A SIMPLE SOLUTION
Chapter Fifteen

Two Months Later

The warm and much too heavy blanket was tossed to the side as Rose gasped for fresh air. She turned around on the narrow bed she shared with Jack slowly, careful so that she wouldn't wake him up. He was still sleeping peacefully when she had sat up and was facing the window. The sky was light blue, letting her know that dawn would soon be breaking and yet again, she had not slept more than two hours. She was still not quite sure if it was the baby who was keeping her up, or if she was just worried. But worried about what?

Slowly she walked closer to the window, staring down at the street, her eyes wide and attentive, her body fully awake and aware, a feeling that only arose in her in these early hours of the day.

As she was leaning forward on the windowsill, trying to forget the faint discomfort she felt in her back as her body was getting used to considering a new person, she saw a figure moving down on the street. She leaned even closer, squinting her eyes and after a few minutes, her face tensed with recognition.

She hurriedly picked up a shawl from the bench next to the window and after glancing at Jack to make sure he was sleeping and then at Fabrizio's closed door, she carefully opened the front door and ran downstairs, her heart pounding in the silence.

She stood quietly outside the door, staring at the figure, waiting for her to look at her. When she did, Rose smiled softly.

"Helga."

"Yes." The woman walked towards Rose hesitantly, smiling a bit, too.

"I…sorry to come like this. I…have to talk to Fabrizio."

Rose nodded. Somehow, this didn't seem at all strange to her. Maybe she had always known that Helga would come searching for Fabrizio some day and she couldn't be happier for the kind, lonely and unhappy young man that was Jack's best friend. She and Fabrizio had started off on the wrong foot, but now they were friends.

"Of course. Do you want to come inside and wait until he wakes up?" Rose was still smiling softly and Helga's face went bright crimson.

"Oh, you must think I am an idiot. In the night like this. I apologize sincerely. I…"

Rose just shook her head gently, still smiling at the girl. "No, don't apologize. You didn't wake me up or anything. I couldn't sleep. Now, come on and let's have something cold to drink. Maybe you'd like a beer or something?"

Helga looked at her a bit bewildered, just smiling and nodding, but she had probably not understood everything Rose had said.

"Thank you."

She made special efforts to pronounce the words correctly and looked a bit more comfortable at Rose's encouraging nod.

"Come with me."

Helga followed Rose upstairs slowly and the two women sat down in the kitchen, chatting softly. The apartment was still quiet, both Jack and Fabrizio were sleeping deeply as the Sunday morning came closer and closer, making Helga increasingly nervous.

"I came here…yesterday. I live in a hotel and Fabrizio…he wrote letters to me in Minnesota. He told me about this place, that I could come here if I was here. In town."

Helga swallowed hard, searching for more words she could use. It was still difficult for her to speak English, but she had learned a lot over the past few months, when she had only been able to say "thank you" and "hello" and "I don't speak English".

"I left. I…missed him too much."

Rose smiled, recognizing the longing look in the other woman's eyes. The pain of being separated from the man she loved and the nervousness of finally meeting him again.

Helga looked down and nervously bit her lower lip as she gazed into the apartment, trying to see Fabrizio's room.

"He has talked about me?" she asked almost timidly, not daring to face Rose.

"Not that much," Rose admitted, seeing the sorrow spread over the young woman's face. "But I think he's been thinking about you all the time. He has this look in his eyes that can only mean love."

A new smile came to Helga's unsure face and Rose grinned.

"Rose?"

Jack's voice emerged from the bedroom and Helga looked uncomfortable again. She was not prepared to face another person this soon. Talking to Rose was more than enough and she seemed to shrink into the table, vanish into thin air the second Jack entered the kitchen, his hair tousled and his eyes squinting at the light.

"Hey, can't you sleep?" he asked sleepily, glancing at the kitchen clock. It was six o'clock now, but there was no need to get up so early on a Sunday. He looked around the room once more and froze when he saw Helga.

"Helga?"

The woman nodded, smiling shyly at him. "Hello."

"You…you want to see Fabrizio?" Jack asked as if he had been expecting her, but in reality, he was truly surprised to see her there. He had thought that she and Fabrizio were a lost cause.

"Yes."

Rose had stood up now and was pouring Jack a glass of lemonade. He picked it up and then looked back at Helga, who was nervously wringing her hands. She looked at Rose and then at Jack, not knowing if she should tell them the whole truth about why she had come. Should she really? Would Fabrizio hate her for lying to him like that?

Jack's arm snaked around Rose's waist softly and she leaned into him, pondering on the look in Helga's eyes.

"Should I go and wake up Fabrizio?" she asked Jack quietly, who just nodded, motioning for Helga to sit down again and reluctantly she did, glancing at him nervously.

"Would you like something to eat?"

Helga shook her head and anxiously started biting her lip again, not knowing what to say to Fabrizio's friend. He didn't seem angry with her at all and she didn't know why, she couldn't understand why he was so kind to her. He should be angry and refuse to see her.

Rose entered Fabrizio's room silently and sat down on his bed, softly shaking him.

"Fabrizio, wake up. Come on, wake up. There's someone here to see you."

Fabrizio looked up at her drowsily, but the sleep was immediately drawn from his eyes when he saw the expression in hers. She looked so happy and excited and surely she wouldn't wake him up like this unless there was something unbelievable going on.

"What?"

"Come on, get dressed, and go to the kitchen."

Fabrizio lay there for another few minutes after she had left him and his mind was spinning wildly. Finally, he got up and put on the first pants he found and then a shirt. He closed the door and walked to the kitchen, still groggy.

Helga got up when she saw him in the doorway and started to speak, but no words escaped her throat and she could just stare at him. He met her gaze, shaking with shock and excitement. Helga was there. Helga, his beautiful angel who had been gone for months. Helga who had never returned any of his letters since that first one. Helga who fit in his arms as if she were made for him.

"Helga…" he whispered, not even seeing Jack and Rose discreetly moving out from the room. He just walked up to the beautiful blond, nervous woman and before he knew what was happening, she had melted into his arms, holding on to him tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Fabrizio," she whispered, her voice muffled and he just hugged her even more tightly, forgetting everything but the fact that she was in his arms, she was actually there. The part of him that had disappeared with her was back. The bitterness was gone and he felt hot tears escaping his eyes at the thought of her leaving again.

"Don't leave me again," he managed to get out and she sank even deeper into his embrace, no reply necessary.

Rose smiled softly at Jack as they closed the kitchen door and went back to their own bedroom.

"Oh, I hope they'll find some happiness this time. She looks so lost, Jack. So lost. I found her outside the front door, just standing there, not knowing what to do."

Jack nodded, still thinking about Fabrizio and hoping that Helga wouldn't let him down this time. His friend wouldn't be able to handle a new heartache like that.

"Did you see how he embraced her? Wasn't that romantic?" Rose sighed, sinking down on the bed. Jack laughed and sat down next to her, taking her hand.

"It was. Very. But I can think of something even more romantic…"

Rose looked up at him, frowning. "What is that?"

"You and me, alone in this room."

Laughing, Rose leaned forward to kiss his face softly. "Yeah, that is romantic."

They started kissing deeply and Jack gently moved her body and his so that they were lying on the bed together. Just as his hand touched the buttons on her nightgown, she yawned until sleepy tears had formed in her eyes. Her hand had covered her mouth and she rubbed her eyes before looking at him again. He was smiling now, an amused twinkle shining in his eyes.

"Sleepy?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Jack." Shaking his head softly, he pulled the covers over her and tenderly stroked her hair as her eyes fell shut.

"You should try to get some sleep. I know that you spend half the nights awake, Rose." She looked up at him sleepily. "Is it the baby that's keeping you up?"

Shaking her head, Rose, pulled him down closer to her. "I'm not sure. I'm just can't fall asleep. I'm really, really tired though."

He laughed quietly and kissed her cheek a few times, his lips soft and light as butterfly wings on her skin. "Get some sleep now then. You want me to stay here until you're asleep?"

Nodding, Rose closed her eyes again and to her joy, he sat there until she found herself drifting off to dreamland finally. "Sweet dreams, Rosie," she thought she heard him say and then she was asleep finally, walking through some dreamlike valley with him.

Jack placed another kiss on her cheek before quietly getting up from the bed. He left the room, still smiling softly, filled by his love for her and for their life together. The past weeks, the blissful weeks after the wedding had been perfection, they had been what he had dreamed would happen when Rose had been away.

They had taken a short trip to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, since they had both wanted a simpler honeymoon and Rose said she would love to see the town where he grew up and, to their joy and gratitude, Molly had been kind enough to pay for the trip. She had practically ordered them to go. "And I'm not taking any money back from you two. All I want is for you to be happy. Now take care of each other and don't go out ice fishing or nothin'." Jack had told Molly about his encounter with icy cold water during one of the friendly lunches Molly had invited them to.

Trying not to hear Fabrizio and Helga talking, Jack sat down on the couch in the living room, thinking about the past months. Soon, their lives would change forever, when the baby arrived and now it seemed like Fabrizio would have true happiness, too. Jack smiled to himself. How was it that Rose had known that Helga was outside? He shrugged, running a hand through his hair. Wonder when it's safe to go in there. I'm really hungry.

He chuckled softly as his eyes drifted over to the window, seeing the birds flying side, just singing happily, telling the world that it was morning. The only cloud on the perfect sky was the fact that Rose wasn't with him right now, that she was alone in dreamland, because she couldn't fall asleep when he did.

He frowned for a moment, wondering what could be wrong. But, soon enough, he allowed the sweet, happy, memories from the past months to take over his body. He could see Rose laughing on the train to Chippewa Falls, Rose smiling at him as he tried to convince her that it was okay for them to go swimming in Lake Wissota without bathing suits, scrunching up her face in disbelief, laughing happily.

"You're crazy! I'm never doing that! Jack…Jack, no, Jack." All the while, she had been giggling and of course, eventually, they had ended up doing it of course, but at night, so that Rose could be safe from peering eyes.

Jack remembered how she had bought him some colored pencils so that he could give his sketches some of the many colors of the rainbow. He had already used almost all the red color, for the many portraits of Rose and her beautiful curls.

Yawning, Jack leaned back on the couch, still remembering all the wonderful things that had happened and how happy he was to be alive. He wondered what was going to happen between Fabrizio and Helga now and he couldn't help but wish that they would get a place of their own. He loved Fabrizio, but he knew both he and Rose deserved more privacy. Well, as long as we're all happy and safe, he thought contentedly.

Chapter Sixteen
Stories