A FIRE IN THE WIND
Chapter Eleven
Rose walked downstairs to breakfast, with a
sudden determination to see Jack today, no matter what the consequences. Her
mother could scream as much as she wanted at her daughter, but Rose was still
mightily determined.
Breakfast was silent. There was a palpable
anger between Rose and Ruth. Neither was in the mood to speak with the other,
and Rose wasn't about to apologize for her behavior. She wanted an apology from
her mother for making her life so miserable first, although Rose knew she
wasn't going to get it.
Agatha walked into the breakfast room,
startled a little by the tenseness between Ruth and Rose. "Excuse me,
ma'am. There's a telephone call for you. It's your sister."
With that, Ruth left the room, a little relieved
to be away from Rose.
Rose fiddled with her teacup, praying that it
was something that would keep her mother preoccupied. Rose thought of a few
plans that would allow her to be in Jack's flat by eleven. Rose was almost
positive she could pull it off.
A few minutes later Ruth came back into the
breakfast room. "I'm going over to your aunt's house. You are not to leave
the house. I will be back at five." Ruth spoke in an authoritative voice,
still angry with Rose.
"Yes, Mother," Rose replied, with a
small, cunning smile on her face, too small for her mother to notice.
Fifteen minutes later, Rose was literally
dancing around her room in satisfaction, preparing to see Jack. Rose knew that
she'd have to persuade Nancy to let her go first. That shouldn't be too hard.
"No! No! No! No! No!" Nancy replied
ten minutes later in the kitchen.
Rose sighed, seeking help now more then ever.
"Please! Mother will never find out. I'll be back by two. That's three
whole hours before she even steps in the door."
Nancy sighed. "Rosie, I've worked for
your family for nearly fifteen years. I've known you most of your life. I just
don't want anything to happen to you."
"This is literally a matter of life and
death," Rose replied. "I don't know how I could possibly survive
without doing this. Please. It's very important to me."
"All right! All right!" Nancy gave
in.
"Thank you!" Rose said, giving
Nancy a hug.
Nancy smiled. "I'll give you till two!
Come in here at 2:01 and you'll wish you were dead!"
Twenty minutes later, Rose was inside Jack's
apartment, feeling very relieved.
"Early today, huh?" Jack said,
giving Rose a kiss.
"Yes," Rose replied, coming inside.
"Only one week ago today, I thought you were dead."
Jack smiled. "You've got to remember,
Rosie, one week ago, I wasn't dead. Come in! Let's think of something to do
today. Of course, I don't know my way around the city as well as you, but
yesterday, I found this really--"
"Jack," Rose interrupted.
Jack frowned, not understanding why Rose had
interrupted him. "What's wrong?" he asked openly.
Rose took a seat in one of the chairs by the
window and began to look down on the unusual figures below, depressed and
desperate for help.
"Please. Tell me," Jack said,
sitting beside her.
Rose turned around. Her face was totally
composed. "It's nothing. Really."
Jack stared deep into Rose's face, trying to
find truth in her words. "It is something," Jack replied, certain.
"Your eyes gave it away. Please tell me, Rose. I--I don't like seeing you
this way."
Rose looked up at Jack, knowing no matter how
hard she tried, she couldn't keep her true feelings away from him. He saw right
through her, "It's just that--well, I'm scared. The wedding's coming up
soon, and I'm scared somehow I'm going to end up marrying Cal. My mother has
taken control over my life like I am a child. As soon as Cal comes back, he
won't let me out of his sight for more than five minutes. Jack, how are we
going to do this? I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If
Cal found out that you were here, he'd stop at nothing to make the wedding go
on as planned. How can we stop it, Jack? I love you."
Jack laid his hand on top of Rose's, unsure
of exactly what to say. "You know I love you. I love you more then life
itself. And you're right. We do have to think of a plan for you to run away.
It's probably gonna be difficult. Fate has brought us back together, Rose. It
means something. We're soulmates. We can't let a stupid, haughty bastard get
between us. We have a stronger force, true love. True love doesn't lie."
For the rest of Rose's stay in Jack's flat,
they lay next to each other on Jack's bed. Hardly ever moving or talking, just
being perfectly content having found each other. Rose left at 1:30, promising
to be back tomorrow.
Rose spent the rest of the afternoon thinking
of a plan to run away with Jack. Jack was right. It's near impossible to run
away from your life, if your life's much too hard to run away from.
Ruth came home at five, as expected, and
there was no indication that her daughter had been gone for part of the day.
Dinner was quiet, as would be expected. Ruth
had cooled down, after assuming Rose hadn't done anything stupid while she was
away.
After dinner, Rose went up to her room to
read, and was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in," Rose said, straightening
her posture.
Agatha opened the door, and spoke through the
threshold. "Your mother wishes to speak with you in the lounge,
Miss."
"Yes," Rose replied, closing her
book. "Thank you, Agatha."
Rose went to her vanity to make sure her hair
was in order. Her mother had always made such a big deal about it when it
wasn't.
Rose was still angry with her mother, and she
was sure her mother was still furious with her, but Rose decided it would be
best if she showed respect for her mother this time. She knew that if she was
polite, and acted exactly the way her mother expected her to act, there
wouldn't be any trouble, and Rose would have the best chance of seeing Jack the
next day.
Tense but confident, Rose walked into the
lounge to find her mother already seated.
"Sit down!" Ruth commanded.
Rose was surprisingly obedient and took a
seat across from her mother.
Ruth nodded tensely, and began her lecture.
"Now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out way I have asked to speak
with you tonight. You are almost eighteen years old and almost married, but you
still refuse to act like an adult. I have absolutely no idea what possessed you
to carry out those actions yesterday, but that sort of behavior must stop now.
I don't understand you! You're acting like a child. You lie to me and then talk
back! My God, Rose. I don't know if this rebelliousness has something to do
with that steerage boy, but this behavior is stopping now. Do you understand
me?"
"Yes, Mother," Rose lied.
Ruth nodded in approval, and exited the room.
Rose let out a soft moan after her mother was a safe distance away from the
door.
Rose didn't understand herself sometimes. How
could she be so agreeable towards her mother? When Rose was little, she had
always been scared of her mother. Her father used to protect Rose from her, but
Rose's father was gone, and Jack was her only hope. That night, Rose beseeched
God, as hard as she possible could, to make it turn out all right in the end,
but she didn't know if He would listen.