CALIFORNIA PARADISE
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rose, Jack, Molly, and Ruth sat at a dinner
planned by Molly. They spent the time catching up on everything.
"Mother." Rose tentatively started
the conversation.
"Yes?"
"How is--everything?" Recently, the
memory of her mother telling her that her marriage to Cal would be their only
chance to get out of having all their things taken away and getting low-status
jobs of their own had been on Rose‘s mind. Well, she hadn’t married Cal, so
what had become of her mother this whole time?
Ruth smiled. "When I got to New York,
Molly was kind enough to let me stay with her. I soon got back on my feet,
though."
"Oh, good. Doing what?" Rose asked.
Ruth chuckled. "No, things would have to
be at their lowest point for me to a get a job. I mean, really, Rose. You
should know me better than that by now. I met Thomas Chalart at a country club,
he fell for me, and we were married six months later."
The words he fell for me resounded in
Rose’s mind. Not it was love at first sight, not I knew that no one else could
possibly do the moment that I saw him, and certainly not I found his intellect
and remarks superbly charming, and I just knew that we were meant to be
together. No. None of that. Just he fell for me.
It wasn’t until going over this that it
finally hit Rose. Her mother had gotten remarried. Again. Certainly that
couldn’t be considered a very ladylike attitude. A divorced widow didn’t
exactly attract the so-called respectable men from the country clubs. Rose
wondered what her mother had done to get this one.
"Rose? Rose, what’s the matter?"
Her mother’s voice snapped her back into reality.
"Well, this is a lot of news to bear.
Just give it some time, hon." Jack tried to put an arm around her, but she
shrugged it away. He didn’t understand. Her mother was a tease and a threat to
mankind.
When she had met Robert, her first husband,
she had convinced him that she spent every Sunday at the soup kitchen. When he
had found out that she had lied, he wanted to get out of the relationship, but
Ruth had burst out crying, and had been so upset that he felt too bad about it.
When the marriage had blown over many years later, Ruth had met her second
husband, Hiber. The two seemed to be a match made in heaven. Hiber would bring
her flowers and a present every time he came to see her. He would take her anywhere
she wanted. Ruth was in love, but thirteen-year-old Rose knew better. She
believed him to be a lie and a cheat, but her opinion wasn’t highly regarded.
Nevertheless, she never showed any emotion toward him; even the wedding
pictures showed a gorgeous ceremony and reception, but any shot taken of Rose
seemed to be heaven’s prettiest angel looking as if she would burst into tears
any second.
Not long after the honeymoon, and soon after
the humbug of the wedding had worn off, Hiber began to show himself as he
really was. The gifts had stopped. He had treated Ruth like an object. Late at
night, Rose had heard the beatings Ruth had taken from him, even through the
thick walls, but she had never cried; her mother had gotten herself into this
mess. The fire in Ruth’s eyes had burned out. She had never stood up for
herself anymore; had never showed any personality, even if her previous one
hadn’t been the best.
When she had found out that Hiber was dead,
she had dressed all in black and worn a thick veil over her face. Everyone
thought it was for mourning, but Rose had known better. The only thing Ruth had
mourned was the money. The outfit had been a show, and the veil had been to
hide the fact that she had never even shed one tear for her late husband.
Well, Ruth had now gotten some of her old
fire back, but Rose didn’t think that that was such a good thing.