NOBODY SAID LOVE WAS GONNA BE EASY
Chapter Five
Jack arrived back at the house before Rose.
He had been getting a little intolerant of Rose’s house cleaning ability, and
the fact that after he came home from work he had to clean up after her. Rose had
been spending more time with Ruth lately, and he began to wonder if she missed
life as a society debutante. He sat on the couch and waited for Rose. Rose
arrived home not too long after, and noticed that Jack wasn’t too happy.
"What’s wrong, Jack?"
"Right now it’s you."
"What do you mean, me?"
"I come home from work and clean up the
house because you spend the day with your mother. I can’t keep doing this,
Rose."
"I’m sorry. I’ll start doing better,
Jack. I’ve just never had a relationship with my mother like this. Plus, you
knew that I couldn’t clean well. You said that it was fine."
"But it’s not fine!" Jack yelled as
he stood up and looked at her. She hadn’t seen him like this, and being
pregnant wasn’t going to help that, either.
"Then teach me how, Jack. Why are you
acting this way? It’s not just not being able to clean, is it?" Rose
asked, but Jack never answered her back. He looked at her. He was furious, and
for the next hour, they fought. Hateful words filled the air as they fought
over something that could have been just as easily talked through. With Rose’s
hormones rising because of her pregnant state and with Jack tired from work, it
became more furious than necessary. All the yelling and screaming got to Jack.
He finally snapped and did something he would soon regret. Jack and Rose were
on opposite sides of the room, and therefore, Jack went over towards her in a
furious state and raised his hand and slapped her, causing her head to snap
back. It didn’t take long before he realized what he had done. Jack looked at
Rose, who was shocked and starting to cry. She ran out the door and down the
dark path. She didn’t look back to see if he was coming after her. Rose ran
into town to where her mother was staying.
*****
Meanwhile, back at the house, after Rose had
left, he fell to the floor on his knees and cried. He cursed himself for
breaking his promise to never raise a violent hand to her, and that was exactly
what he had done that night. He knew he had to give her a day before she would
be all right to talk with him, or even more than a day. He told himself to not
go after her, and to wait until she came back to him.
*****
When Rose reached the place, she rang the
doorbell. Ruth answered it.
"Rose, what happened to you? You look a
fright," she said, pretending to care. Rose crumpled in her mother’s arms
and cried all over again. After that, she told her mother that they had gotten
into an argument about her not being able to clean and about how he thought she
missed being in society. Rose also told her mother about how he hit her after
he had promised never to do that. Ruth led her to an extra bedroom so that she
could sleep. After that, she contacted Cal and told him about everything,
including the pregnancy, and he told her that she had to drug her sometime
tomorrow so that they could get her back home with them.
The next morning, Ruth woke her up and asked
if she wanted to go out back and have tea.
"I guess so."
"All right. I’ll leave you to get
dressed, dear," she said, exiting the room. When Rose came outside, the
tea was already made. Ruth had put a powdered drug into the tea so that Rose would
pass out and not know what was happening to her. It only took a few sips before
she passed out on the table. Ruth took her inside and locked her in her room. She
called Cal to tell him that she was getting on a train in a few hours and that
she’d be in Philadelphia soon.
*****
Matt and his father helped Ruth get Rose on
board the train. They had sedated her so that she was awake to others passing
by, but she was basically unconscious and wouldn’t remember a thing. They told
Ruth to drug her once a day with a large dosage so that she was unconscious the
whole way there. Once they got off the train, it left for Philadelphia.