Rose of Anzio: A WWII Epic Love Story

Chapter 3

Tessa pedaled her bike faster and faster until she reached maximum speed. She wanted the wind to blow away everything unpleasant around her. She pedaled until her legs burned. When she came to a small beach by the shore of the lake, she slowed down and coasted along the path.

She got off her bike and rolled it to the side of the road. Alone, she walked to a secluded spot on the beach where she could hide under the trees. She had discovered this place two weeks ago. Here, she could enjoy her solitude.

Sunlight glittered across the expanse of Lake Michigan. She had never seen a lake this large and wide. It went out to the horizon like the ocean. She wished it really were the ocean, and the sailboats out there could take her home.

She wondered what her parents and friends were doing back in London. Normally, the theater season would end now and summer training would begin. The summer training programs always brought in new young aspiring actors and actresses to her father's theater troupe. When the school term ended, they would invite her and other sons and daughters of the troupe's members to join them for parties. They did so partly in the hope of gaining inside knowledge about the troupe members, and partly to curry favor with influential actors and directors. She didn't mind them though. Because of them, she and her friends often got to spend time at the homes of young actors, artists, and musicians. Their creative minds fascinated her.

If she could, she would go back to all of them without a second thought. She feared what could happen to them and wished she could be there with them. Every day, the newspapers brought more dreadful news about the war and more photos of places under attack. She told no one about her nightmares of her parents trapped in London facing a row of German tanks.

Everyone treated her like a child. No one would talk honestly about the war with her. Her mother never mentioned the war in her letters and telegrams. The Ardleys and the Caldwells avoided the subject around her. Her father was the only one who was forthright with her. In his last letter, he admitted it might be a long while before she could go home.

Alone, she lost track of time. She didn't want to return to the Ardleys' house. It wasn't that she was ungrateful. Aunt Sophia and Uncle William had tried hard to make her feel welcome and so did the Caldwells, but their lives were so different from hers. She missed following her father to rehearsals and watching him act on stage. She missed going to the hospital with her mother and visiting her patients. Her mother had a gift for making people happy. She could magically cheer up even the saddest and most decrepit people with ease. Too bad that gift didn't pass on to her daughter. Tessa was never very good at talking to people.

The sun began to descend and the sky turned to a luminescent yellow and gray hue. She felt someone approaching her. It was Uncle William.

"Beautiful sunset, isn't it?" He sat down next to her.

"How'd you find me?"

"You forget I've lived in this area for many years. There's no corner within a ten-mile radius of where we live that I don't know."

She turned to stare out at the lake again.

"But, you are your mother's daughter. Juliet used to come here too when she wanted to be alone. Especially after your grandmother and Anthony died."

How strange to hear him talk about her mother. Until a month ago, she had never heard of the Ardleys or the Caldwells. She found out her mother was part of their families only when her parents told her they were sending her to Chicago, and it was only now that she realized her mother had once been very close to them. They knew things about her mother she had never known before.

"Why didn't you ever contact or visit us? Why didn't Mother ever speak of you?"

"That was my fault," William said with an apologetic smile. "I take full responsibility for that. I should've reached out much sooner."