Of Gallantry, Guilt and Grace
Chapter 7
Terry came up with the supper tray for both her and Actor and set it on the game table in the upstairs common room. She stood by while the Italian made his way slowly and purposefully from his bed to the table without stopping. They ate in comfortable companionship. It was when Actor went to sit in his wing-backed chair, things got a little touchy.
"Teresa, whatever you have done with them, I want my pipes and tobacco back," said the con man firmly.
"I talked to Doc Kaiser today and told him how well you are doing. It's surprising how well you are doing after the damage to your lung and the amount of blood you lost. I did ask. He told me at least two more days before I can let you smoke. He's afraid it will hurt the lung." She looked at his unhappy countenance. "When I take the stitches out in two days, I will return your pipe, tobacco and cigarettes."
Actor looked back at her. "And what did you do with them? If I may ask as they are mine."
"They're safe," assured the girl.
"Safe where?"
Terry's eyes narrowed. "I'm not stupid, Actor. If I tell you, you'll find some way to get hold of them. Suffice to say, they aren't on this floor." She walked back to the table and put the dishes on the tray. "I'll be back after I get the dishes washed. Are you going to be okay until then?"
"Of course. I can always rap on the floor with my cane like an old man."
"You know, I can always beat your over the head with that same cane, caro," she shot back.
"Oh, you don't want to injure my lung, but you don't care if you fracture my skull," he shot back at her.
Terry gave a snort of laughter and she picked up the tray. "Your head's too hard for that."
She didn't see the crooked grin behind her back as she left the room. It was mostly banter between the two of them. He found he enjoyed it and knew she did too.
It wasn't long before Garrison strolled into the room and stood, hands in pockets looking at his second-in-command. The con man was sitting, looking disgruntled. He had forgotten to ask Teresa to turn on the radio, so he could listen to the news, and for once, he was tired of his book. The two men exchanged calculating looks.
Garrison gave a grin. "Feel like going back to your room and talk awhile?"
"Do you have cigarettes?" Actor asked hopefully.
"Are you kidding? She'd smell it and kill both of us." Craig chuckled.
The Lieutenant stood by while Actor levered himself out of his chair. They walked slowly back to the Italian's room, without stopping at the chair in the hall. Craig knew his second well enough by now to recognize how much it cost Actor to walk the entire distance without stopping. The man was stubborn, as Terry had lamented more than once.
In the bedroom, Craig took Actor's robe and draped it across the foot of the bed. Actor moved closer to the head of the bed, stuffed the pillows against the headboard and got in, lifting one leg at a time and carefully shifting so he was sitting comfortably against the pillows.
"How's it going," asked Craig, swinging the desk chair around by the bed and straddling it.
Actor shook his head and lamented. "Terrible. We have a new Sgt./Major. Teresa. She will not allow me to smoke for two more days. She will not allow me any of my pleasant vices," he said in overdone disgust.
Craig spoke quietly and with an air of conspiracy. "All I've got is bourbon. Terry's downstairs. Bourbon all right?"
Actor grinned. "Right now, what-do-you-call-it, rot-gut, would be welcome."
"I drink a little better quality than that."
Craig went next door to his room and returned quickly with two glasses containing a finger each of bourbon. The two men touched glasses and took a sip. A wide smile graced the handsome Italian's face.
They sat and talked, taking tiny sips of the liquor to make it last longer. It wasn't long before they heard Terry's feet coming down the hall. The men had identical overdone smiles on their faces when she entered the room. Her eyes went unerringly to the glass in Actor's hand.
"It was my idea," said Craig.
"Um hmm," she replied. Without a word, she turned and left the room.
"I think I'm in trouble," teased Garrison.
"I think we're both in trouble," said Actor with a grin.
They both drank the last of the dregs in their glasses. It was a couple minutes before the girl returned with a bag in her hand. Without a word, she held it out to the con man. He took it hardly daring to hope it was what he thought it might be. He pulled out his pipes, tobacco pouch and two packs of Chesterfields. He lay them all on his lap and picked up one of the pipes and the tobacco pouch, holding them like long lost lovers.
"Bless you, Teresa," he said dramatically. "Would you marry me?"
Garrison's eyes widened in surprise, more like shock.
"Sure, Actor, sure," Terry went along with the game. "And we'll raise a herd of little con artists."
Actor's brows came together in consternation. "Not con artists," he said with distaste. "Our boys will be confidence men."
"And what if they're all girls?" asked Terry.
Actor smiled, "Then we will raise them to be as good or better than their mother . . . or the Duchess."
Between that and the expression on Craig's face, Terry burst out laughing. "Sure, Actor."
As she turned to go out, she gave a grin and a stealthy wink to her brother. Out in the hall, she thought gratefully neither of the men had asked where she had been hiding Actor's smoking paraphernalia. It was good to have hiding holes, even if this one was outside and under the building in the work room.
"Good," said Garrison. "Mind if I have a cigarette?"
"Oh, be my guest."
Actor handed him a pack and proceeded to build a pipe. Craig opened the pack and took one out. His lighter was still in his pocket, so he lit the cigarette and tossed the lighter on the con man's lap. Actor finished building his pipe and used the lighter to expertly get the tobacco lit. He handed the lighter back to Garrison while taking his first full inhalation, holding the smoke to savor it before blowing it out. He looked at the Lieutenant.
"Have you ever smoked a pipe?" he asked.
Craig shrugged, "A puff or two of my Dad's when I was a kid. He didn't want me to smoke one for some reason, but he taught Terry how to build one for him. She's puffed on them more than I have."
"If you ever wish to try, we'll get you a pipe and I would be happy to teach you," offered the Italian.
"I don't know, maybe someday I'll take you up on that," said Craig, not willing to allow the Italian to know just how much he would like that.
Two days later, Teresa removed the stitches from the chest tube and bullet wound sites. They looked healthy. For whatever psychological reason, it seemed to be a turning point for Actor. He pushed himself harder now. As a concession to the young woman, who was still concerned, he allowed her to accompany him when he tried something new.
The first time downstairs brought a triumphant smile to the confidence man's face. That was, until he had to go back upstairs to his room. Teresa walked behind him on the stairs, though if he had fallen backwards, he would have dragged her to the bottom under him. It took two rest stops as it was to reach the top the second floor. Terry shot around him into her bedroom and dragged her desk chair out for him to sit on. Triumph turned to disgust.
"I should be able to do this," he complained, trying not to show how winded the trek up the stairs had made him. He knew he wasn't fooling Teresa, though she did not chide him about it.
After about five minutes, Actor was able to make it back to his room and get into bed, with the girl's assistance. He slept for two more hours, until she brought a tray up with their dinners.
GGG
The missions came and went, without Actor. There were some basically minor injuries, but nothing that required hospitalization. Terry stepped right in, as always, and took care of the men. Nobody blamed the Italian for not being with them. They could see how depleted his physical reserves were. If anything, the lack of recriminations, especially from Casino, made him feel worse. The worst was when Garrison needed a con man and borrowed Carter from Lt. Johnson. It made Actor push himself even harder.
He and Teresa were left alone at the Mansion for a week at a time. Gradually Actor's strength started building up. He made it downstairs on his own and was able to sit in his chair and read for hours without becoming too tired while Terry worked on Garrison's raw intelligence. Eventually, he had her bring him some and started exercising his mind.
As the weather warmed, Terry began taking him for walks to build his strength even more. They took baby steps at first. The stone steps outside the mansion were amazingly tiring for the man who thought nothing of running up and down them two or three at a time. At first the stairs and a short walk around the car park caused him to have to lay down afterward for a nap. He forced himself, making her take him at least twice a day and if he felt up to it, three times a day. Eventually, they started walking the running path Craig and Chief had made. Never one of his favorite activities, it was made more bearable by her company.
Teresa took Actor to Archbury to see Doc Kaiser for a check-up. The confidence man's question of how soon before he could jump out of an airplane was met with a shake of the Major's head.
"You wouldn't be able to stand the altitude in the airplane and you are not strong enough to jump yet." Kaiser glared at the taller man. "Slow and steady building up of your stamina is the thing. When I think you're ready to go back to what you were doing, I'll let you know."
That made for a grumpy Italian on the ride back to the Mansion. He made his way up the steps outside and the stairs inside without Teresa's standby assistance, even though he knew he could have used her help by the last five steps to get to the second landing. Holding onto the corner of the wall and taking some time for his breathing and heartrate to slow to fairly normal, Actor looked between the distance to his chair in the common room and the distance to his room with his bed. It was about the same. Laying down was not the answer he wanted, so he pushed himself upright, lifted his head, and walked slowly and steadily into the common room.
Terry went up later to see when he wanted to eat dinner and found him asleep in the chair. The man was sure stubborn, but she understood that, didn't like it, but understood it. She closed the blackout drapes, turned on a light across the room, and draped the afghan over his legs. His breathing was unlabored, and his color was not quite as pale as when he and arrived back from the hospital the first time. Satisfied, the girl went downstairs to cook.
Reading books and working on raw intelligence only went so far as being a satisfying recuperative pastime. Terry tried to come up with something that would be interesting for the confidence man. It was when she was dusting around him in the upstairs common room that it hit her. She had just finished freeing the top of the chess table of dust when she figured it out. Not saying anything to Actor, she went downstairs and picked up the bag of chess pieces.
Returning to the upstairs common room, she stopped in front of Actor and waved the bag she knew he recognized back and forth in front of her. She got his interest, but he didn't say anything.
"Would you be interested in teaching me to play chess?" she asked hopefully.
Actor lay the newspaper he was reading down on his lap. He eyed her speculatively. "Have you ever played?"
"Kind of," Teresa said dubiously. "When we were in our teens, Craig tried to teach me. He didn't have the patience. You might not either."
Actor shrugged. It would be something different. Garrison was teaching Chief and the young scout was picking it up slowly. He knew enough that the Italian could manage a half hour with him before checkmating him. Teresa was not unintelligent by any means.
"All right," he agreed. "Set the board up."
Teresa took a seat at the chess table and placed the pieces in their appropriate places. Actor took the seat opposite her and told her to make the first move. He had her in checkmate in fifteen minutes. In a novel way of teaching, he explained how playing chess was like planning a con or a mission. She had to anticipate different moves by her opponent and what she would do in response to each one. She got the idea. After two more rather swift games, he told her to make the advances offensively instead of defensively. She wasn't a natural by any means, but she was learning quickly and that made the games interesting. Chess in the morning became the new activity after a walk in the carpark.
GGG
Actor watched the concentration of the woman across the chess board from him. She was totally absorbed in plotting her next move. He could almost see the cogs moving in her mind as her head tilted from one side to the other, eyes firmly fixed on the board. Her hand came up and paused, a space between her first fingertip and thumb, waiting to pick up a chess piece as she went through the moves one more time. The Italian likened it to her brother, working on a plan. The expressions were nearly the same.
Finally, Teresa reached out and moved her white knight. It was a brilliant move. Not brilliant enough, but they had only been playing against each other for about a week. It was not a checkmate, but Actor's queen was in mortal danger. Before he could make a move, the phone downstairs rang.
Teresa gave a snort of disgust. "I'll be right back," she promised. "Don't make a move without me."
Actor chuckled with a wide grin. It was a pleasure playing chess with the girl. She was competitive, but also intent on learning from him. There was just enough of both elements to make him appreciate the mornings they spent playing the game.
He watched her stride out the door and heard her feet bouncing on the steps. Actor leaned back in the chair and picked up his pipe. As he built a smoke, he eyed the chessboard, plotting where his next move would be and the two after that, depending on what the girl did.
The 'right back' stretched out. The ticking of the clock on the mantle seemed to spell some kind of disaster. He was about to get up and go find her, when Teresa walked slowly into the common room. Her eyebrows were together in a frown, eyes focused on the floor a few feet ahead of her, in distraction. A chill went through Actor.
"What?" he asked. "The Warden and the men?"
Terry's face slowly turned from side to side. She stopped in the middle of the floor.
"Who has died?" asked the confidence man. He knew someone must have.
She looked up sharply, trying to pull herself together. "Sorry. Not Craig or the guys."
"Who has died?" Actor repeated a little slower.
She sucked her lower lip between her teeth before answering. "Jake. Jake's dead."
Actor watched her, waiting to see if more was forthcoming. As much as he detested the man, as did Teresa to a much lesser extent, Shiv had been her first and probably only love. The Italian had no love for the owner of the Fox and whatever went on in the basement of the bar, but he did have feelings he tried to deny for the girl standing before him, looking vaguely lost.
Laying the still smoldering pipe in the ashtray, Actor pushed back from the table, rose with the expected catch in his side, and walked up to the girl. She looked up at him, now clearly lost. He reached out for her and pulled her into an embrace. Teresa's arms went around him, even now careful of the wounds on his side. Actor curled one arm around her and cradled her head against his chest with the other hand, resting his cheek atop her hair.
After a bit, she straightened and leaned back against his encircling arm. Her head tilted back and looked up at him. The green eyes were glistening, but no tears were falling.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
Actor nodded and steered her back to her chair, pulling his handkerchief from his back pocket and holding it out to her. Teresa sat and accepted the white linen cloth, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose.
The confidence man took his seat across from her. "What happened?"
Terry took a deep breath. "Apparently it was an ambush. Jake didn't have a good command of French or German and he couldn't con his way out of a paper bag. Whoever he was with couldn't either. They were gunned down."
Before he could ask more, the phone rang again. "Would you like me to get that?" he offered.
Terry shook her head. "No. I'll get it. It's probably Kit or Madge."
Actor watched her pulling herself more together as she stood and moved steadily out the door of the common room.
Downstairs, Terry picked up the receiver and sat down with the coiled cord over the bannister.
"Mansion."
The female Cockney voice came through the line. "Terry? Sorry, but I need help 'ere. Kit's not functioning right now. Word's gotten out. The stations are calling in wantin' to know wot to do. I don't know what to tell 'em. Shut down?"
"No," said Terry, in military mode now. "Tell them to get off of the bloody radio and wait for us to get back to them." In that moment, she made a decision that would change her life and follow her for the rest of it. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Just tell them to sit tight." She stood and leaned over the railing to put the receiver back on the cradle. A presence at the top of the stairs had her head jerking around to see Actor watching her with his familiar closed expression. Oh, scheisse. "You heard?"
He nodded and started down the stairs. Terry led the way down to the foyer. The two faced off.
"Are you going to be all right here alone for a little bit?" Teresa asked.
He nodded, knowing it was useless to try to talk her out of it. Still, he had a question, not expecting an answer. "What were he . . . and you . . . into?"
Terry's face was as emotionless as his. "Resistance."
"Does this resistance have a name?"
"You're better off not knowing," said the girl, turning away and taking her jacket from the coat tree.
"I doubt that," denied the man sourly, but continued before she could object. "Be careful driving in. Let me know when you get there and when you are leaving."
She nodded in capitulation. The next moment, she was out the door and gone.
GGG
The Italian had made himself a sandwich for lunch and eaten it at the Lieutenant's desk while working on intelligence reports. The afternoon grew later, the shadows lengthening across the room. Pushing back from the desk with a deep breath and a sigh, Actor stood and walked around the office closing the blackout drapes. He moved into the common room and did the same there before going to the library to do the same. With resignation, he headed for the kitchen to see what he could heat up for dinner.
He was still rummaging through the refrigerator when the sound of the sports car's engine reached him. Actor straightened and closed the door. Dinner would probably be late tonight. He had just entered the foyer area when the front door opened, and Teresa walked wearily in. He watched the flat eyes that sought out his.
It was a rather stupid question, but he asked anyway. "Are you all right?"
Terry shrugged. "Sure. I'm always all right."
"Yes, I can see that."
Something struck her suddenly and she looked up. "Actor, I'm sorry. I forgot to call."
"I assumed you would show back up here when you were done," he brushed it off as being of no consequence.
Terry pulled herself together. "Did you eat?" she asked with concern.
"At noon," replied the Italian. "Did you?"
The girl frowned. "I don't remember." It came to her. "Yes, I did. Madge got me something from the lunch bar." She tossed her purse on the table and shrugged out of her jacket, hanging it on the coat tree. "I'll get supper."
She walked around the confidence man and headed into the kitchen. Actor silently followed her. He took a seat at the kitchen table and watched her pull out dishes and plates. She put leftover green beans and sliced potatoes into a pot and half filled it with water from the sink before putting it on the hob to warm up. Pieces of leftover butchered rooster were put in another pot of water on another burner.
"Teresa," said Actor in resignation, "you are stubborn, hard-headed and mulish, just like the Warden. I would guess it is safe to assume that you have taken command of whatever resistance group you are with."
"Somebody's got to do it," said Terry as she set the kitchen table. "Eating in here okay."
Actor nodded. "Do you have any idea what you are doing?"
"Of course," she replied. She paused and looked at him before admitting, "I've been pretty much running it for the past nine months. Shiv really didn't have a clue. How he got started in it is beyond me. I guess when Nicky was killed, and Dirk and Tinker went out on their own, he decided to do it too."
Leaving that alone for the moment, Actor watched the girl make up two plates of food for them. It was while they were eating, he continued. "How big is this group you are now running?" He didn't expect an answer so was surprised when he got one.
"We have five cells in France," the girl said around a bite of chicken. "Two in Belgium. One in Germany that Jake set up. One in Norway."
"Italy?"
"I'm not sure what's happening there. Shiv set one up in Roma, but there isn't much out of them."
Teresa was talking, and Actor was curious. "Where do you get your supplies?"
She grinned at him. "We steal them."
"From the Allies?" he asked with concern.
"Of course not," she scoffed. "We steal whatever we can from the Krauts. And I have connections with SOE so once in a while, things come our way through them."
Terry eyed him as she ate. The ready smile was missing, and he was spending an inordinate amount of time studying the food on his plate.
"I know you don't approve," she said softly.
He looked up. "It is not my place to approve or disapprove anything you do," he said formally.
"Yes, it is," she objected. "You're my friend, at least to me you are. I don't know if you think of me as one."
"And what else would I think of you as?" he demanded. There was a touch of defensiveness in his voice.
She shrugged. "Listen to me, Actor. If you can't support me in this, at least don't undermine me with Craig. There's more going on than you know."
Actor sucked in his cheeks and nodded. "I am a friend, but you don't trust me. I see."
"I'm glad you do, because I don't," she said. "Vittorio, if I go down with this, I don't want to take you down with me."
"But it's all right if you get yourself killed?"
Teresa reached a hand out and lay it on his forearm on the table, expecting him to yank it way. He tolerated her touch.
"Caro, we found out I can easily get myself killed here in the Mansion. We all can. You included."
Actor looked at the small hand resting warmly on his forearm. Dammit, this wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to have personal feelings for anyone. It was dangerous for a man in his profession. But then too, he shouldn't be sharing his bed with the Lieutenant's sister either. And that is what they were doing whenever they knew it was safe while the men were on a mission. It amazed him that there was no sex involved, just warmth and affection. And it felt so good to have her beside him. No this wasn't supposed to happen . . . but it had. He gave a long sigh.
Terry relaxed. His sigh usually meant he would go along with her.
"I suppose since I have been covering for you this long, I might as well continue." And perhaps in some way he could give her a little protection. How he did not know.