A CALIFORNIA ROSE
Chapter Twenty
No one was home when they returned to the
house. Tommy’s car was gone from the driveway, and the house was locked. As
Jack searched through his pockets for the keys, Rose thought about what had
transpired between them. Looking at her hands, she realized she was still
wearing her engagement ring.
Jack found the keys and opened the door.
Looking back at her, he asked, “You want to come in?”
Rose nodded. As she stepped through the door,
she pulled the ring from her finger, and dropped it into her purse. She would
return it to Cal later.
Jack watched her in surprise. After all her
protestations to the contrary, she was breaking her engagement.
Rose saw his look and smiled. “When the
quarter ends, I’m moving in with you.”
“This is crazy.”
She laughed. “I know. It doesn’t make any
sense. That’s why I trust it.”
He kissed her, then gave her the drawing he
had made. Rose set it carefully on the table. When Jack headed towards his room
to put the portfolio away, Rose followed him.
Jack looked up in surprise when Rose stepped
into the room and closed the door behind her. “Rose?”
She didn’t say anything. No words were
necessary.
A moment later she was in his arms. Their
kisses became deeper, more passionate--until Jack put too much pressure on
Rose’s injured ribs. With a yelp of pain, she pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.
Rose was holding her side. “I...have a couple
of cracked ribs.”
“How did that happen?”
Rose hesitated. She didn’t want to talk about
being beaten. Then steeling herself, she told him, “Cal beat me.”
He nodded. “When did this happen?”
“Two weeks ago--the day after Fabrizio’s and
Helga’s wedding.”
Jack shook his head, wondering what had
possessed Cal to beat Rose so hard that her bones broke.
“Why did he hit you?”
Rose sat down on the bed, still holding her
side. “We got into an argument...he’d been spying on me. He thought there was
something going on between us. He slapped me, and then accused me of sleeping
with you. I jumped up and started arguing, and then he punched me in the face.”
“Is that where that cut came from?”
Rose nodded, feeling tears start to well up.
She swiped her hand across her eyes, then continued. “I ran, and he grabbed me
and started hitting me...then he threw me on the floor. I hit my head on the
table when I fell. While I was lying there he kicked me in the side, and
then...”
She trailed off. She couldn’t tell anyone
what had happened next, not even Jack.
Jack knew that she was hiding something. Her
hands were clenched, the nails digging into the palms of her hands. “What
happened, Rose? What did he do to you?”
She shook her head, tears streaming down her
face. Finally, barely audibly, she spoke. “He raped me.”
Jack had suspected as much. “Rose...” He held
out his arms to her.
Rose threw her arms around him. Sobbing, she
buried her head in his shoulder.
“I told him no...I begged him to stop...I
even tried to scratch his face...but he wouldn’t stop. I felt so ashamed,
wondering what I could have done to prevent it from happening. If I hadn’t
defied him...if I had been more obedient...if I had slept with him more often,
maybe it wouldn’t have happened.”
“Rose, listen to yourself. You’re blaming the
wrong person. It was his crime, not yours.”
She shook her head. “I should have known
better than to defy him.”
“You had no way of knowing--”
“I knew that he had a temper--he’d slapped me
enough times before. I should have realized that things would get worse.”
“Had he ever done something like this
before?”
“No...”
“Then you couldn’t have known.”
She wanted to believe him. “I...”
“Have you thought about pressing charges
against him?”
“I can’t.”
He looked at her in astonishment. “Why?”
“Cal is a very prominent businessman. If I
pressed charges, his name--and mine--would be all over the newspapers. I
couldn’t stand that kind of humiliation. Besides, even if I did press charges,
I doubt I’d win. He can afford the best lawyers. I can’t. And I already know
what they’d say. They’d say I was just pressing charges to get back at him for
something, and that I couldn’t really have been raped--after all, I’d slept
with him before willingly. I’d go through all that for nothing. He’d go free.”
Jack had to concede that she was probably
right. Then something else occurred to him.
“Are you afraid you might be pregnant?”
Rose shook her head. “That’s something I can
be sure didn’t happen. I’ve been taking birth control pills since I got
engaged. I’m sure I’m not pregnant.”
She sniffled, wiping her eyes. She hadn’t
wanted to tell what had happened, but now that she had, she felt as though a
great weight had been lifted.
Jack was watching her, sympathetically.
“Thank you for listening, Jack.” Then she glanced at his T-shirt. “Oh, Jack,
I’m sorry. I’ve got makeup all over your shirt.”
He looked at his shoulder. “It’s okay. It’ll
wash.” He stood, holding out a hand to help her to her feet.
Rose shook her head. “No.”
He looked at her, surprised.
“I want to do this, Jack.” She pulled him
back down beside her.
“Rose...are you sure?”
“Yes.” She pulled him closer. “Put your hands
on me, Jack.”