April Rising

"Police! Do not be alarmed and do not move!" the mate's voice boomed across the farmyard and above the sound of the aircraft engines. April stood perfectly still, looking up at them, shielding her eyes still from the only source of light that was available. "There will be a uniformed officer present as soon as possible." And no sooner had the mate told her the increasing siren of a patrol car could be heard in the distance.

The farmyard burst into life, one patrol car after another began to appear from nowhere. April was draped in a blanket; still recovering her senses and helped into the back of one of the cars by a female officer. "It's okay Miss Rising, you are safe now." The soft soothing voice told her amidst a confusion of other voices on the radio and from other officers dashing around. "Are you hurt? Do you feel any pain?" April shuck her head in reply and held the blanket tighter around her.

"Where is Steve?" she asked, almost whispering. She was given no answer until she heard the words of another officer reporting:

"We found him. He's in the car, dead. Looks like suicide. He's holding a gun in his hand."

April stared. Her eyes looking blankly as the words penetrated into her mind. "He's dead". She kept repeating the words in her mind over and over again until she began to speak them repeatedly, getting louder with each breath until she screamed out; "No!"

The soft relaxing music of Beethoven played in the background. April lay with her eyes closed and smiled, drifting thoughts of sitting in the concert hall and watching her father conducting the orchestra played to her in her mind. She smiled, feeling contented and happy.

The feeling of a warm kiss followed by the gentle rasp of a tongue upon her nipple sent nice sensations through her spine. Her smile grew wider as she arched towards more deeper kissing in that place. The coolness followed by more warm kissing and caressing, gentle bites that made her hands search out and touch the smooth skin on her finger tips. Running her fingers over his shoulders, exploring him further, she took in the scent of him and felt the softness of his hair as he moved upward, his warm comforting body close to hers. Her eyes opened to the sight of his dark brown eyes gazing at her. Then their lips joined together; and the kiss grew passionate by the passing of every second that followed.

April was safe and all that had happened was now in the past. What started in the restaurant a few nights ago when they first met could now continue as it was meant to be, as fate had proscribed. She had fallen in love with him from a distance a long time ago and his love for her began the first time he had set eyes upon her as they ate and chatted for that first time across the restaurant table.

Their lips parted. "You are the most gorgeous creature I have ever set eyes upon. Nothing can compare you to what I have loved before."

"Not even Yvette or Marion?" April asked, teasingly.

"Well....perhaps..."

She placed a finger on his lips to silence him. "Be very careful what you say Franco. I like what I just heard and don't want to hear anything else."

"Then, yes, I meant what I said."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Then make love to me like we have never done before."

"Is that an order madam?"

"Ah! Not an order Franco. No more kinky orders or commands, remember I'm not like that."

"Then I shall make love with you because I want to." he replied with a smile that made her tingle, a smile that filled her full of pleasure, a smile that she loved because it belonged to the man she so much adored.

The music continued to play and a soft breeze blew in through the open window that overlooked the evening twilight across the Bay of Naples. Franco had invited her to his home. It gave them both a chance to mend their relationship and try to forget the recent events that took place in their lives.

They spent three long weeks together. And in that time April fell not only deeper in love with Franco, but also his native country. Every opportunity that came they made love and talked of a new career for April to pursue as an actress in advertising. But there were still things she needed to do and one person she needed to see while she was there to rid her of a demon that plagued her since the untimely death of her father.

Michelangelo lived alone in his vast apartment that Franco once shared with him. The two were invited for dinner and when April embraced Michelangelo again after a long time of hatred for him it felt strange. He looked older, his hair seemed much more grey than before and it was obvious that he was also suffering an illness she was not told about.

The three of them sat around a table, sharing their meal. Michelangelo seemed to converse with Franco more than he did her, but that was to be expected. And she listened to their conversation centred on the times the two had spent together over the years as friends and in respect of her poor Italian they spoke in English.

April sipped the sweet red wine from her glass, as Franco asked; "When did you find out about your illness?" April waited for Michelangelo to answer. But it did not arrive as swift as she wanted to know. Instead, Michelangelo reached across with his hand and placed it upon hers, gripping it tight but gentle.

"If I am ever accused of causing your father to end his life, then God has granted you a wish." he began to explain. April looked at him with slight despair in her expression. "I am going to leave this mortal coil sooner than expected."

"No..."

"Hush... It does not matter my dear. I have done lots of evil things to other people in the past. What I did to your father was heartless, threatening to put his career as a great conductor to shame. You have every right to have hated me. Even I would never have dreamed that he would take the ultimate escape from humiliation like he did. I should have thought about it more and maybe he did share my composition enough to claim atleast part of it as his own work."

With that April flung her arms around Michelangelo and hugged him. The man she wanted so much to die in revenge was going to die anyway and his words were those she atleast wanted to hear for many years. "I should have told you what I just said years ago. I made you suffer with hatred and hatred not always dies away with time, but it can grow so much inside also, as it did within you my dear."

"I forgive you," she told him, parting with her words softly and allowing the tears to fall from her eyes. "I loved him so much. He was everything to me."

"Yes, I realise that. When you hurt someone so much, you also hurt those who love them. Knowing you are going to die makes you reflect on what you have achieved and also failed in life. And I failed to understand your father without giving him the chance to explain."

Later that evening April and Franco strolled through the busy streets of Naples, taking in the atmosphere of its history and modern charisma. They both held hands and walked in silence as they both reflected upon Michelangelo and what he had to face very soon.

"Do you feel more at ease now that you have finally talked with him?" Franco asked.

"Yes. I also feel bad about what I tried to do."

"Then everything is now settled. He dropped the charges of attempted murder and now you have forgiven him. This I think makes him feel much better as we have seen tonight."

"And you Franco? Do you intend to drop the charges also against Marion?"

He smiled at her, kissed her hand and said; "April, there is something you need to know. A conversation with Inspector Walsh that I had recently." April looked deeply into his eyes, the hint of tears still present in hers. "If charges were to be brought forward in all of this, then it would have been so hard to prove. You and I disposed of the evidence that morning in the river. And you were not forced to write a confession."

"What about Marion's confession?"

"Her confession is worthless now," he replied. "Completely void."

"How so?"

"Because, with what I told the police, just made her out to be simply crazy. Her confession is just a figment of her wild imagination. It is over. And you were not arrested for your part in all of that, atleast not yet."

"Don't you think that was cruel?"

"Not at all. It suits us both now that she is declared mentally unstable. Atleast she will not try to arm either of us again. And a bonus."

"A bonus?"

"Yes. I have managed to secure two more businesses to my growing empire. Ward's and hers. So you see, the hunters can very easily become the prey in the end."

April released herself from his embrace and looked at him sternly. He shrugged his broad shoulders at her and asked; "What?"