“I don’t want you going to work,” he stewed, biting his lip as he lingered at the door. Angelo had washed his shirt and his cassock in the sink and hung them over the rack to dry. He now wore his trousers and the shirt, but his cassock was folded over his arm. Eva didn’t know what that meant, but maybe he didn’t want to be seen in a cassock and a cross in the luxury hotel. At least not in the early-morning hours.
“I have to. It will be okay. There were no Jews found at Santa Cecilia. Von Essen has no reason to suspect me.”
Angelo bowed his head, his chin resting on his chest, and he exhaled heavily. She could feel the tension coming off him in waves, and she hated to part that way. She pressed her body against his and lifted his face until he returned her gaze, his dark brows furrowed over sky-blue eyes, and she kissed his mouth, keeping her eyes open so he would stay with her in the moment.
He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around her fiercely and pulling her off her feet. He’d taken quite well to kissing. He kissed like he prayed, tender and passionate and completely committed to the task. When they parted they were both breathless, and he said no more about her returning to work at Via Tasso.
Angelo needn’t have worried. Captain von Essen was in meetings all day. Other than delivering coffee to a room full of uniformed Germans, Eva had no interaction with him at all and went home almost as giddy as she’d arrived that morning.
Tuesday was no different. Captain von Essen stayed closeted in his office. His mood was dark, but even his sneering and his terse commands couldn’t penetrate the bubble she’d been floating in. She’d agreed to meet Angelo at the Church of the Sacred Heart, and she ran most of the way because she was too impatient to wait for a streetcar. She didn’t care what people thought as she sprinted through the streets with a smile on her face.
He was waiting by the altar, his eyes on the cross. She drew up short, suddenly nervous that he was suffering pangs of guilt and remorse. When he heard her, his head swung around.
He smiled.
It was a blinding, beautiful grin that hit Eva between the eyes. Her relief was so great she felt dizzy and weak, and she sank into a nearby pew. But Angelo had other ideas. He strode toward her, his cane clicking, his smile wide, and he took her by the hand, pulling her down the stairs to the little room where she’d known such sadness and fear. Once there, his arms went around her and his lips found hers. He tasted like apples—which meant he’d been bartering with black marketeers—and she licked into his mouth appreciatively, sharing the sweetness, thankful he was safe. He put himself at huge risk every time he ventured to the banks of the Tiber for things he couldn’t otherwise provide to those depending on him.
Eventually, he pulled his mouth away. “I was afraid of this,” he groaned into her hair.
“Of what?” she panted, not ready to stop kissing.
“Of not being able to control myself. I knew the moment I gave in I would be useless. I would think of nothing else but you. I thought of you constantly before, I confess. But now I have intimate knowledge. I don’t just love you; I want to make love to you. Every time I close my eyes to pray I can only see you.” He groaned again and squeezed his eyes shut as if in real pain. Eva giggled at his theatrics, and she kissed along the hard line of his clenched jaw.
“If I know you, you have not been useless. I’m guessing you have worked nonstop from the moment your knees hit the floor for your morning prayers. You did pray today, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Many times.”
“And what did you say?”
“I asked God to provide, to save the innocent, to protect the refugees, to ease suffering, to succor the weak, and to help me control my lustful thoughts.”
“Did you have many?” she asked sweetly, her lips lingering at the corner of his mouth.
“Yes,” he sighed.
“So he didn’t answer that particular prayer.”
“I really didn’t want him to.”
She giggled again, and his mouth returned to hers, insistent, hungry, plying happy sighs and sweet promises. When they finally parted, her lips were swollen and her heart was light, and as she fell asleep that night, there was hope in her heart and a prayer on constant replay in her mind—the same prayer she knew so many others were uttering.
“Save us, Lord. Deliver us,” she pleaded. “Please, deliver us.”
21 March, 1944
Confession: Sometimes I think the Germans are invincible.
American forces landed on Italy’s Anzio Beach at the end of January, securing the beachhead and taking the Germans completely by surprise, but instead of pushing immediately toward Rome and forcing the Germans to retreat and pull off the Gustav Line, they stopped, inexplicably entrenching themselves, and the Germans were given ample time to reinforce their defenses and launch a counterattack. Two months later, thousands of lives have been lost and the battle rages on. The Americans, only fifty-eight kilometers from Rome on January 22, remain fifty-eight kilometers from Rome on March 21. I fear this war will never end, and I will be trapped at Via Tasso forever, smuggling gold and smuggling kisses from a man who won’t truly be mine until Rome is liberated.
Eva Rosselli
CHAPTER 20
VIA RASELLA
Captain von Essen was very quiet when he arrived on Wednesday. He shut his office door and stayed locked inside all morning. At lunchtime Eva waited for Greta, who had sent word the day before that she wanted to whisk Eva away to some new shop. But Greta never showed. A little worried about her, Eva knocked tentatively on the captain’s door and was told to enter.
“Is Greta well?” she asked as soon as she set foot inside.
“Yes,” the captain answered, but something flickered in his eyes.
“We were going to have lunch together.”
“I see,” he said softly. He sat back in his chair and studied her, his head cocked to the side. It was a strange response, considering his wife was technically unaccounted for.
“Sit down, Eva.”
Eva perched at the edge of one of the chairs in front of his desk, the same chair she always chose when he insisted she take dictation or instructions. He leaned forward, across his desk, and clasped his hands in front of him, eyeing her quizzically.
“Did you know that not one of our monastery raids was successful last weekend? Not one. No Jews. No partisans. No antifascists. How can that be? The lieutenant colonel was so sure the answer was with the church. But no.” Captain von Essen pushed the tips of his fingers together and rested his chin on them, like he was lost in thought. “I went home to my wife so disturbed that she avoided me for three days. But last night she told me something I could hardly believe.”
He continued to study Eva but didn’t explain what it was his wife had told him. She waited in silence, her stomach in coils of ever-tightening knots. He breezily changed the subject.
“You were wonderful Saturday night, my dear. Wonderful. Such a lucky coincidence for me that you play so well and you were so willing to perform.”
Eva thought it better not to remind him how truly unwilling she’d been.
“Thank you,” she said simply. “Can I bring you some coffee, Captain von Essen?”
“That won’t be necessary. But I do need you to do something for me. Surely, there is a way for you to reach your brother at the Vatican?”
“No. I have never contacted him there.” It was the truth, but von Essen raised his brows as if that were hard to believe.
“Ah, but surely they could get a message to him if you needed him.”
Captain von Essen picked up the receiver on his shiny black telephone and turned the rotary, waiting for an operator to connect him.
“The Vatican, please,” he said and winked at Eva. “Your brother works with a monsignor. What was his name again?”
“Monsignor Luciano,” she answered numbly, wondering if the captain wanted her to say Monsignor O’Flaherty. Did he know that Angelo worked with O’Flaherty? Was that what this was about? Von Essen repeated the name to the operator. He waited for several moments, smiling benignly at Eva as she rose slowly from the chair and stood before him, her unease growing by the second.
“Ah. Very good. My name is Captain von Essen of the German Police. I need to get a message to Father Angelo Bianco, assistant to Monsignor Luciano. It is very important.” He paused as if he’d been instructed to hold.
“Please tell Father Bianco that his sister has been detained and is being questioned at Gestapo Headquarters.”
Angelo was kept waiting in a small holding room at Via Tasso for over an hour. No explanation was given, no answers were provided. He was told to wait, and he did. When he had received Captain von Essen’s message, he’d known the end had come. He only prayed it was his end and not Eva’s.
He’d informed Monsignor Luciano what had happened and was forbidden to leave the Vatican. Several priests who had worked in the underground had been detained and tortured, some executed, and some sent to prisoner-of-war camps in Germany.
“You cannot help Eva if they have taken her. You cannot save her, Angelo. But you can save yourself. Think of the people relying on you, my son. You must think of them.”
He’d kissed Monsignor Luciano’s hand and asked that he tell Monsignor O’Flaherty. O’Flaherty would understand, he was certain. And if he could help, he would. He’d taken more risks than anyone.
“We won’t be able to save you! The Pope can’t intercede. She isn’t worth your life, Angelo!” Monsignor Luciano cried, following him down the hall. But Angelo hadn’t looked back. He’d left the protection of the Vatican and taken the two buses across town to Via Tasso, knowing full well he was being lured out. But he’d had no other option. Von Essen had known the key to Angelo was Eva. And he’d used it. Angelo wasn’t surprised when it was Captain von Essen himself who finally entered the room.
“Thank you so much for coming here, Father Bianco. I would have come to you, but relations with the Vatican are so political, so dicey. Plus, there is the whole matter of diplomatic immunity. I thought it would be easier to have a discussion here, in case things don’t go according to plan.” He sat down and crossed his legs. His boots were so shiny Angelo could see the reflection of his cross in them.