MUSIC IN THE NIGHT -- excerpt
Beforeshe could brace herself to clutch the cross and rose again, the vibrationsstopped and the warmth faded. The wooden sidewalk rippled like waves under herfeet. A more deeply recessed doorway, offering better shelter, was only a dozensteps further down the side street. She needed to sit down, out of the rain,just for a few moments. Hunching her shoulders, Carmen staggered down thesidewalk, aiming for the darkness of the recessed doorway, praying it was dryand deep enough that she could hide from sight while she regained her balance.
Asteam-cart trundled down the street from behind her, just as she stepped intothe doorway. A whimper of gratitude escaped her clenched teeth. It was deep andwide enough she could have laid down in it, and kept her feet dry. Shegratefully sank down into the corner on the right, well out of traffic, ifanyone needed to come out of the door. Tugging her skirts down around herankles, she raised her hand to press against the cross.
Thesteam-cart came into view, framed in the doorway. It was an open steam-cart, anewer model but without any kind of roof or covering on it. Carmen snorted herdisdain for anyone who thought an open vehicle made any sense in Chicago, withits wind and seemingly constant rain. The man who drove it hunched hisshoulders, and his eyes were lost in goggles gone white with steam orcondensation. The other man in the cart stood up in the passenger sectionbehind him, one hand braced on the seat back, the other on the man's shoulder,and turned his head, surveying the street.
Carmenpaused with her hand just above the cross. She couldn't breathe. Just for aheartbeat, the man's gaze seemed to lock with hers. Despite the rain streamingfrom the flat planes of his chiseled features and darkening his golden hair,slicking it to his head, she recognized him. That flat, hard line of his mouth,she knew very well. It was the last expression she saw on his face before hewalked out of her life. Those lips had been as hard as his voice when he castigatedher for the choices she had made.
Just afew days before those angry words, he had smiled and spoke only sweet words.Why did she remember his displeasure more clearly?
Richard Boniface. He had wanted to marry her, and whenher father said no, he had insisted she should run away with him. Carmencouldn't break her father's heart, even if she had wanted Boniface more thanlife itself. Her father had raised her to consider every question and choicecarefully. Carmen had trusted her father's ability to read people more than herown heart. If he didn't trust Richard as her husband, then neither could she. Richard’sfury only confirmed her father’s wisdom in saying no. How could she trust herheart to such a changeable man?
