Even after the chaos the night before, my parents said that we had to carry on, but with caution.  My dad walked me to the bus stop, and made sure I got on.  Other people from the neighborhood watched me carefully, as if I had the plague and they didn't want me near them.  

My family was in trouble, but I wasn't sure what to do about it.  We couldn't run away the way my aunt did.  Aunt Johanna was threatened for going down to the voting station a few years before, and things got bad quickly.  She went to live up in New York.  I'd love to go visit her, but unless I was going to live with her, it was way too impractical.  

When I went to clean John and Paul's room, I was inside for about fifteen minutes before he returned.  Locking the door, Paul said, "You're alright!  I knew that if I didn't leave before morning I would be caught.  I was so worried..." he said, taking me in his arms.  I didn't know which place was more dangerous, my house or this hotel, but either way it felt safer with him.  He kissed me once he had a hold on me, but I wasn't afraid of him anymore.  

Then there was a knock on the door.  I grabbed the linens I had brought with me to change the sheets.  Paul answered the door as if he wasn't kissing the maid a moment earlier.  Two men walked in, and I recognized neither of them.  "Paul, this is Mr. Ender.  He wanted to talk to the both of us."  

"Should I get John and the others?" 

"No," Mr. Ender immediately said.  "That wouldn't be necessary.  This conversation would only seem to involve you, and your manager."

I stopped folding for a small second, but hurried to keep working.  I feared what the man would say, but I soon realized that my fear was accurate.  

They sat down in the living room part of the suite, meanwhile I stayed in the bedroom.  I heard Mr. Ender say, "Now, I'm aware that you boys have some...counterculture ideas about the...colored situation.  But there have been rumors flying around about a boy who looks a lot like you wandering about in a Negro neighborhood."  I had to walk out into the kitchenette near the living room in order to clean off the counters and the table.  Mr.  Ender seemed to glance at me.  

"I assure you that these are just rumors.  However, it is true.  We support integration."  Paul said, lighting a cigarette.  I had never seen him smoke before; it never occured to me that he did, with his singing voice being so good.  

Mr. Ender did not seem convinced.  "It is your belief that makes me wonder."  He leaned forward in chair, reading to interrogate Paul.  "There are so many impressionable children and teenagers who follow you very closely.  I'm afraid that you'll put unsettling ideas in their heads.  We've already got," he said that awful word again, "marching in Washington, and causing trouble all around."  

"Excuse me," the other man, who I assumed was their manager, interjected, "but you ought to use better language.  There is a lady present." he nodded towards me.  I looked up for a moment but continued to wipe down the counters.  

Mr. Ender snorted.  Paul glared at him, and snuffed his cigarette in the ashtray.  "Sir, what do you find funny?"

The man popped his knuckles.  Paul was getting irritated.  "You see, Mr. McCartney, your attitude is starting to displease me, and the other shareholders at the stadium.  We don't want Negro sympathizers playing a concert and spreading a message of social equality to our youth."

"What is so bad about equality?" The Beatle demanded.  

"You might believe that being equal will solve everything.  It won't.  They're different than us.  They're dirty and uncivilized."

Paul was livid.  "How can you say such a thing in front of her!" he shouted, making me drop my washcloth.  As I bent down to get it and clean it off, I hoped that Paul would calm down.  If he said anymore, he might as well have walked over and kissed me.  

Mr. Ender was angry too.  "Look, if you want this gig, you stop pushing for integration."

The manager looked like he wanted to say something, but Paul beat him to it.  "If you don't keep our deal, the Beatles will not play, no matter how much money you pay us.  We'll be the biggest show you have this year, so I suggest you don't push us, sir."  The man lit another cigarette, and actually put his feet up on the table.  He knew that he had Mr. Ender pinned.  

"Well," the visitor said, "I'll call Mr. Epstein about that later.  I need to go.  I have plenty of other meetings." He got up, and so did the manager.  But Paul just sat there, smoking his victory cigarette.  

However, when the man turned to leave, he dropped his hat.  "Pick it up," he told me.  

Paul gave me a look that said Don't do it.  But I did, and the man smirked.  After that, he left, and Mr. Epstein followed.  

The Beatle said, "Maura, I'm sorry you had to hear that."  I just nodded, and continued to work.  "Why did you pick up his hat for him?"

"I didn't have a choice."

"Yes, you did."

"Not if I wanted to keep my job."  

He took my arm suddenly, and lead me back into the bedroom.  After telling me to sit down, he pulled something out of the nightstand.  It was an envelope, and he handed it to me.  "Paul, I told you.  No more money."  

Paul smiled.  "It's not money.  Open it."

Carefully, I did, and inside were three tickets.  I held them up, a questioning look on on face.  "They're for our concert.  I invite you and your siblings to see us.  If you want to go."  

I smiled.  "I'd love to, but I'm not sure how I'd convince my parents."

"You'd better hurry.  It's tonight."  But then thunder boomed outside.  He winced.  "Maybe not."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was downpouring by the time I got off work.  I had cleaned most of the suites on Paul's level, and before I could go downstairs he pulled me into his room.  "Don't tell me you were going home in this weather."  I nodded.  

"You must stay the night," he said.  

I laughed.  "Are you joking?  You've got a roommate, and if I'm caught in this hotel at night, they'll throw me out as fast as possible.  You're very sweet, Paul, but I've got to get home."  I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, but then he started pulling on his coat and hat.  "I'm coming with you."  

So we hurried as past as we could out of the hotel, and we both were completely soaked by the time we reached my house.  Mamma and Dad weren't home yet; their buses were probably cancelled during the storm.  Tommy was at a friends' house, and would most likely stay there that night.  Ruth...well, I didn't realize she was home until it was too late.  

I told Paul to go to my window and I'd meet him in my room.  Once we were both safely inside, I made him close his eyes and hold a pillow in front of his face so I could change into dry clothes.  I would have changed in the bathroom, but I was afraid someone would get home and I wouldn't be able to tell Paul to hide.  

Carefully, I crept into Dad's closet to see if I could find some smaller clothes that didn't fit him anymore.  Luckily I did find an old t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.  When it was his turn to change, he said, "You don't need to close your eyes.  My knickers aren't coming off."  I blushed a bit at the comment.  

Even though I didn't make it obvious, I did watch him.  His wet shirt sticking to his skin, which revealed some of the muscle underneath.  He shrugged off his pants, which I could tell was a bit hard to do, for the material clung to him.  While he pulled on the sweatpants I borrowed him, I looked out the window.  The rain was hitting it hard, and so fast that I couldn't see much off the little alley between my neighbor's house and ours.  But I swore I saw eerie shapes moving in the darkness.  

Then a face appeared in front of my eyes.  A face covered in a white sheet, holding a flaming cross. 

I yelped in fear.  "Paul!"  But as I turned to face him I ran into him.  I clung to his bare chest, and he held me for a moment before looking out the window himself.  "There's no one there, love.  No one is going to hurt you."

I leaned up to kiss him after a moment, and wrapped my arms around his neck.  We both jumped when thunder rattled the house, but that just made Paul hold me closer.  

Then the door opened.  "Maura...?" Ruth looked horrified.  She turned from us and hurried down the hall, however I chased after her, grabbed her arm and pulled her back in my room.  Shutting the door, she said, "Daddy's going to kill you, Maura!"

"Shh..." I said.  "Please, Ruth.  You can't tell Mamma or Dad."  I begged her.  

Her gaze was fixed on the shirtless Paul.  "So...you're him?"  He nodded.  

"Paul invited us to see him and his band in concert...when it stops storming.  But you can only go if you keep this a secret, alright?" Ruth nodded.  Even though she was always reminding me that she was thirteen and therefore as wise as me, she got along with me quite well that night.  

"Are you two going steady?" she said accusingly.  

I was just about to say something when Paul said, "Yes." 

Ruth's big brown eyes bore into mine.  "But, Maura, it's illegal.  If people saw you two together...they burned a cross in our yard." she said.  I swallowed hard.  She was wording the fears that had been running through my head the second I saw the fire the night before.  

"Ruth, my dear, would you mind if Maura and I had a word in private?" Paul asked, shrugging on the shirt I had brought him.  My younger sister left without another word.  

"You're scared.  I understand that.  But I don't want to leave you like this," Paul said quietly.  I was tearing up.  What was I supposed to do?  If Paul kept coming over like that, we were bound for more trouble.  We were most certainly going to pay, and he might be at the mercy of the Klan too.  Ultimately, I had to choose.  Who's love did I value more: Paul's or my family's.  

Before I could say, "I don't know what to do," we heard a scream in the front yard.  

"MAURA! HELP ME!"  

"Stay here!" I told Paul, but he was running after me anyway.  We threw the screen door open to see a man struggling to pull Ruth towards the alleyway.  God knows what he would do there.  

I ran to help her, scrapping and clawing at the man's face, and he did let go for a moment, so Ruth could run to Paul.  But then he grabbed me instead.  "You're a fiesty little  Negro, aren't you?" he hissed.  I slapped him and scratched him, but he had me down on the ground.  In fear and through tears, I shouted, "Paul!"

There was a crash through the screen door.  A car pulled up in the driveway.  A few shouts, and then the man was pulled off of me.  I closed my eyes hoping that it would be over soon.  

Paul broke the man's nose, and holding him by the collar, he growled, "Don't come back."

The man ran.  

My father yelled.  "What is he doing here, Maura?"  I stood in front of Paul.  "He saved Ruth and me, Dad.  He's not going to hurt us."  I held onto his hand.  

"They burned a cross in our yard because of him!"  My dad went to grab me, but I held onto Paul.  

"It's wasn't his fault.  If anything, it was mine.  Dad, you can't hurt him, please.  He saved us."  A moment later, I said, quietly so only Paul could hear, "He saved me."  

Dad stepped towards us, and after a moment, extended a hand to Paul.  He took it gingerly.  "I'm sorry," he said, "but you must leave.  You are good man, son, but it isn't safe for any of us if you're seen here.  Maura, say your goodbyes.  For now."  My shocked mother, quiet father and frightened sister went inside, however Ruth gave me a small smile.  For some reason, she loved the thought of seeing us together.  

Paul leaned in to kiss me, but before he could I said, "She's watching from the window."  Ruth and I loved to tease each other, and if she saw them kissing, it would give her leverage over me.  "I don't care," he said, and kissed me anyway.  Then he whispered in my ear, "Remember what I gave you.  Make sure to tell your brother.  Goodnight, love."  He gave me a quick peck on the cheek, and a few on my neck, and then hurried down the road.  

I watched him disappear into the darkness.  

But I began to think about what he asked me a few nights before.  About my greatest fears.  

Was one of my greatest fears now losing him?