The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba - Chanel Cleeton Page 0,43

did.

“I’m not the person you thought I was. I’m not—I’m not the person I thought I was, either. I know it’s the business—you do what it takes to get the story—but this feels different. Dishonest. Hearst has given me opportunities others haven’t, and I’ve repaid his chances by spying on him. I need to come clean, need to confess what I’ve done. I want to be a reporter, but not like this.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re ambitious. I’ve always admired that about you, from the first moment you marched into Will’s office and proposed he hire you. And as for the deceptive part of your endeavor, well, it is possible to be good and still make mistakes, to put your ambition before others.”

“Would you have done what I did?”

“Would I have scraped and clawed my way to get ahead? Of course. I can’t say I haven’t done worse. Same with Will. You wanted to write for the New York newspapers. This is the business. There’s a war raging on Park Row. Eventually, though, you’re going to have to pick a side. If it’s the World, then go take your shot there. If it’s the Journal, then come clean with Will before he finds out from someone else.”

We stop in front of the Journal offices. I scan the newsboys sitting out front, but Johnny is nowhere to be seen.

“This is where I leave you,” Rafael says.

“I thought you wanted to speak with Will.”

“Maybe I just wanted a chance to walk you back. I’ll be gone for a bit again.” He says it casually, but now that he’s told me about the filibusters, I imagine there’s nothing casual about it.

“Running guns to Cuba?”

“It almost sounds romantic when you put it like that.” He grins. “It’ll be okay. However dirty you think your hands are, I promise Will has done worse. Good-bye, Grace.”

“Good-bye, Rafael.” I hesitate, wanting to say more, but the words eluding me until I settle on, “Be safe.”

I watch him walk away, more than a little confused by the entire encounter and my desire to call after him and continue our conversation.

Eleven

Marina

Before

“What news do you bring us?” one of the women sitting next to me asks the speaker. Beside me, Mateo leans forward, his elbows resting on his knees, his body tense.

There are twenty of us gathered together in this hut in the countryside. It’s dark out, the hour late, the danger of meeting high. The Spanish monitor our movements, so it is rare that we are able to come together like this to discuss our dreams for Cuba’s future.

We all come from different backgrounds, a testament to how unified we are in our desire for independence. It fills me with hope, that our anger and our conviction can be harnessed into something powerful that the Spanish will be unable to match.

“There was an uprising in the village of Baire, near Santiago de Cuba on the twenty-fourth of February,” the man answers, his voice low, urgent.

It’s hardly surprising considering revolution has been building in Cuba, our list of grievances against the Spanish only growing.

“Some think this might be the impetus we need to defeat the Spanish,” he adds. “There’s talk that many who are in exile are planning a return, and they’re organizing an invasion of Cuba. We must be ready to fight when we are called to do so.”

“Do you think we’ll be successful?” another man asks.

“Do we have a choice?” the woman interjects. “Look what Spain has done to us. They tax us to death. They control what we say and what we do, keep us from speaking out, from advocating for ourselves for a better future. They don’t give us a chance to govern ourselves, and we exist solely to serve the Spanish crown. For centuries, they have taken from Cuba to serve Spain. They’ll never give us our independence. We’ll have to take it.”

“What will be different this time?” I interject. “We cannot afford to fight another war we will not win. We cannot afford for them to weaken us if we don’t assure victory.”

“We have been preparing for this for decades now,” Mateo answers. “We’ve learned from all the time we’ve spent fighting them. We have exiles placed all over the world who have garnered international support for our cause, who can harness the power of the international press and the diplomatic relations they’ve established. Our leaders are ready for this. It is time for us to show Spain that Cuba is ready