CHANGES
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Rose's eyes darted back and forth between the
two, her mouth slightly open and her face pale. Her right hand flew to her
mouth a few seconds later as what she had just heard sunk in. "No,"
she uttered lowly, taking a step backwards.
"Rose," Jack said softly, moving
closer to her. "Rose, please..."
"How...how could you?" she
whispered shakily, retreating further away.
"I can explain, Rose. Please, just let
me explain," Jack pleaded.
Suddenly, Rose's demeanor changed, and her
eyes narrowed, her face hardening. "No. I don't want to hear it, Jack.
Leave me alone." And with that, she turned on her heel and stalked down
the hallway.
Jack shot a look at Kaci that was almost
deadly, and took off after her. When he reached their bedroom, his worst
nightmare was confirmed. Rose was leaving. "Please, Rose, just give me a
chance to explain..."
"Why? So you can continue to lie to me?
You promised, Jack. You said you'd never hurt me. God..." Rose hissed,
continuing to shove her things into a suitcase.
Jack grabbed her hand, forcing her to turn
and look at him. "Please, Rose. I'll do anything...I'll leave, you
shouldn't have to..." His voice trailed off when her stony eyes shot
daggers at him.
"I suggest you go say good-bye to your
daughter," she simply stated, shaking her hand free of his grasp and
turning back to her clothing.
Broken-hearted, Jack stood, watching her for
a moment before turning to spend the last few minutes with Amanda.
After Rose heard the door close behind him,
she fell onto the bed, with tears streaming down her face.
*****
"Hey, short-stuff," Jack said,
standing in the doorway of his daughter's room. The child sat on the floor,
happily coloring.
"Daddy!" she shrieked.
"Color!"
Forcing a smile, Jack joined her. "What
are you coloring there?"
"A puppy!" she announced proudly,
holding up the picture for him to see.
"That's real nice, Mandy."
Amanda's blue eyes stared at him curiously.
"Daddy sad?" she asked, concerned.
Jack had never hidden his emotions from her
before and wasn't going to start now. "Yeah, Daddy's sad."
"Why?" came the inevitable question
as she crawled into his lap, putting her tiny arms around his neck.
"Because," Jack started, forcing
the tears back. "Because you and Mommy are going away for awhile and I'm
going to miss you very, very much."
Confusion crossed her tiny features.
"You stay here?"
Jack brushed a piece of hair out of her
innocent eyes before nodding. "Yeah, I'm staying here."
Tears swelled in her eyes and she shook her
head vehemently. "No, I want you to come."
With those words, Jack's strong resolve
crumbled and salty tears began fleeing his eyes. "I know, sweetie. I wish
I was, too. But I can't."
As soon as Amanda saw her father's tears, she
too began to cry. "Why?"
"I just can't," was his answer as
he hugged her for dear life. What was the point of life without his little
girl?
*****
Rose watched the interaction of father and
daughter from the doorway, her own vision blurred by tears. She was torn, a
million pieces thrown askew. She knew losing Amanda would kill Jack, and losing
her dad would break Amanda's heart, but there wasn't anything she could do.
Stay? Not in a million years. Leave Amanda behind? Just the thought of that was
preposterous. No, this was his doing, his fault.
Silently, she entered the room, dufflebag in
hand, and quietly began putting her daughter's things into it. They would be
leaving a lot of things behind, but that couldn't be helped. Suddenly, there
was a tug on her pants, and Rose looked down to see Amanda, pouting and arms
crossed.
"I stay with Daddy."
Sighing, Rose knelt down in front of her.
"You can't, sweetheart. You have to come with Mommy on a trip."
Intrigued by the insinuation of a trip,
Amanda glanced back and forth at her parents. "Daddy come, too," she finally
whimpered.
Rose shook her head. "Not this time,
Manda-Bear. Just you and me."
Tears filled her eyes and she stomped her
little foot. "Daddy come!" she wailed.
Biting her lip to keep from crying as well,
Rose pulled the child into a hug, but was immediately pushed away. "Go
away," Amanda said.
"Mandy..."
"I stay with Daddy," Amanda
repeated, running to her father and wrapping herself around his leg.
With tears stinging her eyes, Rose glanced up
at Jack, who shrugged and bent down to talk with the toddler.
"Sweetie, you have to go with
Mommy," Jack said gently, unable to believe he was encouraging his beloved
daughter to leave him.
"I don't wanna," she said
defiantly.
Jack kissed her forehead lovingly and wiped
away her tears. "You have to. Just for a little while, I promise. I'll see
you soon."
Amanda stared at him for a minute before
hugging him. "Okay. I love you, Daddy."
"I love you, too, short-stuff,"
Jack managed, his heart shattered.
*****
Turning to face Jack after the bags and
Amanda were in the car, Rose gave him an unreadable look. "Um...well, I
guess this is yours," she choked out, holding out the engagement ring that
had resided on her finger for so long.
Giving a sharp nod of the head, Jack
reluctantly took it, relishing in the brief moment of contact.
"Yeah...I...I'm so sorry, Rose..."
"I know," Rose interrupted.
"I...we'll be in touch."
"Okay," Jack said softly.
"Bye." Rose waved as she got into
the car. Jack echoed the movement, blowing a kiss towards Amanda as they drove
out of the lot and out of his life.