Spy in a Little Black Dress - By Maxine Kenneth Page 0,77
Jackie stretched out with her head in Emiliano’s lap. Dreamily, she thought of how his awkward tentativeness toward her at first had gradually evolved into open affection and a strong bond throbbing with sexual tension. They had even gotten to the point where he felt comfortable calling her Jackie.
Gazing at the lush beauty of their surroundings, she wondered how Emiliano could give up access to all of this by joining forces with the rebels. When she asked him that, he said, “The Mitchells have been very good to me, but I’m still an outsider. As a Cuban, there’s a line I can never cross with them and an equality that I can never hope to achieve. Yes, they let me visit their estate and take their boat here on occasion, but that’s an anomaly. It’s only because I happened to be in the right place at the right time, or the wrong time for Ricky, that I’m not barred from La Avenida like all the other Cubans.”
He looked down at Jackie and sighed. “I don’t think you can understand what it’s like to be dependent on the kindness of a family that isn’t your own, knowing that whatever they’re giving you can be snatched away at any time.”
“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong, Emiliano,” Jackie said. She explained how tenuous her financial situation was as the stepdaughter of Hugh Auchincloss, whose five direct descendants were the only ones legally allowed to have the family trust funds.
“So you see, as the ‘poor little rich girl,’ I have more in common with you than you think,” she concluded. The sight of the primitive dirt shacks in the batey came back to haunt her, and she quickly added, “But of course, I could never compare my circumstances to yours.” She reached up and stroked his cheek. “Honestly, Emiliano, even with help from the Mitchells, it’s amazing how far you’ve come. It seems to me that you could reach the heights if you wanted to.”
When he was quiet, Jackie said, “Maybe I shouldn’t bring this up, but I’m worried about you. What will happen to you if this revolution doesn’t succeed? I just hope you’re not throwing your future away.”
He shook his head. “But I don’t want a rosy future if it means toadying up to imperialists who have taken over my country,” he asserted. “The Mitchells are good people, but they’re company people. They have no problem exploiting slave labor for United Fruit, I’m sorry to say.” He took a gentler tone, as if he was trying to enlighten her. “You see, Jackie, that’s the difference between Batista and me. He was born in a dirt shack the same as I was and grew up always having the iron gate of managers’ row shut in his face. That made him want to gain the acceptance of the ruling class. So when he came to power, he groveled for them, accepted their bribes, and did their bidding while he kept his own people crushed underfoot. But I’m like Fidel Castro. I don’t want to curry favor with the overlords. I want them to leave. They’re not my heroes; my people are. When I read those passages from Los Miserables to the cigar-factory workers, I meant every word of them as if I had written them myself.”
“I know that, Emiliano,” Jackie murmured. She remembered how moved she had been listening to him read, and now those same sentiments welled up in her again and filled her heart to overflowing. She knew, suddenly, that she loved him, that she wanted to be one with him, if not forever, at least right here, right now. She was humbled by his passionate idealism, so pure and strong that he was willing to forgo everything and give his life for it. He was everything she admired in a man—intelligent, brave, loyal, and true. The setting was so perfect, the moment so right, that what she sensed was about to happen seemed inevitable.
She sat up, and they both moved toward each other at the same time. She looped her arms around his neck, and he held her in his arms while their lips pressed together and their mouths opened in long, deep, probing kisses that flooded her with pleasure. She pressed her body against his as the heat between them mounted and she felt herself being carried away on waves of passion relentlessly rolling out to a point of no return. With a low moan, she melted in his arms,