The Woman in Red Page 8

  “Anita, you don’t need to work on the ship like this.”

  I thrust a chunk of bread at him. “We all have our jobs to do, Captain. Now eat. We can’t have you starving to death.”

  When the bustling activity of the day was over, I found solace in José’s cabin. One night, when we were stretched out together on the bed after making love, tired but happy, José talked to me about his destiny.

  “I believe that I was born with a purpose.” He stroked my cheek. “Even though I am here, in Brazil, I know that my destiny resides in the fatherland.” He gently kissed me. “We all have a destiny to fulfill, tesoro mio.”

  “I don’t understand; why does your destiny reside in your fatherland?”

  “My home is nothing more than clusters of feuding territories. I dream of the peninsula being one country.” He ran his fingers through my hair, letting the strands slip through his fingers. “So many men have died trying to achieve this dream, but I really feel that I will be the one to make it a reality.”

  Later that night, I lay staring at the ceiling, trying to contemplate what my destiny was. Perhaps it was Destiny that led me to José, and it was quite possible she wasn’t done with me yet. Whatever it was, I wasn’t going to find it in this cabin, whose walls suddenly felt confining. I slipped out of our room, with a shawl wrapped tightly around me. The wind had stilled in anticipation of some unseen force. I could feel it, just out of reach.

  I waved to one of the sailors. “Hello there!” I called out.

  “Ahoy!” he responded. “What brings you topside so late at night?”

  “I needed some fresh air.”

  He nodded. “Be careful.”

  I continued walking to the stern of the ship but stopped short when I saw the moon. It sat high in the sky, tinged with red. I gasped. Blood on the moon. My breath caught in my throat. Blood on the moon meant that there would be trouble ahead.

  “You are sounding like an old woman,” I said out loud. Not caring who heard me. “Next thing you know you’ll be dressed in black, scaring young girls in the village.” I shook my head, attempting to banish the fear that threatened to seep into my thoughts. Still, I silently crept back into bed with José, moving in close, letting his warmth banish my ghosts.

  Early the next morning I heard the call. The crew spotted another ship on the horizon. I ran topside to see the new visitors. Four massive Imperial vessels barreled toward us. One ship loomed as large as all four of our ships combined. The sails were pillars of clouds climbing toward the heavens. One thing was for certain: We would not survive a battle with them.

  José moved about the ship with an authority I had never seen. He bellowed orders, making everyone around him jump to action as he made his way to the helm. I ran to the side of the ship to stand ready at the weather braces for the next maneuvers.

  Where their ships had strength, ours had speed. We left at full sail, catching a good wind that helped us speed away. The fleet headed east—that is, all of us but Griggs’s ship. “Where is he going?” I asked the sailor next to me as we watched it head in the opposite direction.

  The sailor stopped what he was doing as Griggs’s ship, the Republican, was pursued by two of the Imperial ships. “He’s sacrificing himself.” The sailor made the sign of the cross. “He knows we won’t stand a chance with all four of those ships on our tail.”

  My heart sank as I watched him sail over the horizon with two Imperial ships following him. Our ship pressed on, speeding away from the danger.

  Once it looked like we were safe, José stepped back from the helm, letting one of the officers take control. Sitting down on the crates with a heavy sigh, he extended his arms and turned his hands carefully in a semicircle. I walked over to him, taking his forearm in my hands. He didn’t fight me as I began to gently massage his wrists with my thumbs. We didn’t say anything for a long time as he watched me work.

  “You are not supposed to see me weak,” he said with a half smile.

  I made a noise, dismissing him. “I have shared your bed for long enough. I think that allows us to share some secrets.” I set his arm down and motioned for the other one.

  “And what secret does this count as?”

  “That you are human.” I smiled, looking up at him. He returned my smile before resting his head on my shoulder. “Do they always hurt after a long stretch at the helm?” I asked.

  “No.” He squinted up at the sun, which had peeked out from behind a cloud like a shy child. “Usually only when it’s damp out, or if I have been holding my sword for too long.”

  He took my hands in his large callused ones, accentuating how small mine were. “You are my calm in the midst of the storm.”

  “Can I ask what happened to your wrists?”

  “Gualeguay.”

  “Ah, the infamous Gualeguay.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted in a half smile. “There was this general, Don Leonardo Milan. He made it his life’s mission to see me behind bars.” He focused on our hands, interweaving his fingers with mine. “I thought I was going to visit a friend. Turns out that friend wasn’t as much of a friend as I thought she was.”

  “She?” I questioned. José was no priest, but no woman liked to hear about her predecessors.

  “Yes, she.” José had the good sense to blanch. “I would meet with her every time I was at port in Gualeguay. I thought she and I had an understanding…of sorts.”

  “But you lost your head? As Rossetti put it.” I tried not to laugh at the blush that spread up from beneath his beard.

  “Yes, well.” He shifted in his seat. “Don Leonardo was there waiting for me when I returned to port instead. He had intentions of making me give up my co-conspirators’ names. Like I would tell him my secrets.” He winced at the memory. “When I wouldn’t share like he wanted, he whipped me. Several lashes across my chest. When that didn’t work, he held me above the ground by my wrists for two excruciating hours.”

  I caressed his cheek.

  “I’ve mostly healed. All but my wrists.” He shrugged. “Between them and Rossetti I will never forget.” He kissed my hand. “Grazie, tesoro mio.”

  Our reprieve from the Imperial ships didn’t last long. Just after the noonday sun began to lower, a call rang out. Two of them had found their way to us. We had no choice but to face them.

  José asked me to go below. “And miss out on all the adventure?” I asked as I grabbed ammunition to distribute to the men.

  “Be careful,” he said before giving me a hard kiss.

  One of the Imperial ships fired its guns first. I ducked, narrowly avoiding flying debris. Grapeshot soared over the deck of our ship, landing just shy of our mast.

  Black billowing hell clouds reared up from the opposing ship as the boom of cannons reverberated through the air. The tangy sulfur smell of gunpowder engulfed us like a heavy wet fog. I tried to breathe through my mouth but ended up choking on the taste of soot and ash that burned the back of my throat. Looking around me, I was immediately reminded of the sermons of my childhood that preached hellfire and brimstone.

  From my vantage point I could see the Brazilian sailors on the next ship. Deftly, they reloaded their guns, leaving little time for us to take shelter. I lifted a discarded gun to fire at them. One, two, three rounds. I ducked down, reloaded, and came up for more. The men around me yelled. I couldn’t make anything out, just inexplicable noise. I shot one of the Imperial sailors in the head. My bullet pierced his eyeball. I saw his fellow sailor’s anger flash across his face before I ducked down to reload. That’s when it happened.

  Men and debris rose into the air around me, then I realized I was flung into the air with them. I landed with a thud against a semisoft mass of bodies. I tried to get up, but my vision tilted, causing me to lose my balance. The noise of the battle was drowned out by the buzzing that filled my head.

  “Anita!” I tried to get up to find who was calling me, but I was pulled back down by some unseen force. I fought, trying to push it a
way.

  “Anita, Anita, calm down. It’s me.” I turned my head to see José’s face come into focus. “It’s me. I’ve got you.” He picked me up and carried me belowdecks into our room.

  “Stay here,” he said, laying me down on our bed. He kissed me briefly before running out the door and back up to the top to rejoin the fight.

  I lay in bed listening to the noise from above as the nausea from my dizzy spell passed. Once I began to regain my senses, I heard panicked, unfamiliar voices.

  “He almost saw us.”

  “Shhh! He didn’t, now, did he? His woman is still here. She may hear us.”

  “So what if she does? She’s only a woman and anyway, she probably fainted. Did you see her?”

  “It’s what she gets for thinking she could be a sailor.”

  “Just shut up. The both of you. All we have to do is stay down here until the coast is clear. No one will ever know any different. We’ll get our pay and still keep our necks.”

  Testing to make sure I had regained my balance, I sat up. Once I was confident I could stand, I grabbed one of José’s swords that he kept in the cabin. I crept from our room and found the men, sailors hiding from their duty in the storage room next door. “So, I am only a woman, am I?” I asked, pointing the sword at them. “This woman has shown more courage than all of you jellyfish combined.”

  The one who appeared to be their leader laughed. “You should put that down, senhora, before you hurt yourself.” He had a pointed face with a long, thin nose that resembled a beak. His coal-black eyes narrowed on me.

  I stuck him in the chest. A little pool of blood welled up around the point of my sword. “While you were down here scared and playing the coward, this woman killed, and I am not afraid to do it again.” I pushed a little harder with my sword. “Do you want to be my next?”

  I looked at the two other men standing there. One was shorter in stature, with straight golden hair and a small beard that held patches of red. The one next to him was much shorter than the other two, and younger. Beads of sweat broke out across his forehead.

  “You should be ashamed of yourselves. Only in this for the money, are you? So are most of your comrades above, but the difference between them and you is that they actually have the courage to be men and earn their living.” I let my sword slide down to his belly. “Do you know what we do to cowards where I am from?”

  One of the other men stepped forward. “All right. We’ll go.” He motioned for the other two to follow. Pointy Face motioned for me to go first, but I directed him with my sword to walk ahead. As we made our way topside, I kept poking him in the back for fun.

  José came running up to us. “Anita! What are you doing? I thought I told you to stay below!”

  “I did! But only to bring you more sailors.” I pointed the sword at him. “Now get back to work before I come after you!”

  “Sì, signora,” he said with a grin before taking off again.

  I fought alongside the ragged crew that I’d brought up from below. It seemed that the battle would never end until the unimaginable happened. The ships disengaged. The enemy stopped firing, turned, and left.

  Cheering erupted on the ship. I turned to look at José, but he stood at the helm, solemnly watching the Imperial ships sail away.

  “It’s all right to celebrate once in a while,” I said as I approached José.

  “There is nothing to celebrate,” he responded, not taking his eyes off our fleeing enemy.

  “Nothing to celebrate? We chased away the Imperial ships. That has to count for something.”

  He tore his eyes away from the enemy to look at me. “We didn’t chase them away. They were testing us.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Anita, they wanted to know how strong we were. They could have easily sunk us but they didn’t. There was no reason for them to disengage. The Imperial navy wanted to know how many ships we had and what it was going to take to defeat us. I’m afraid they got their answer.”

  I watched the ships now disappearing over the horizon as I began to feel dread for what was surely to come.

  Eleven

  November 1839

  Of the one hundred and fifty sailors on our ship, only twenty-seven were injured, while five left to meet our maker. To most commanders this would have been a victory, but José was somber. We sailed slowly back to Laguna in mourning. I checked in on him but kept my distance. Sometimes it was better to let a person grieve in private.

  Clouds rippled across the sky as we sailed into Laguna, which was shrouded in light rain. Upon arrival the injured were collected, along with any reserve supplies we needed. All of my patients were taken to the hospital, and with no work to be immediately done, I sat down for the first time, among the crates and supplies that were left in the cargo hold. Wiping the sweat and grime from my face and neck, I looked over what remained of our medical supplies. The quiet of the ship didn’t feel natural. All that could be heard were the footsteps of the men topside and the lapping of the water against the hull. A quick rap at the doorway startled me. I looked up to see Rossetti regarding me. His hands were clasped firmly behind his back, his chin elevated so that he was forced to look down on me. “I heard what you did. In the battle.”

  I stood up, straightening my spine, pulling my shoulders back in an attempt to measure up to his unspoken standards. “Is there anything I can do for you, senhor?”

  “I came to say that you are apparently different from the other women I have come to know.” He shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “Or at least the other women José has called friends.” I stood watching him in awkward silence. I wasn’t sure if this was an apology or just a statement. Either way, I wasn’t sure how to respond.

  “Well, if you have any problems replenishing the medical supplies”—he nodded to the table—“please let me know.” He made a short bow then turned on his heel and left.

  Later that night as José and I sat down to dinner alone, I told José about my exchange with Rossetti. He laughed, a deep laugh like a cork being let out of a bottle. “You, my love, have done the one thing that no one, myself included, has been able to do.”

  “What is that?” I asked in confusion.

  He kissed my forehead. “You, tesoro mio, have made Rossetti apologize.”

  * * *

  Six days later we received fresh reinforcements led by General David Canabarro. A squat man, he walked around the dock with a perpetual scowl, as if he had just tasted something foul. Nothing went unnoticed under his beady black eyes. Gray hairs peppered the thin beard that ran along his jawline. According to José, he was an unapologetic opportunist. He had spent the first few months watching the winds of war before he decided to jump into the fight. Once he did, he quickly rose in the ranks, becoming General Gonçalves’s counterpart.

  We were sitting in the new general’s tent debriefing him on the mission when Griggs burst in, his eyes wild and his face flushed scarlet. José stood up so fast that he knocked his chair over. “You’re not dead!”

  Griggs stopped, looking confused. “Of course I’m not. I was distracting them. Where the hell were you? I thought we were supposed to rendezvous to the south. I’ve been waiting there worried out of my mind!”

  “No, we were always supposed to come back here,” Rossetti responded, looking up from the paper in front of him. “There is no logical reason for us to leave Laguna.”

  As the men began to argue about the actual meeting location, a sailor snuck into the tent. “Dona Anita, you have a visitor.”

  As I followed the sailor, I wondered who would want to see me. I was a social pariah. No one in town wanted to know me. For a brief moment I hoped it was my mother or sister. That they had come to check in on me. The sailor led me to the edge of the encampment, where a woman stood wringing her hands and looking around nervously. As we grew closer I recognized the small nose, the bowed lips turned down into a frown. “Manuela!” I exclaimed, running to my friend, embracing
her. It was the first time I had seen her since I left home to be with José.

  She hugged me as tears streamed down her cheeks. “Can we speak somewhere more private?”

  “Certainly,” I said, as she grasped my forearm. She was pale, her fingers cold to the touch.

  “I heard you went with the Farrapos. I searched the hospital for you.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because you went out there with them.” She shook her head. “I thought you died.”

  I laughed. “Well, clearly I haven’t. I’m all right, Manuela.” I took her hands in mine. “In fact, I am better than all right. I am happy. For the first time in my life I am happy.”

  “I don’t understand. Why do you have to do this? Why can’t you just come home?” Tears flowed down her face. “Your reputation is ruined. Go home to your family. Maybe everyone will forget.”

  I let go of her hands, suddenly feeling very cold and distant. “Manuela, I am home.”

  “You can stay with Hector and me,” she said, wiping the moisture from her cheeks.

  “Manuela, you don’t understand. José is my family now. I don’t care what the village says or does. My life is with him.”

  “Are you sure? Anna, how can you be happy?”

  “Anita. My name is Anita now.”

  “Anita.” She sighed. “I don’t know you anymore.”

  “Manuela, I don’t think you ever did.”

  Manuela looked down at her feet. “Hector says that I am not allowed to talk to you anymore. That your actions will poison the reputation of anyone associated with you.” She let out a small hiccup as she tried to control herself.