A FIRE IN THE WIND
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rose was awakened by the sound of Cal's
footsteps in the hallway. She must have fallen asleep. Cal's footsteps came
closer and closer, like death trying to take Rose's spirit to hell. Rose sat up
in bed, a little frightened, but she knew that Jack had faith in her to do
anything to keep the two of them together.
Rose's eyes drifted to a corner of the room
where the doorknob was turning slowly. It seemed to take forever. Rose began to
pant heavily. She had to be brave, no matter what it took.
Cal's figure appeared in the threshold. His
eyes were alight with anger while the remainder of his face was composed. He
walked toward Rose's bed like a mindless zombie told to kill.
Rose showed no signs of fear as far as Cal
could see, but inside her mind was full of "what ifs."
Cal stopped in front of Rose. There was a
brief moment of silence between the two. There were just looks and exchanges of
emotions by their eyes. Rose once again looked at her fiancé’s face. It was
intimidating, but Rose tried her best to look beyond it. Outside he may be
powerful, well built, and frightening, but inside he was weak. Rose focused in
on Cal's weak spirit and saw right through him. He was nothing.
All at once, Rose felt Cal's hand slap her
face. Rose showed no sign of pain. She felt nothing.
"I expect you understand the pain that
you caused your mother and I," Cal started off coldly. "You are not
to leave this house until the wedding. Do you understand me?"
Rose nodded, a little frightened, not knowing
if she had the strength to deal with Cal just yet.
Cal exhaled tensely. "Let me tell you
something, Rose. When we are married things are going to change. There will be
no running off for hours at a time without my consent and by God there will be
no acting like a whore and befriending some steerage swine! I cannot believe I
put up with all of this. It's insane! I don't know what has gotten into you in
the last month, but let me tell you it will stop now. Do you understand?"
Rose nodded dully, playing along with Cal's
cruel game. She knew it was the only way that she could get off easily.
"Good," Cal replied tensely,
locking Rose in her bedroom once again.
Rose was still panting heavily when Cal left.
Two more days of hell. Only two more days. Rose wasn't certain that Jack's plan
would work. It was good, but would there be some way Cal could prevent it from
working? Rose didn't know, but tried to be an optimist.
Rose tried to put all of her attention into
the book she was reading, but it didn't work. Too much was on her mind to read.
What if something went wrong? What if she ended up marrying Cal? What would
become of Jack? Would her life become a living hell? Yes.
Rose didn't know how she could have put up
with everything in her life all these years. Her mother basically ruined
everything about her childhood. Rose only had her father to run to.
Thursday went by extremely slowly for Rose.
She spent the whole day locked in her room, worried about what would happen the
next day.
Rose had planned everything out and prayed to
God that Allison had spoken with Jack. She had to be aware of the plan.
Every once in a while Ruth would come into
Rose's room to make her daughter repent for sneaking out. This only made Rose
more nervous.
At about 11:30, Rose went to bed, trying to
go over everything that would happen the next day in her head. She prayed that
things would be on her side.