Coventina by Jamie Antonia Symonanis Page A

had tears in her eyes. Denise collected Layla and Odumnus, who was surprisingly not down emotionally when it came time to leave. “I cannot wait to find Coventina, so I can return here,” he said.
    “Really? And why would you want to return here?” Layla grinned.
    “I think I’m in love,” he laughed, turning to see Anna watching him as she sang a song with family members.
    “Come on, we’ve got work to do,” Denise said.
    “I’m with you sistah.”
    “Lead the way Denise.”
    After keeping the goodbye’s short, and after one last hug and kiss from Anna thanking Odumnus for saving her, the Mustang pulled out of the driveway and vanished while driving north on Stockton Lane.
     
     
     
23
    Back
     
    Denise and Layla returned to find Lucilla had gotten them rooms at the Hotel Raphael. “It was not possible to get family rooms, they were booked up,” Lucilla said.
    “So we are at two per room?” Denise asked.
    “Not quite. There is one double room that four can stay in, then there is a room for you, another for myself & Marcus, and another for Venutius and Diana.”
    “Diana. How is she taking things?” Layla asked.
    “She has had a pretty rough life, even before being taken. She is of Greek ancestry. She buried the last of her family a year ago. Her abduction occurred upon her arrival in Rome for a legitimate job, not a con. She never made it there.”
    “She and Venutius?” Denise asked.
    “I can see them hanging out together for a while,” Lucilla smiled.
    “He can help heal her,” Layla said.
    “They can help heal each other,” Denise smiled.
    “Quintus was hoping to have a word with you.”
    “Sure. Send him over in a few.”
    Layla took the key card from Lucilla and lead Denise by hand to their room.
    “Whatcha thinking?” Denise asked.
    “What I’m usually thinking around you,” Layla said before kissing her deeply.
    They had just plopped on a large soft chair when there was a quiet knock at the door.
    Quintus?
    It is I Denise.
    She slid off Layla to let him in.
    “I won’t take up much of your time,” he said.
    “Don’t worry. We were just going to discuss where to head from here.”
    “I wanted to personally thank you again.”
    “Thank Odumnus. We just drove,” Layla said.
    “No, you have done far more than that.”
    “You’ve something on your mind. Please speak frankly,” Denise said.
    “It is a personal sense of helplessness and the unknown that weighs on me.”
    “Continue, please.”
    “In battle, I knew how to lead my men, to protect them. Here, I feel so helpless in being able to offer anything of value.”
    “Well, this is a battle, and a race, to find a woman who WAS someone you were in love with, indeed are still in love with. There are no clear lines drawn. You cannot look across a field and see your enemy.”
    “And this type of battle is indeed something we came to learn in Britannia. The enemy would hide, vanish, lay in wait and ambush with ferocity. Every day was a mystery, not knowing what would happen, who might be lost.”
    “Quintus, their general, for lack of a better way of putting it, had much of his operation come to a screeching halt yesterday, and you and your men are responsible for the victory.”
    “Fighting and winning a battle is only part of what weighs on me. I think perhaps I have been fooling myself to think that if or when we find Coventina she will understand why I returned for her. I wonder if she will even care, about me, or any man, after what she is being put through.”
    “Well, that is something you and you alone will need to work out once we find her, and we will find her,” Denise smiled.
    Quintus seemed too emotional to do anything but smile.
    He is weeping, inside, Layla said.
    Yes.
    “What is next? What can I do to help?” Quintus asked.
    “For now, nothing. Layla and I will go out alone tonight. It is easier for us to work quickly alone.”
    “If you and your men are needed we will contact you immediately,”