ESCAPE
Chapter Four
As Cal now walked into the enclosed room,
Rose tilted her head back and sought for what she had seen that day in the
hotel room so long ago. He was still handsome now, but the softness was gone.
When had it been replaced by the sharpness again? Rose thought back.
*****
By July, Rose had her own personal guest room
in the Hockley mansion. Things were too complicated. She still wanted to pursue
her dreams, but how could she just leave Cal? And now...this.
"Cal?" She stood in the doorway of
his bedroom in a silky, pale blue nightgown.
"Yes?" He led her inside and draped
his arms around her.
"I have something to tell you."
His reply was a playful kiss on the forehead.
"I-I’m pregnant."
He stopped and pulled away, his hands still
grasping her shoulders. "How? We only...there’s no way..."
She silenced him. "It’s Jack’s."
*****
Even that wasn’t what made him this way. No,
he had been perfect throughout the whole matter. There had been a wedding, of
course. But it didn’t go as Rose had expected. It was a small, backyard wedding
that few were invited to. Then, carefully, word was spread that Rose and Cal
had secretly eloped together a week after the sinking. "We realized life
was too short and sometimes drastic actions are the best ones," they had
told everyone.
Jayvelin Margaret Hockley was born on
December sixth, over a month early. She was beautiful, and Cal melted the
second she was put into his arms.
It wasn’t until her later pregnancy with
Cal’s child that he started to turn back.
*****
She was already seven months along when Rose
found about Isabella. Isabella Tallingsworth and her two children--Nathan and Natalie.
They were four now, darling little boy and girl twins. And Cal was their
father.
Rose had confronted Cal, of course, when she
found out that during Rose’s engagement with him Isabella had been his
mistress. He knew she was pregnant but refused to marry her. The poor thing was
kept in her father’s house all day long now, hardly ever going into the public
eye for fear her dark secrets would be revealed.
And that’s when Cal had turned back
into...well, back into Cal. He screamed and yelled and treated Rose as
property. She was in anguish for months and months.
*****
Jacob Thomas Hockley was a cheerful babe even
in the dark days he was born in. He had a gorgeous head of straight, dark hair,
but his mother’s soft eyes. And no matter how hard her world might be, Rose
could always go into his nursery and his bright, gummed smile could make her
soar again.
*****
Jayvelin, in every sense a three-year-old
could be, was beautiful. She was delicate and seemed to be a wisp of priceless
silk tapestry. She had a pale complexion and a child’s wonderful, smooth skin.
Her eyes were wide and curious and carried within them all the beauty of the
sun reflecting on turquoise water. She had a fine chiseled nose and a
rose-petal mouth. But her crowning glory was her hair. Oh! Her unimaginably
magnificent hair! It hung, long, down her back in perfect curls that were the
envy of every other little girl. But that wasn’t even the best part. Oh, gosh
no! The best part was the gold color reflecting every shade of the moon and sun
so that there were reds, oranges, yellows, and pale blues in every curve to
make her locks look like the most ravishing sunrise that man has ever beheld.
And Jayvelin was wonderful. No living thing was ever harmed in her presence and
any form of suffering brought tears to her perfect, gem-like eyes. To say the
very least of her, she was phenomenal.
The two children were Cal’s only weakness,
but even they couldn’t keep him from turning sourer and sourer.
*****
So it was in her seventh month of pregnancy
that Cal had started to turn bad, and from there it plummeted from bad to
worse.
*****
Cal hadn’t learned a thing from Isabella, and
everywhere she turned Rose spotted signs of another woman. Whether it was a
streak of unknown lipstick on his collar or the demand in his eye gone on some
nights, Rose could just tell.
Cal knew just how to hit the painful spots
and make Rose feel wretched. Nothing she did was good enough, and he let her
know it.
Yet no matter how hard his blows, or how
harsh his words, Rose never backed down. She refused to hit back or scream
back. No, that would be resorting to something Cal knew all about and could
easily beat her at. For every screamed hatred, she looked up at him and said,
"You’re forgiven." And for every hit, she either closed her eyes and
ignored it or smiled back. At first Cal thought that she was following the old
saying ‘What would Jesus do?’ but soon found this untrue. Rose was never a
religious person, and the only faith that she believed in was that if you were
a good person and did good things, all your dreams were possible.
And maybe I was right, Rose now thought to herself. Maybe, if I had just
stuck to that rule, I wouldn’t be here now. But I guess it’s too late to have
these thoughts now.
*****
It was when Jacob was about a year and a half
old that Rose finally snapped.
It was late at night, maybe right after
midnight, when Cal was in a particularly bad mood and half drunk. He was meaner
than he had ever been before, and Rose could not prevent herself from lashing
out at him. "You cannot treat me like this! I am the mother of your
child and a good, faithful wife to you. I have put up with all your shit for
almost a year now, and I refuse to go on like this. I was only going to stay
with you until I could achieve my career, and Goddammit, I’m gonna do it! You
can’t hold me back anymore. I will fight back."
During her speech, Rose had been senseless.
All her energy was going into the pure, hot anger seeping out of her lips. She
had seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted anger. And now as reality came back
to her, she shrank in fear of the bone-chilling stare Cal was giving her. His
lips formed a smirk, and he approached her. He trapped her between his arms and
said, "Sweetpea, what’s the matter? Your outburst has really startled me.
I’m worried about the negative influence you’ve been giving the children. But
don’t worry, Sweetpea, I’ll get you the best help money can buy."
*****
The next week had been a blur to her. She was
in such a state of confusion and disbelief that Cal barely had to bribe the
doctors much to state that she was on the brink of insanity.
She remembered the car ride to the asylum. It
was the first time that Cal didn’t have to put on a false face of kindness so
that society thought of him as the heroic husband, taking care of his poor, mad
wife. He had turned to her, evil in the very glint of his eyes and said,
"You are not to try anything. The head administrator has strict orders not
to release you until I tell him to. Your outburst that night is never to happen
again. Ever. When I feel you have received your punishment, you may return to
the Hockley household and serve as the ideal wife and society woman. Is this in
any was unclear?"
If she had looked up at him shamefaced, and
begged for his forgiveness, it was extremely likely that he would have taken
her home that moment. But she would no longer sell her soul to him, even if the
cost was her freedom. Instead, she had looked up at him, smiled as sweet as
sugar, and, staring straight into his eyes, said, "Fuck you."