Rapture's Rendezvous

by Cassie Edwards

  “But for now, we must move in haste. The train doesn't even wait for Nathan Hawkins,” Nathan said, reaching in front of Maria to open the carriage door. “I'm sure George, my coachman, has already seen to my luggage and has it in the rented private car of the train.”

  Maria stepped from the carriage, all eyes. The black engine of the train sat puffing and wheezing black balls of smoke upward, while a fresh batch of immigrants was being directed from one of the cars of the train. Sympathy made Maria's heart plunge, knowing the kind of life that was awaiting them. She had to wonder just how many more immigrants would be needed by Nathan Hawkins for his slave labor at the mines. The town of Hawkinsville was already too thickly populated for health standards to remain at a safe level. The smell from the privies was already too strong, so strong even, one could hardly stand to enter one's own backyard where the flies buzzed and hatched more flies.

  Nathan took Maria by the arm and guided her quickly around the milling crowds. “Do you see that fancier car next to the caboose, Maria?” he said, pointing.

  Maria followed his gaze and saw the identical car she had seen once before on the very day of her own arrival to America. She had even seen a partially nude woman when she had stared through its window. “Yes, I see,” she murmured.

  “You go ahead and go to that car,” Nathan said, pushing her away from him. “I will go to the depot to direct a messenger boy to inform your family as you have requested.”

  “Oh, thank you, sir,” she said, then caught herself. She blushed. “I mean, thank you, Nathan.”

  “You hurry and board. I'll be there soon.”

  “All right, Nathan,” she said, looking around her once again, guilt then causing her to move on toward the train, knowing that from this moment on. her life would be better than the lives of those Italians who stood as though lost, waiting for one of Nathan's representatives to arrive, to take them to their bleak drudgeries of Hawkinsville.

  Lifting the skirt of her dress, Maria climbed aboard the private car of the train and stood looking at the luxuriousness of all that surrounded her, leaving her with mouth agape. She moved on into the car, eyes wide. Green fringe-trimmed curtains hung at the few, small windows, and a huge green-velvetecn-covered bed filled the space on one far end wall.

  A liquor cabinet reflected back at her in different-colored bottles of whiskies and wines, and many plush chairs and two desks filled the rest of the empty spaces around her.

  Maria went to a window and pulled a curtain aside, watching the immigrants being loaded onto several wagons. Gulping back tears, she turned her head away and went to slouch down onto a chair. When Nathan rushed into the car, panting for breath, Maria tensed, now realizing how alone they were, and in a car where a bed seemed to have top priority. She eyed the bed, then Nathan, barely breathing.

  “The trip will take several hours,” he said, pulling his gloves from his fingers, and.then the hat from atop his head. “We must make ourselves comfortable and enjoy ourselves.” He removed his coat, revealing an abun-dance of ruffles on his shirt. Then when he moved toward the liquor cabinet, Maria saw a pearl-handled pistol thrust inside the back of his breeches. Her fear of him heightened

  “Why … do … you wear a … gun … ?” she stammered, watching his expression, but seeing that her question didn't appear to affect him in one way or another.

  He licked his lips and cleared his throat. “Would you care to share some spirits with me, Maria?” he asked, already pouring some red bubbly liquid into a thin-stemmed glass.

  Maria fidgeted with the gathers of her skirt, then with a bow at her neck. “I don't think….” she began, but was stopped short when a glass was forced into her free hand.

  “Like I said earlier,” Nathan said. “You've many things to learn. Share a few drinks with me and you'll find it much easier when I ask you to share that nice bed with me.” His gaze flashed from Maria, to the bed, then back to Maria once again, a smile lifting his whiskers from his lips.

  Maria's fingers began to tremble. She took a quick swallow of wine, then said weakly, “But you … said … that you would leave me be. We are not even married. Surely you … wouldn't….”

  His face was expressionless as he settled down onto a chair opposite her. He crossed his legs, revealing his highly polished boots to Maria. “Did I say that?” he said, sipping on the wine. “I must be more careful with the words I choose to speak. Especially in the company of one so beautifully tempting as you.”

  Maria's eyes lowered. “But, I do wish“ she began,

  but was interrupted.

  “Your beauty is a unique one, don't you know that, Maria?” he asked, changing the subject.

  “Please . . . Nathan“

  “There is only one flaw that I see,” he said, clearing his throat. “But maybe with some facial makeup we can hide that ugly birthmark from view.”

  Maria's fingers reached up and touched the spot on her face of which he was speaking. Her face flushed; she had never felt that her birthmark was so ugly to have to be covered by cheap makeup. “You are wrong, sir, “she stated flatly. “I shall not cover my birthmark. You cannot have everything to your liking. My becoming your wife does not mean I have to bow down to you. You will learn that quite quickly.”

  Nathan rose and put his glass down inside the liquor cabinet. He began unbuttoning his shirt, glowering. “We shall see about that,” he said. “I now wish to take you to bed. Undress. Now.”

  The jolting of the train on its tracks caused Maria to swallow hard, knowing that the train was now traveling away from Hawkinsville and the security she had always felt when in Alberto's and her Papa's presence.

  Now? She was left completely to fend for herself. When she saw Nathan reach behind him and lift the pistol from his breeches, she thought this to be cause for conversation to possibly postpone her trip to the bed. She swallowed hard, then said, “You didn't say why you are wearing the gun, Nathan.”

  “For protection. Why else?”

  “Whose .. . protection . .. ?”

  “Mine,” he said, glowering toward her.

  “Protection . . . from . . . whom . . . ?”

  He moved the pistol from one hand to the other, as though weighing it. “There have been threats on my life,” he said darkly. “I only recently began to feel the need to carry my pistol.”

  Maria sipped her wine slowly, then added. “But why would anyone . . . want… to kill you?” She knew the answer to that, but needed to lead Nathan further into conversation. Oh, how she hated the thought of sharing the bed with him.

  Nathan went to a chair and sat back down onto it, still eyeing the pistol he held in his hand. He pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and began shining the pistol's barrel.

  “It is this damn organization called the United Mine Workers of America that is causing me the trouble,” he grumbled. “They are trying to tell me how to run my coal mine. But it is mine. No one will come to my coal mine and tell me what to do. No one.”

  “I have never heard of this organization,” Maria prodded, relieved to see him settle back against the chair, sulking. She now knew that she had succeeded in getting his mind to wander from things other than what her body could do for him.

  “It is called the ‘union’ for short,” he grumbled further.

  “Who runs this … as you call. . . it. . . Union?”

  “At first several union members sought me out. To try to convince me that my mine wasn't safe. And that I wasn't treating my workers fairly. But when I ran them off my property, I heard tell that they then had this one person come to Hawkinsville to do secret investigating to prove my negligence with my mine and people.” He laughed sardonically. “I guess they think this one bastard can make Nathan Hawkins change his way of life. Well, they have something to learn about this Nathan Hawkins.”

  “How is this one man doing this . . . uh .. . investigating?”

  “So far my men haven't discovered who it is. We've only heard mention of a nam
e. A man named Hopper. From Saint Louis. I hear tell that he comes to Hawk-insville very well disguised. But one day we will catch up with him. And when we do … we will be sure that he will get a bullet through his skull.”

  Maria almost dropped the glass as her fingers began to tremble violently. Hopper. Did Nathan truly speak of… Michael… Hopper? She knew that she had paled and took another quick drink of wine in an effort to put more color into her cheeks.

  “This . . . Hopper,” she said in a near whisper. “How did you hear about him?”

  “My representatives. They have ways of hearing things.”

  “But.. . there are probably many men whose name is . . . Hopper,” she said, swallowing hard.

  “That's the problem,” he grumbled, placing his pistol on the table next to him. “No one has yet found out this bastard's first name. When we do … he will no longer be.”

  “You . .. would actually … be guilty of such a violence as . .. murder .. . ?” Maria gasped, clutching the stem of the glass, envisioning Michael, so handsome, so sweet, possibly now in total danger.

  “No one would know the deed was done,” he laughed. “My coal mine has ways of hiding bodies. No one would ever even know what happened to this man named Hopper.”

  Maria's eyes lowered. If this was Michael Nathan was speaking of, then she had to find a way to warn him. Her mind was swirling, trying to remember what Ruby had said about Michael. She had said that Michael had a “true purpose” for being in the Hawkinsville area. And hadn't Alberto said that Michael had been dressed as one down on his luck? Her heart thumped wildly. Yes. Alberto had said that Michael was dressed as one who was poor. God! This was Michael's way of disguising himself. He was the man Nathan was speaking of. After arriving in Saint Louis, she had to find him. Warn him.

  “And now, Maria,” Nathan spoke from in front of her, unbuttoning his breeches. “We have delayed long enough. Like I said before, undress. You are now going to become my wife. We will secure the necessary papers upon arrival to Saint Louis.”

  “Please. . . .” Maria whimpered.

  Nathan knocked the glass from her hand then yanked her roughly up from the chair. “Now you do as you are told,” he snarled. “Get undressed and get on that bed. No one defies Nathan Hawkins. Especially not a woman soon to become my wife.”

  Sobbing, Maria unbuttoned her dress and stepped out of it, then her underthings and shoes, all the while watching Nathan as he undressed fully in front of her. When he moved toward her, she felt a sickness rolling inside her. He was nothing like she remembered Michael being. This man was small, shriveled up, most undesirable to look at, much less be touched by. She recoiled when he touched her on a breast, then shoved her roughly onto the bed.

  She closed her eyes, whimpering as he stretched out atop her and lunged his manhood deeply inside her and began to move his body in and out, grunting like a wild animal. She lay there, unresponsive, chewing her lower lip, feeling used, degraded. When his body began to tremble, she tensed, feeling his hands grab at her buttocks to lift her closer to him, then clasped her hands into two fists as he drew his complete pleasure from her body until he was finished and lay panting next to her.

  He laughed a bit. “I thought I was marrying an innocent one?” he said, reaching over to pinch a breast. “But I found out that you've been used.”

  Maria's eyes widened. “What do you mean?” she gasped.

  “Don't you know that a man has a way of knowing?” “I still don't“

  Nathan's hands traveled over her body. “I don't really mind,” he said. “It even makes you more exciting to me. To know that you aren't so innocent? It means I can have even more fun with you.”

  “What… do … you … mean … ?”

  “Time will tell. Time will tell,” he chuckled, then rolled away from her and left the bed. He went and poured himself another glass of wine, then sat down on a chair, still completely nude. “Yes. Our life together will be quite interesting,” he added, smiling crookedly.

  Maria reached down and pulled the spread over her body, feeling hate grow to even greater intensity inside her for this man who would soon be her husband.

  But in name only, she thought darkly to herself. You will never see me gel pleasure from your body. Never. Never.

  She let her thoughts wander to Michael. . . and how she might find him when she arrived in Saint Louis. She must warn him … she must. . . .

  Chapter Thirteen

  Two full days and nights had passed since the necessary words had been spoken between Maria and Nathan to make them man and wife. Since that time, Nathan had kept Maria caught up in a whirlwind of shopping for a wardrobe befitting his new wife, making her now appear a picture of fashion, even more statu-esquely beautiful than the models who had pranced across the raised platform at one of Saint Louis's finest department stores, Nugent's.

  Nathan had done the choosing. It hadn't taken long for Maria to see his ways of taking over. Though small in voice and stature, when he spoke, everyone seemed to move quickly to do as he bid. So Maria could now boast of having the fanciest hats in the great city of Saint Louis and the necessary attire needed for all occasions.

  Hating her newly fitted tight corset, Maria squirmed a bit as she and Nathan moved through the large entranceway at the Planter's House Hotel. Attired in her Eton suit of blue broadcloth, trimmed with folds of matching velvet, and her evening hat in flowered silk and plaited chiffon, Maria could feel many gentlemen's gazes moving along with her.

  Tilting her chin up into the air and checking to see if her hair was still upswept neatly beneath her hat, she moved on toward the staircase. She wasn't yet accustomed to such attention. She only hungered for attention from one man. Michael. And she hadn't yet succeeded in finding out where his residence might be. Nathan hadn't let her move from his sight, not for even one moment.

  As they moved next to one another up the staircase, Maria glanced at Nathan. He had spoken earlier of being tired and of needing added rest this night before taking the train back to Hawkinsville the very next morning. She smiled to herself, knowing that she didn't require the added rest and would sneak from the room as soon as Nathan's snores became long and lazy.

  She had already decided to ask assistance from the desk clerk to show her how to use the telephone that she had seen in the lobby of the hotel. She knew that Michael surely had to own this new invention, if he was indeed as rich as he was said to be.

  Nathan reached for Maria's hand. “I'm bone-weary, Maria.” he murmured, coughing a bit. “I guess my age is catching up with me.” He looked over at her, licking his lips, making the tip of his moustache glisten from the wetness. “I guess your young body is a bit much for my old heart. Tonight I think I'll just leave you be. Now that should make you happy. Eh?”

  Maria's eyes lowered. She could feel her cheeks grow hot under his steady gaze. She knew that he had felt her tension each time he had mounted her, panting heavily until his passion had been fulfilled. She was glad that it didn't require much time before he was spent. At least she would know this to be true now whenever he ordered her to stretch out atop the bed, unclothed. open-legged to his demands. But it couldn't erase the thoughts from her mind each time he did mount her, that she was being used, degraded, all over again.

  “I must rest also, Nathan,” she said, fluttering her lashes nervously, knowing that she had just spoken a nontruth. But it was necessary. All the lies she would ever have to tell Nathan would be necessary. “I'm also tired,” she added. “I'm not used to such a fast pace of life as we have had since our arrival in Saint Louis.”

  “But you do approve of the wardrobe I have chosen for you, don't you?” he asked, sounding even kind. Maria was relieved to see this slight change in his personality. She wondered how long it would last. In Hawkinsville, he had appeared to be the devil himself. In Saint Louis, she had been able to breathe more easily, seeing how much more relaxed his eyes and his mouth had become.

  “Yes. It's all very. . . .”
she began, then as she looked upward, seeing the man she was going to pass on the stairs, her words seemed to freeze in her throat. She felt a racing of her heartbeat and a giddiness in her head when he moved down several more steps closer to her. Pulling her hand free from Nathan, she covered her mouth, whispering Michael's name. . . .

  Nathan stopped and reached for her, placing his arm around her waist. “Maria? What is it? Are you faint?”

  Maria looked anxiously about her, knowing that if Michael saw her, he would speak her name as she would his. This couldn't happen. If introductions became necessary, and Nathan heard the name Hopper, and then … his name … his first name . . . Michael, then Nathan would have found the Hopper who he planned to do away with.

  Maria touched her forehead lightly, feigning further dizziness. “Yes,” she murmured, moving to lean downward against Nathan, hiding her face against his shoulder. “I am a bit lightheaded. Please hold me.”

  Wrapping his arms around her, Nathan stepped aside so the tall blonde-haired fellow could move on past them. “Maria, I'll get you on to the room,” he said, much too loudly, as his shrill voice was so wont to be at times.

  Maria tensed, knowing that Michael's footsteps had hesitated. He had heard her name being spoken.. . .

  “Maria? Is that you?”

  When Maria heard his voice, her heart urged her to turn to face him. He was standing two steps below her, looking upward, from Maria, then to Nathan, his face screwed up with amazed puzzlement. “Maria, what the … ?” Michael uttered softly, running his fingers through his hair, seeing her attire, so expensive and so stylish.. .. and in Saint Louis? With the likes of Nathan Hawkins? None of it made any sense.

  Maria's face flushed crimson. She fidgeted with her hat, speechless. Then she quickly blurted, “Michael Hampton, this is Nathan Hawkins.” She smiled coyly from one to the other.

  Michael's face drained of color. His brows furrowed as he studied Maria's expression. There were traces of fear in her eyes as they gently wavered. Surely there was a reason for her little name game. He quickly extended a hand toward Nathan Hawkins, saying, “Nice to meet you, sir.”