's future, she couldn't do it. She spent a whole night crying once she realized that this was her baby. She just could not forfeit it's tiny life. As the sun began to rise over the hills she hit on another solution, she decided that she should run away, back to the U.S. before her condition started to show. She would have her baby in the U..S., if there really was a baby. She would raise it herself. Her parents, she was sure, would help her. They knew. They were right when they told her that this marriage was not a wise one. If only she had listened. She had gone ahead and married Rafaele discarding their advice. They had not tried to stop her. They just expressed their opinions and left it at that.
Thinking escape was her best option, Samantha wondered where her passport was being kept. She casually asked her new husband. He wanted to know why she need it, he did not seem suspicious of her intent, never thinking that she would want to run away. He just seemed curious as to why she asked for it. She could not adequately justify her request so her query was left unanswered and her passport remained sequestered from her. Trapped yet again, she was falling deeper and deeper into this situation.
Now there really was no way out. Thinking she would need to find a consulate, she might be able to get her passport replaced. She could then contact her parents and ask them to send a plane ticket home. Samantha had a small amount of U.S. money that she hoped would get her to Rome. Once there, she knew she could find the U.S. embassy and make her way home. She prayed that she could make it out of the family compound on the pretense that she wanted to go out for air. Next she would need to find a driver in town who was willing to drive her to Rome. It was a plan. It could work. She packed her largest purse with her travel essentials for her trip. She took her Delaware drivers license, her old work ID tag and her birth certificate hoping that the embassy would honor these as her identification. She rose at the first light of the morning. Feigning morning sickness to avoid a long drawn out breakfast, she ducked out through the laundry. She had stashed a heel of bread and an apple wrapped in paper in her purse the evening before. Nibbling on the bread, she thought she would save the apple for midday. She hoped that her absence would not be noticed right away, that she would have enough time to hire a car and make her getaway.
Chapter Two -
Having gone out occasionally with family members and hired help on errands, Samantha was known by sight in the immediate area. Her fair looks and lean height made it obvious that she was not a local. She bound up her hair up in a scarf, put on sunglasses and wore a few layers of loose fitting cloths to diminish her differences. It was a weak disguise she thought as she looked in the full length mirror, but it should do. She took off the headscarf and sunglasses stuffing them into her purse. She belted her loose fitting outer shirt in case she was seen leaving the compound. Once outside, she reapplied her disguise and went towards the taxi stand in the center of the business district, she surveyed the line of cabs for a driver who looked bored. She needed to find someone who would welcome a long drive out of the area. She finally decided on a youth who looked like he had just become old enough to drive last week. Surely, she thought, someone that young would jump at the opportunity for a long adventurous drive.
Her luck was holding, she got into the car and, having the phrase well rehearsed, she told the driver where she needed to go. He checked the mirror and seeing nothing to deter him from taking the trip, he turned turned the car around and sped away from the curb. Samantha could not help herself, her heart was slowly filling with hope. She silently rejoiced with the thought of seeing her family and their Delaware home again. She sat in the back of the car and dug her fingernails into her palms to keep from singing her delight. Again she breathed a huge sigh of relief as she convinced herself that, yes, this might work. She might actually get away and be home in a few days time.
The hired car with the fugitive woman sped along the coast, past La Spezia, then they headed towards Pisa where they turned inland. They drove through small villages, farms and hills, Samantha sat in the back of the car wondering what her child would look like. Would he have Rafaele's dark looks or her fair coloring? Then she wondered if it would be a boy of girl. She hoped for a girl, someone in whom she could instill the common sense that she herself seemed to lack. She would not allow her daughter to even think of falling for a stranger, one who would isolate her and take her far from her home.
Samantha's day dreaming brought her all the way into the heart of old Rome. In spite of her rehearsing and her disguise, her American accent had given away her origins. Her driver knew who she was, he assumed that she was there to see the sights. She told the driver that she wanted to be taken to embassy row, saying that she had urgent business there. It was then that he became suspicious and thought that perhaps this trip was going to get him in trouble with a powerful family back in Genoa. His concern caused him to radio back to his Genoa dispatcher and in Italian asked what he should do.
Being somewhat aware of the gist the radio conversation that her driver was having, Samantha immediately fled the car. She did not even ask the amount of her fare, as terrified as she was of being brought back to Genoa. Hoping that it would be enough, she dropped four twenty dollar bills on the back seat of the cab and ran. She could not afford to have her plan foiled now. She was so close success. She ran around the corner and into a boutique, pulling off her headscarf and glasses as she entered. She waited and then watched out the window as her diver drove slowly down the street outside the window. Yes, he was looking for her. She regretted having to run and not having thanked him for his service. He had no idea how helpful he had been.
Samantha sighed and turned to the boutique owner for directions to embassy row. While she was there she purchased another scarf, one of a different style and color. She removed an outter layer of cloths to create a different silhouette, she was thinking she may need to melt away again. The embassy was just two short blocks away. Stuffing her extra cloths into her bag, she headed there now with a new look and hopeful confidence. She was so close. Fear of being caught still haunted her, she was still fearful that her husbands family could find her. Surely they would force her to go back. Her successful escape was now ever more precarious. Walking the two blocks to the embassy, she looked over her shoulder constantly. Fear followed her like a dark threatening shadow. With every sedan that passed she cringed and tried to melt into shop doorways. Upon arriving at the front of the embassy her heart sank. She saw two of her Father-in-law's employees arguing with the embassy guards. They were very agitated, gesturing wildly as they yelled instructions at the Embassy guards in broken English. The guards, US marines, would not tell her Father-in-law's workers if she had come into the embassy or not, they held their ground and just smiled at the two. The inquisitors were becoming more agitated by the moment. They had a picture of her and were holding it up in front of the guards trying to get them to identify her from the photo. One of the Marines spied her standing along the perimeter of the gate
in her disguise, he turned slightly so that the men looking for her would have their back to her as they argued their case facing the guards. Blessing them both with a prayer, she slipped through the embassy gate unnoticed. She arrived shortly before they closed the citizen's service desk at the mid-day.
Chapter Three -
Once inside the gates of the U. Embassy Samantha breathed deeply, this was going to work. she might get home. Her father-in-law's men were seething as they watched her calmly walking into the building beyond the fence. They called her name and waved their arms, then they turned their anger on the Marines who guarded the gate. They made the mistake of their lives. They tried to force their way past the Marines. They were face down and handcuffed before they knew what was happening. Samantha watched from inside the door as they were taken away by impatient Italian, “polizia.”
The obviously non-Italian woman approached the desk that held a sign that read, “U.S. Citizen Assistance, Myra Clooney.” “Good,” she thought, “a non-Italian name, I so miss speaking English.” Digging her documentation from the bottom of her bag, Samantha produced her birth certificate, her old work ID tag and her Delaware drivers license. Handing these documents to the woman at the desk she stated simply that her passport was being held out of her reach and that she needed to get back to the U.S. She requested assistance to replace her passport.
Love, she thought . . . Page 1