A FIRE IN THE WIND
Chapter Twelve
That night, Rose had a few horrible
nightmares. In the first one, she was in a glass box, sitting beside Jack. She
punched the glass, but it knocked her a few feet away from Jack. Rose tried to
punch it again, but she just got farther away from Jack. Rose kept on punching
and punching the glass box, until she was an eternity away from him.
The next dream Rose had was a look at her in
the future. She was married to Cal, and had children. Rose was snobby,
arrogant, and had forgotten everything about Jack. She had turned into her
mother.
Rose woke up in a fright. Sweat was pouring
down her face, and Rose found it hard to breathe. A minute later, there was a
knock on the door.
"Come in!"
Agatha came in, surprised by Rose's nervous
state. "Your mother wishes you ready for the day, Miss. You are going to
spend the day at your aunt's."
"Thank you, Agatha," Rose said,
still in shock from her awful nightmares.
Rose hadn't expected to be occupied this
morning, but she decided it would be best not to argue with her mother today.
She would have to break the promise that she made to Jack yesterday. Rose
didn't really have a choice. She had to spend half of the day making unreal
conversation with Victoria. The only benefit for Rose was working on her acting
skills. Rose thought that there was absolutely no way she would be able to deny
the urge of slapping her cousin this time. No matter how hard Rose tried, she
couldn't be polite to Victoria for more then two minutes at a time. Out of all
the people Rose knew, Victoria was the one that could push her buttons the
most.
Two hours later, Rose was taking a walk with
Victoria, trying to be as polite as she possibly could. It was extremely hard
to listen to her cousin's sarcastic voice for what seemed like forever.
Everything Victoria said was sarcastic!
"So, Rose! You must be so excited about
the wedding. With all the arrangements, you must be so fatigued lately. I can
tell by those huge bags under your eyes!"
Rose gave Victoria a small, composed smile.
Inside her head she had to chant 'Don't kill her, don't kill her', but on the
outside she was quite different. "My mother's arranging it all."
Victoria gave Rose a sarcastic look.
"Well...oh...how have you kept yourself occupied lately? I trust you rid
yourself of that dreadful habit of collecting art."
Rose smiled smugly. "No, actually. I
still am collecting quite a bit. I bought quite a few paintings in Paris,
but…"
"They sunk on the Titanic! Ah ha ha
ha!" Victoria broke into a mess of laughter. "Maybe you should go out
there in your bathing costume and dive for them yourself. Ha, ha, ha! While
you're at it, why don't you pick up a few corpses?"
Rose gave Victoria a bleak stare. How could
someone, even as unemotional as Victoria, be so cruel?
"What's with the look?" Victoria
asked, snobbishly.
Rose looked up at Victoria. Her face was
composed, but her eyes said it all. "I can't believe you. How can you be
so cruel? Do you realize fifteen hundred people died on Titanic? Is there
something relatively humorous about that?"
Victoria gave Rose a smug smile, knowing that
she had dug under Rose's skin, right where it hurt. "I do apologize."
Rose nodded, not seeing an ounce of honesty
in Victoria's words. "Of course."
Victoria thought hard for another topic that
would put Rose in a tailspin. "Oh!" Victoria laughed. "Truly!
I've just thought of such a funny thing! Ah ha ha ha! Remember, after your
father died, and you wouldn't come out of your room for days. Ah ha ha! Pity
though. Over time, we do tend to forget our loved ones. I'm sure you don't
remember your father very much, at all. How long has it been now? Almost ten
years?"
Rose could seriously not believe her cousin.
Victoria was the cruelest person Rose knew. Rose knew that Victoria was just
trying to get a reaction out of her, so Rose remand composed. "Yes, I do
remember my father. Actually, I do have a fairly good memory. For instance, I
remember when your cat, Crystal, died. Don't you remember? It was that hideous,
white thing that shed all over the place and scratched everyone," Rose
replied, feeling quite pleased with her comeback. Rose had always hated
Victoria's cat, because she was so much like…well, Victoria.
Victoria bit her lip in agony. Two young
gentlemen approached the two cousins. Victoria began flirting with them,
tremendously.
"Why, hello ladies," the blond on
the right said, giving Victoria a wink.
"Hello, gentlemen," Victoria said
in her girlish voice. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Victoria, and this
is my cousin, Rose."
"Why, hello Rose," the blue-eyed,
tall one on the left stated, kissing her hand. "How is a beautiful lady,
such as yourself, on such a pleasant morning?"
Rose laughed, sarcastically. "Engaged."
"And you?" asked the one on the
right, addressing Victoria. "Do you have a fiancé of your own?"
Victoria laughed, nervously. "I'm still
looking for the right one. I guess I'm looking for someone young…and handsome.
"
Rose smiled. It was her turn for revenge.
"Gentlemen, please excuse my cousin for her behavior," Rose said, and
turned towards Victoria. "Victoria, truly. You don't have to sell yourself
to every young man on the street. It's not proper behavior in the company of
gentlemen."
The two young men ground their teeth in
embarrassment, and walked away. Victoria's eyes followed them, and then scanned
towards Rose, without a word. Rose knew that look all too well. Victoria had
practiced it so many times on her, that she had perfected it to the maximum.
Victoria's eyes were bleak and big. Her eyebrows were slightly raised, but not
much. Her lips were clasped together, but muttered without words 'I'm going to
get you for that!' Victoria was mortified, but knew she would get back at Rose,
one way or another.