“Scusami?” Excuse me, he said.
Athena moved further into the room. “You’ve been distant since what happened with the baby and-”
“Why did you say it that way? ‘What happened with the baby’.”
“I...lost the baby, Liam,” she said as if to remind him.
“Did you?” He challenged.
She blinked, looking as though things were becoming clear. “You think I-”
“Did you kill it, Thea?”
His shortening of her name never failed to send an ache through her chest. He had only been doing it since the night of the...incident.
“No.” Her voice was almost whisper soft. “I would never-”
“Your brother Alcide...he told me how you’ve helped the girls of your village. You yourself, told me you would have ‘taken care of it’ had you not been so preoccupied.”
She looked thoroughly defeated then. “You have no reason to believe anything I say, Liam. I won’t try to convince you of...whatever you’ve decided. If you want the marriage annulled, I accept that. You deserve the best and I’m past believing that could ever be me.”
She went for the door. Liam caught her before she’d moved three steps. He took her off her feet and kissed her deeply, pressuring her down to the office floor. He removed her sweater and the stockings beneath her skirt with a mindless determination that was almost savage in its focus.
Athena wasn’t afraid. In truth, she welcomed it if her low moans and staggered words ordering him not to stop, and not to wait, were any example.
They didn’t waste time with niceties. They had suffered amid perpetual foreplay since they’d met. Liam stopped short of ripping the bra from her chest. He could only imagine how expensive the scrap of white lingerie must have been. He removed the garment with expert skill, suckling more of her breast as more of the firm mound was revealed.
Once Athena’s bra was discarded, Liam went to work on his trousers. He had taken his wife down close to the door and used the hand that wasn't freeing his pants to slam the door shut. Nothing would keep him from her tonight.
Athena’s hands lay weakly at her sides only a moment before disappearing into Liam’s crop of dense, dark hair. He was still feasting at her breast while kneeing her thighs apart to accommodate his body. He took her with a single, unforgiving thrust that sheathed his filling length inside her.
Her lashes fluttered wildly. A smile beamed, brightening her face with a mix of elation and approval. Her laughter collided with words of delight and appreciation. Her hands fell away from his hair. She wasn’t interested in touching, only being touched. She cared little for giving, only taking. Her small, curvy frame arched like a living bow beneath the man she had craved since she’d seen him.
Liam seemed lost in the pleasure he took from the beauty whose tight wet sex gripped him like a finely crafted glove made just for him. In spite of sating his raging hormones, he took the time to ease back.
“Too much?” he panted.
“More,” she demanded.
Liam was only too happy to give the lady what she demanded.
~6~
The Tesanos made a success at settling into married life and professional life. The factory was, at last, taking shape though not in exactly the way Liam had first imagined. While many stayed to forge new lives; the torturous continuation of the nation’s Depression, saw many returning to their native lands at a steady rate.
The idea took shape when Liam noticed two units available on the first floor of the apartment building where he and Athena resided. Without being altogether sure of precisely what he had in mind, Liam went to the building superintendent and asked to rent the two units. Within two months, he had five of the building’s 18 units at his disposal.
Athena was thrilled by the plan she saw taking form. Two of her best seamstress candidates had to decline because of the distance from home to the factory’s proposed location in the garment district. Now, the women could work where they lived.
Liam was on track to being in total charge of the building with an agreement to rent new units as they became available. Those still in residence were offered the chance to join Tesano Textiles. No one refused.
Liam had also shared information with his partners about the future of their shipping endeavors. He told them of the new connections he’d made at the docks while contemplating their agreement with Jose Diamante and his ship.
It had been an evening like any other when he’d entered one of the bars close to the docks. Ships made port at all times of the day and night so establishments often kept round the clock hours.
Liam had taken a seat close to where a group of men sat recapping their latest sea voyage. Their laughter and ribald comments had Liam smiling at what he’d overheard. One of the men at the table noticed his smile and asked if he was a sea man.
Liam introduced himself and learned that the man who had spoken to him was captain of one of the recently docked vessels. The captain commented on his officers deserving new uniforms after their recent journey. Liam saw to it that the captain’s 8 officers had new uniforms when they next made port.
The captain was so pleased, he boasted of Liam’s work to all his colleagues. Soon, other captains were seeking the same services for their own crews. Those connections, in addition to the infrequent jobs Liam saw from the hospital, kept the business on somewhat solid ground. The jobs were small, but lucrative. They were just what the Tesano troupe needed given that the factory was primarily operating from his apartment building. The relationships he’d forged with a few hospital administrators helped to reap the few pieces of equipment he needed to get started. It was however, the relationship with Captain Earnest Claymore that proved most fruitful.
The Captain was a resident of Weeksville, an historic borough in Brooklyn. The black community was formed during the late 1830s and named for a famed longshoreman. Weeksville was home to many African American sailors. Inspired by the history of his community, Claymore was one of an impressive number of black men making their livings by way of maritime occupations. The profession offered the greatest number of opportunities for blacks. It was also one of the few fields where African Americans could fulfill roles as employers, investors or owners.
Claymore kept an office in a small, unassuming building along the docks. When his ship The Glorious made port, he steadfastly saw to the needs of his men. He made sure they had medical and dental checkups, mendings or alterations to uniforms and of course payment for services rendered. He and his niece ran an inspiring and efficient operation. In Claymore’s opinion, a captain’s job was one that didn’t stop once the ship was docked.
A number of black captains had a fondness for Liam, not only as a fine seafarer’s craftsman, but also as a fair and honest man. Thanks to them, Liam got the necessary equipment to make the factory a viable operation. In six months time, Tesano Textiles as it was finally officially named, became a competitive force in the garment district.
With those accomplishments however, the threats multiplied. Regardless, Liam Tesano was proving to his enemies that he had no plans to be frightened away.
~~~
With the business doing better each month, the Tesanos had more time for socializing. Liam and Athena often enjoyed parties with new friends. It was their specially reserved ‘date nights’ the couple truly treasured. For Athena, the dates held a special delight when a film with her favorite actor was on the evening’s agenda. That night, the couple was on the way to showing of Humphrey Bogart’s Dead End.
Athena was checking her earrings and laughing over something her husband had said, when a booming knock landed on the apartment door. Silence came down like an anvil.
Liam raised a staying hand to his wife while leaving their bedroom. Athena followed. Liam opened the door to his brothers. Giaimo and Mica Tesano staggered inside with a nearly unconscious Tonelo Aliri between them.
“Dio mio,” Athena gasped, giving the sign of The Cross.
