A FIRE IN THE WIND
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rose woke up at 4:30. Everyone would still be
asleep. She didn't bother to get dressed. Rose just slipped on a robe and some
slippers and she retrieved her suitcase from the closet.
Luckily, the door was no longer locked, so
Rose crept through the hallway inaudibly. Luck was with her and she made it
safely through without waking up her mother.
Rose jogged down the stairs and went into the
kitchen where the servant's entrance was. Rose felt out-of-place while she
entered the kitchen. She hadn't been in there in years. Rose remembered helping
Nancy bake a cake or make something simple. It was really the only time Rose
had ever cooked in her life.
The walk across the kitchen seemed to take
forever. Rose was scared that Nancy, Agatha, or Joanna would walk in at any
moment. She was temporarily relieved when she reached the exit to the backyard.
The cold morning air whipped across Rose's
face as she walked outside. She sneaked across the backyard looking for a good
size bush to hide her suitcase in. Rose found one a good distance away from the
house that held her suitcase perfectly.
Rose had managed to sneak back into her
bedroom unseen. She was pleasantly surprised. It was good omen for the rest of
the day. Maybe things would turn out right.
*****
"Rose?"
Rose was awakened by the sound of her
mother's nagging voice.
"Rose?"
Rose looked up at her mother, who was already
fully dressed.
"I thought you'd sleep in all day,"
Ruth began, scolding her daughter. "Hurry up and get dressed. We have a
lot of work to do before the wedding shower this evening. I'll send for
Agatha."
Rose jumped out of bed right after her mother
closed her bedroom door. Here it was. The day of truth. By this time tomorrow
Rose could be lying next to Jack in bed, ready to start their new life
together. It could happen.
Everything was in order. Rose's luggage was
packed, she had gone over the plan about fifty times in her head, and she was
pretty sure that Jack and Allison had spoken with each other.
The rest of the morning was frantic for Rose.
Cal had gone off to a polo match and Rose was spending the morning helping her
mother make sure everything was in order for the wedding shower that evening.
Ruth had noticed something odd about her
daughter. She was looking quite pale and was unusually quiet. Ruth let off and
assumed it was only early wedding jitters. Sunday was sooner then Rose thought.
*****
"Rose?"
"Rose?"
Rose heard her mother's voice outside her
door as she prepared for the wedding shower. It felt somewhat cliché to the
time before at the engagement gala.
Rose answered her mother with a tense but
polite, "Come in."
Ruth did so to find her daughter at her
vanity still in her robe.
"Oh, Rose!" Ruth remarked.
"Please, put on your evening gown and do something with your hair. You
cannot just let it hang down like that, now can you?"
Rose let out a frustrated sigh. She had hoped
this would be the last evening she would ever have to listen to her mother's
criticism.
Ruth softened up. "Rose--I'm sorry. I
know you must be nervous, it being less than two days from your wedding, but
you have to pull through this. After the mad rush this weekend things will slow
down a bit. I just--"
"Why are you making me do this?"
interrupted Rose.
"Excuse me?" asked Ruth, shocked
that her daughter had interrupted her so fiercely.
"Why?" asked Rose, hurt.
Ruth sighed. "Rose, do I have to remind
you again? You are doing this to save our family's name. It's for the good of
everyone."
"It's not what father wanted."
Ruth looked down at her daughter, spellbound.
"Wh-why he was the one that got us into this mess in the first
place!"
Rose looked down, not able to take in her
mother's face. "He didn't ever want to hurt you. He didn't. He loved you
and me. He never wanted to hurt anyone. Was it his fault that the factory was
losing profits? There was nothing he could do. He had tried everything."
"Rose, I don't want to get into this.
Please!" Ruth said fiercely.
Rose continued. It was her last chance to
tell her mother how she felt. "May I ask whom everyone is? Because truly I
don't understand. Everyone can certainly not apply to me. No. I don't want the
money at all. It means nothing to me. So who's left? You, mother. You. You
don't want to be miserable, so you're making me become miserable for the rest
of my life. I--I don't understand."
Ruth was hurt, but it didn't show.
"Rose, you need the security just as much as I do. The real world isn't as
simple and carefree as you think it is. You wouldn't last a day."
Rose sighed fiercely. She hoped she had
gotten her point across. Her mother never showed her feelings on the outside,
so Rose could never tell. It was awful to look into her mother's eyes and see
total composure. Ruth could fool anyone.
Rose looked at the clock on the other side of
the room and nodded with a smile. It was almost time to be reborn.