by Jae
Within seconds, the front door burst open and Kate rushed down the stairs, her carrying case clutched in one hand.
If the soldier hadn’t held her, Giuliana would have fallen to her knees with relief. She let go of the bar, wrenched free of the soldier’s grip, and hurried toward her.
Surrounded by smoke, Kate stumbled over something on the bottom step.
Giuliana caught her. As much as she had complained about her too-big arms in the past, now she was glad about the muscles developed by years of hard work. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I just couldn’t go without my camera and the glass plates.”
“Are you out of your mind? Risking your life for that toy!” Her father lightly shook Kate.
Giuliana wanted to swat his hands away. They just didn’t get what the camera meant to Kate.
“Come on!” Cursing, the soldier urged them down the street, away from the fire.
When they reached the next block, Giuliana threw a glance back over her shoulder, at the Winthrop residence, which was starting to smolder. The paint on the eastern fence was blistering. Just as she was about to turn away, the object at the bottom of the stairs caught her attention. The thing Kate had stumbled over was an empty bucket.
How strange. Hank, the butler, and the Winthrops’ gardener kept the house and the garden in immaculate condition. They wouldn’t allow an empty bucket to sit on the front stairs, not even while the city was burning.
A thought hit her like a slap to the forehead. What if Biddy had arrived back at the house? If she hadn’t found water, she might have left the bucket by the door before going to bed. Since everyone had assumed Biddy to still be gone, no one had thought to wake her. She would burn in her sleep, up there in the attic.
Giuliana couldn’t let that happen, no matter how unfriendly Biddy had treated her. She glanced at the soldier, who hurried them along California Street. He would never let her turn back around, at least not without long explanations. No time for that.
“I must go back,” she whispered to Kate. “Keep the soldier away.”
Kate’s eyes widened. “Did you just say…?”
“Yes. This is important.”
“I don’t like this one bit. If anything happens to you…”
“Please, Kate.”
After a second, Kate nodded. She stopped walking. Her hands fluttered up to touch her chest. “I…I feel a little faint.” Her voice was high and quavered in a way that Giuliana had never heard from her, even in moments of danger. Kate stumbled toward the soldier and sank into his arms like a lady in serious need of some smelling salts.
Giuliana didn’t wait to see what the soldier would do. Gritting her teeth against the aching in her body, she sprinted past them and back toward the house as fast as she could. The thick smoke made it difficult to see. A gust of wind parted the curtain of smoke for a moment. There!
Flames swirled along the roof of the Winthrop mansion and turned the once-immaculate lawn into ashes. She had to get Biddy out now!
Giuliana rushed through the open gate and up the stairs. The roar of the fire filled her ears, so she couldn’t tell if there were screams coming from the inside. She gripped the handle to open the front door.
Pain tore through her fingers. She yanked her hand back with a cry. The door handle was as hot as a skillet on a stove. She frantically shook her throbbing fingers.
Next to her, glass shattered as a window burst in the heat. Gray smoke billowed out.
It was now or never. With her unhurt hand, Giuliana ripped a piece off the bottom of her skirt, wrapped it around her fingers like a protective glove, and opened the door.
Smoke filled the hall. She dove inside and ran up the stairs. On the landing, she stopped and coughed. “Biddy!”
No answer. Giuliana raced up the steep stairs to the attic. On the top step, she collided with a shape that stumbled out of the smoke. She fell against the banister and grabbed it with both hands. The pounding pain in her fingers shot up her arm, but she hung on while Biddy clung to her, sobbing.
“We’ll die! We’ll die!”
“Stupidizza. We will not.” The groaning of the roof above them threatened to prove her a liar. Visions of being buried in a collapsed house swept over Giuliana, making her dizzy. She couldn’t go through that again. “We must go—now!”
She half dragged Biddy down the stairs and through the smoke in the hall. “Do not touch the door!” Groaning, she swung her leg up and shoved the door open with her leather-protected foot.
Then they were outside and ran over the hot cobblestones through the gate.
On the street, Biddy wanted to sink to her knees, but Giuliana gripped her arm. “It is not safe here.”
Smoke surrounded them, making them cough. The heat from the fire made Giuliana’s skin burn as if she were running a fever. From somewhere, the blast of a dynamite detonation drowned out the roaring of the fire. Walls crashed down, adding plaster dust to the cloud of smoke. She couldn’t see where they were supposed to be going.
Then a familiar voice pierced the smoke. “Giuliana? Giuliana!”
Kate! Giuliana wobbled with relief. “Here! We are here!” She pulled Biddy toward that wonderful voice.
Within seconds, she was in Kate’s arms. Her friend held her so firmly that Giuliana’s ribs ached. She squeezed back just as tightly, burnt fingers be damned.
* * *
Kate glanced over at Giuliana for the hundredth time. Giuliana was limping a little, but she kept pace with the rest of them as they marched west, her jaw set, her gaze straight ahead, and her left hand cradling the right against her chest. Kate wanted to stop and take a closer look at Giuliana’s ankle and the seared palm, but the soldier leading them was already muttering about “leaving the damn women behind” and she didn’t have ointment or bandages anyway.
“How’s your hand?” she asked as they crossed Van Ness Avenue and left the clouds of smoke behind.
Giuliana gave her a wry smile. “I would not say no to a little of the medications we gave Lucy yesterday.”
Kate touched her shoulder in a fleeting caress and then, remembering that her parents might be watching, quickly snatched her hand away as if she had been burned too. “Just a little farther and you can have it.” At least she hoped so. Biddy could probably use some medical attention too.
She was trudging behind them, staring around with a blank expression. Since Giuliana had pulled her from the burning house, she hadn’t uttered a single word. Kate’s mother made up for Biddy’s silence by loudly complaining about having to traipse all over the city in her robe and slippers.
Kate breathed a sigh of relief when she finally caught a glimpse of the tents in Golden Gate Park.
The air here was thick with fog and salt, cooling Kate’s cheeks that were still burning from the heat of the fire.
The closer they got to the park, the wider Kate’s eyes became. By now, there had to be fifty thousand people or more camped out in tents and on the grass. Was there anyone left in the city? She traded disbelieving gazes with Giuliana.
At the park’s entrance, a huge billboard that had once advertised a brand of beer greeted them. Now it was covered in slips of paper, notices of people’s whereabouts and desperate searches for lost loved ones. There had to be thousands of them. Someone had even written a message on a disposable collar, probably for lack of paper, and tacked it to the board. Kate longed to get out her camera and take a photograph, but now was not the time. Later, she promised herself.
They walked past the billboard and entered the camp.
Some people seemed to have made themselves at home already. A family sat around a campfire made of bricks, roasting what looked like a duck. The scent of coffee drifted over, reminding Kate of how thirsty she was. Where had they gotten the water for coffee? From one of the ponds in the park? She vowed to set out and find some for her group at the first chance she got. But first she needed to get Giuliana to the hospital tent.
A long line of p
eople wound through the rows of tents.
Kate craned her neck to see what they were waiting for. The army had set up tables, and soldiers were handing out bread and mess bowls of what might be soup.
An enthusiastic growl rose from Kate’s stomach, but she ignored it. “Why don’t you stand in line while I take Giuliana to the hospital tent?” she said to her parents.
“Stand in line?” her mother echoed with an expression as if Kate had just ordered her back into the inferno.
“It’s either that or go hungry,” Kate said.
Her father wordlessly pulled his wife over to the end of the line.
At least someone in her family had some common sense. Kate sighed before turning to Biddy. “You should probably be seen by one of the doctors too.”
“I’m fine.” Biddy’s gaze darted to Giuliana and then away. “Thanks to her.”
Kate looked at her retreating back as Biddy joined her parents at the end of the food line. She grinned at Giuliana. “Looks like you made a friend.”
“No. She is not my friend. But she does not think anymore that I have bad wishes for her.”
Kate gripped Giuliana’s sleeve and directed her around so she was fully facing her. “What you did was very brave. And more than a little insane.” When she’d seen the mansion on fire, with Giuliana in it, she’d wanted to free herself of the soldier’s grip and run inside too. If anything had happened to Giuliana…The mere thought made her shudder.
Giuliana didn’t lower her gaze. “As insane as to go back into the house to get your camera.”
Kate tightened her fingers around the handle of the carrying case. “I know it’s not the same as saving a life, as you did, but it was the only thing in the house I cared about. Well, that and my parents.” And you. But, of course, she didn’t say that. She pulled Giuliana through the crowd of grumbling people in the food line, taking the shortest route toward the hospital tent.
The stench of a hastily dug latrine wafted over from the edge of the camp. They hurried past it as fast as they could. A few tents over, someone had pushed a piano up the hills all the way to the park, and now he was playing “There’ll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight.”
People were sitting around the piano, clapping in rhythm to the tune.
Giuliana let out an incredulous laugh.
“That’s San Franciscans for you.” Half of the Paris of the Pacific was in ashes, but Kate had never been as proud of her city as she was right now. People were making the best of their situation, and she vowed to do the same.
The flap of the hospital tent stood open. Men and women with cuts on their faces or burned hands lined up in front of the treatment tables.
With a sinking feeling, Kate realized Giuliana would have to wait to get treated. Sighing, she led her inside.
The coppery smell of blood and the sweet stench of burned flesh hit her, instantly making her glad that her stomach was empty. A crying woman was going from cot to cot, probably looking for loved ones. How could Lucy stand all of this?
She let her gaze wander over the white-clad nurses and physicians. Would Lucy even be here after being on duty the night before the earthquake? She had probably retreated to one of the tents to get some sleep.
But the flaming-red hair of one white-clad figure was unmistakable. Lucy was scribbling something on a tag attached to the ripped shirt of a patient—probably to let her colleagues and the nurses know which medicine she’d already given him so no drug would be administered twice. When Lucy straightened, her gaze met Kate’s. Her eyes widened, and she instantly hurried over. “What happened? You look like hell!”
Kate wasn’t used to such language from another woman, but under these circumstances it seemed somehow appropriate. “And I feel as if we’ve been through it too. Nob Hill is on fire.”
Anxious whispers started all around them.
“Not so loud. People here are already scared.” Lucy looked at the rows of cots and then pulled them toward a quieter corner. “Nob Hill is gone?”
Kate nodded. “Last I saw, the Crocker residence was just catching fire. Our house is probably a pile of ashes right about now.” Even as she said it, she still couldn’t fully believe her home was gone. The granite walls had seemed indestructible. She rubbed her gritty eyes. They were dry, as if the fire had burned away even the tears.
“I’m sorry.” Lucy softly squeezed Kate’s arm, her touch warm and steady.
For a moment, only the moans of the patients interrupted the silence.
“Giuliana burned her hand.” Kate gestured at Giuliana to show her right hand to the doctor.
“Let me see.” Lucy’s tone was compassionate, almost tender.
“I wait.” Giuliana indicated all the other injured people awaiting treatment.
“Nonsense. It’ll only take a minute.” With a gentleness that Kate had never witnessed whenever a physician had examined her, Lucy lifted Giuliana’s hand and turned it around so she could see the palm.
Giuliana’s skin was the color of a cooked lobster, and a large blister covered half of her middle finger.
Kate sucked in a breath as she saw the extent of the burn for the first time.
“How did that happen?” Lucy asked while gently bathing Giuliana’s hand in some kind of solution.
Kate didn’t hear Giuliana’s reply; she was too busy watching the way Lucy cradled Giuliana’s hand. That strange feeling that she got every time she watched Giuliana with the doctor was back, holding her firmly in its clutches. She’s a doctor treating a patient, for heaven’s sake! What do you have to be jealous of?
But as Lucy spread the ointment over Giuliana’s raw skin, it looked awfully like a caress.
Kate gripped the basin that Lucy had given her to hold.
Lucy glanced over at her. “Are you all right? You’re not going to faint, are you? The burn is not that bad, compared to some I have seen today.”
“I’m fine,” Kate ground out.
Lucy turned her attention back to Giuliana’s hand. Instead of calling over a nurse to bandage Giuliana’s hand, she did it herself. “I’m very sorry, but we can’t spare any morphine for an injury like that,” she said as she tied off the bandage at Giuliana’s wrist. “We need what little we have for serious injuries.”
“I understand.” Giuliana studied her. “You look like you need some medicines also.”
Lucy’s lips lifted into a tired half smile. “Are you saying I look awful? And here I thought you Italians were supposed to be charming.”
Giuliana’s cheeks turned a soft pink.
Chuckling, Lucy patted her arm.
Heavens, was it really necessary for her to touch Giuliana that much?
“Just make sure you get enough water and stay hydrated, all right?” Lucy said with a final pat. “The hand should be fine in a week or two.”
Giuliana nodded. “Thank you.”
When they turned to leave Lucy to her other duties, Lucy called, “Kate? Do you have a minute?”
Kate’s heartbeat sped up. Was Giuliana’s injury worse than she had let on? Or had Lucy noticed the resentment radiating off Kate every time she touched Giuliana or spoke to her too intimately? She glanced at Giuliana. “I’ll be right out.”
Frowning, Giuliana looked from her to Lucy and back before heading toward the tent’s exit.
Kate watched her go. The urge to rush after her, away from whatever Lucy wanted, gripped her.
Lucy straightened and rolled her shoulders. A few bones in her spine popped. “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong?” Kate repeated. It sounded lame, even to herself.
“You were looking at me as if you wanted to strangle me.”
Had she really? Kate hadn’t meant to. She liked Lucy; she just didn’t like it when she touched Giuliana.
“Look, I hated not being able to give her anything for the pain too, but I can’t justify it. We’ve got patients who lost a limb or have much worse burns than Giuliana.”
“Oh, no, that’s al
l right. I understand. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“What is it, then?”
Kate squirmed and shuffled her feet on the trampled grass. “We can talk about it another time. When you’re not on duty.”
“Well, officially, I’ve been off duty for at least an hour, but I keep getting caught up with patients. And there are more waiting, so spit it out.” When Kate remained silent, Lucy sighed. “I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I think of you as a kindred spirit.” Her voice was soft, as if she were talking to a scared animal or a patient. “I hope you think of me the same way and know that you can talk to me—about anything.”
Kate gave a weak nod. So Lucy had sensed it too. They were alike, maybe because they were both women who weren’t content with the life as wives and mothers that society expected of them. “I…” She snapped her mouth shut. No. She could never voice the thoughts that had been going through her mind. If this was where their similarities ended, Lucy would be horrified.
“Look.” Lucy rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands and then studied Kate. “I’m too tired for diplomacy, so I’ll come right out and say it.”
The lump in her throat prevented Kate from speaking, so she just nodded.
“I like Giuliana.”
Hearing it felt as if someone was stabbing her with a red-hot shard of metal—and then slowly twisting it in her belly. Her hands curled into fists, and she only noticed when her fingernails dug into her palms. “I…I know,” was all she could get out.
“Of course I do,” Lucy continued. “She’s a fine young woman, hardworking, loyal, and kind.”
Yes, Giuliana was all that and so much more. Grimly, Kate nodded, all the while staring at the squished grass beneath her feet.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m in love with her.”
Kate’s gaze flew up. “Of course not. You are both women, so you can’t…” Her mind flashed back to Esther and Florence, the two young women who had been caught kissing at college. “I mean, you shouldn’t be…you know.”
A mild smile curled Lucy’s lips. “That’s what society wants us to think. My medical textbooks called it sexual inversion, as if it were a sickness. But you know what my grandmother told me when I asked her about my aunts? She said that life is too short to throw away love, no matter what form it comes in.”