THE HEART NEVER LIES
Chapter Twelve
Cal
After Rose’s dress fitting, Rose
and her mother joined me for afternoon tea in the drawing room. Rose was not
smiling and she was silent. She sat down precisely in her chair and held her
teacup like a lady. Oh, what a transformation. She was everything I wanted.
Now, finally. No wildness or carrying on.
"Rose looked very becoming,
do you not think, Caledon, in her engagement gown," Ruth prattled.
"Indeed," I said.
"She will be the belle of the ball," I retorted.
Ruth gasped suddenly. "The
millinery shop has forgotten to drop off the satin gloves. I must go in
person." She stood up and took her leave. Rose never once looked at her,
just looked at her cup in her hands.
Once Ruth had departed, it was
time I laid down a few ground rules. I put my cup down on the table, leant
down, and placed my hands on the arms of her chair so our faces were inches
apart. She blinked in surprise and her mouth narrowed.
"Now that we are alone, I
have a few things that I expect of my wife." I smiled as I took in her
rosy red lips, her green, catlike eyes, and her alabaster skin. I lifted a hand
and stroked her cheek. "Oh, you are so beautiful. There is nothing that
you will ever want for," I whispered, transfixed by her radiance.
Rose
He was practically on top of me,
right up in my face, his hands on my cheeks, undressing me with his eyes, lust
flaring there.
The instinct to pull back my head
and hock spit into his face was overwhelming, like I had on the Titanic. I sat,
rooted to the chair. He mistook my reticence for decorum and innocence. I
wanted to be violently sick.
Then he went for it and placed
his lips on mine in a harsh kiss. I knew I had to feign acceptance, so I sighed
and pressed my lips mechanically against his.
I felt nothing. I pretended I was
in a play, onstage. A stage kiss. He did not notice that I was acting. Oh,
Rose, you are a good actress, I thought.
He pulled back, satisfied, a
smile playing on his lips.
"Well," he said,
"I expect more of this after the engagement party tomorrow. When the party
finishes in the evening, we will depart on the early morning train to
Philadelphia. You will be sharing my bed once we get to Crosswinds, the Philly
house. Married or not, I will be denied no longer!" He crossed his arms
and yawned. "Of course, your mother will accompany us, and we will find
her a suitable room at Crosswinds. Two weeks later will be the wedding. That’s
all. Happy?" he continued.
His black eyes bored into mine. I
cranked my mouth into a beaming smile and rose from my chair. "Oh, yes,
Cal dearest. Perfectly."
He returned my smile, but said,
in dangerous, low voice, "No funny business. Bonner will keep an eye on
you! You are mine now."
"Yes," I faltered.
"I understand." I held the arm of the chair, my knuckles whitening.
Tonight. Tonight, I had to get
out. If he got me to Philadelphia, it was a life sentence of marriage to him
and a death sentence for Jack’s child!
Abruptly, he frowned. "Oh,
dash it. I have to meet Captain Caruthers at the club. He has some paperwork
for me. Oh, fiddlesticks. Bonner is running an errand, too."
"Sweetheart," I
whispered, and came forward and caught his arm. "I am feeling peaky. I am
going to have a lie-down before dinner, and Mother will be back any
moment."
He scrutinized me and hesitated.
I bravely put a hand up to his cheek and kissed him softly on the lips.
Yuck. It was like kissing the devil. I was
playing my last card now. This was the moment I had been waiting for. I had to
get him away just for five minutes. That was all I needed, desperation making
me act wildly.
I pulled him to me in a fierce
embrace, kissed him hard, and he responded. I was playing the part to
perfection, the doting fiancée, and he bought it.
He pushed me back. "I am so
looking forward to the party and our wedding," I said sweetly, one hand
behind my back, nails digging into the skin of my palms.
"I must go," he said.
"You go and lie down. I’ll see you at dinner and we’ll talk more then. I
am so glad you are being a lady!"
Oh, you won’t see me at
dinner, Cal. You’ll never see me again. Oh, I am enjoying playing you for a
change, my mind bubbled.
He left the room, holding me
possessively by the arm. I floated to the stairs and watched him take his coat.
I slowly started walking up the stairs backward, smiling at him.
"The door will be locked,
but Ruth has a key. See you later, sweetpea." I waved at him coquettishly
and turned to go to the top of the stairs. Dutifully, I went to the nursery,
lay down on the bed, and put an arm across my forehead. I heard his footsteps
come up the stairs and he put his head around the door to look at me. "I
won’t be long. Sleep well, Rose," he said softly.
Ugh, I thought, trying not to laugh. I heard
his footsteps recede down the hall and the bang of the door. I lay on the bed
for a few minutes, then went to the window and could see his car drive off down
the road.
This was it. It was now or never.
And I had to be fast!
Jack
I would never be able to thank
Molly enough. She insisted on giving me a great wad of cash.
We argued, and she said she owed
me and wanted to help. In the course of the argument, I asked her why she liked
me so much, and she replied that I was like her own son and softly she told me
of the time on the ship that she had lent me her son’s tuxedo and told me about
dining in first class with Rose and her family and why.
Rose. That name haunted me. In my dreams, I saw
her face. From the smudged face, alive, electric eyes, her lips parted softly,
saying, "Jack, I love you." Was she a dream or a fantasy? Had she
ever been real? I had rescued her from chucking herself off the back of the
Titanic, Molly said. I wished I could remember the feeling, but I couldn’t.
"Molly, I am going to catch
the train in the morning to wherever the fancy takes me. I want to get into
art. I want a studio, maybe somewhere like California, where it’s warm and the
light’s good, I hear," I said.
Molly laughed. "You’ll be a
fine artist, Jack. You’ll make it big, I say. Those sketches you’ve done of the
park and the staff are superb. I’ll get Benson, the footman, to help you pack
your stuff."
I hugged her. "You’re too
good for me," I said, happy now that I had made some definite plans.
Rose
I slowly turned the dial of Cal’s
safe, my heart thumping wildly. The fool had my birthday numbers as a safe
combination. I yanked it open, reached in, grabbed a huge wad of bound notes,
and then, on the second look, a heavy jewelry box. That damned necklace.
It was mine, all I had to remind
me of my lost love.
I shoved it into the pillowcase I
was using as a bag, along with the cash. I had just grabbed some basic clothes
and a small coat and some dresses, the plainest I had.
I looked around frantically and
ran to the office window. Oh, joy, I was in luck. With brute force, feeling
like a wild animal, I pulled open the catches to the downstairs window and
struggled to lift the sash. It opened slightly. Thank God I was still skinny. I
managed to slide out the window, dragging the pillowcase.
Freedom. The wind rushed through
my long hair. It was chilly, but I didn’t notice in my thick red silk dress. I
hadn’t been warm since being in the ocean. I crept along the perimeter of the
garden wall and managed to reach the side gate. It was open.
Oh, God, you are smiling on
me. I laughed. I sneaked
through the gate and dashed around the corner from the house.
Then I ran until my lungs burned,
never stopping until I could reach the station.
I am free! We are free, me and
the baby! I thought. Jack,
your baby. Can you hear me? I have escaped Cal. Now, to put distance
between me and him. He was not going to be very happy, not at all. I laughed
out loud at the prospect of his horror when he realized that I and the necklace
were long gone.