A TWIST OF FATE
Chapter Seventy-Two
"Look, look, it worked!" squealed
Rose, dropping the hot tray onto the worktop.
"I told you it would," smiled
Maria, looking at the cake Rose had just taken out of the oven. Rose’s cookery
lessons were going well. She had only done basic domestic cookery at school and
had never had to cook before. In the last week, Rose had learned a lot from
Maria. How to buy fresh fruit and vegetables from the market, how to turn them
into something edible. How to sew and how to buy clothes and other requisites
from ordinary shops that didn’t have staff falling over themselves to help you.
These were totally new experiences for Rose and she loved every minute. In
return, she taught Maria about etiquette, how to lay out cutlery for absurd
banquets and which forks and knives to use for what. It was something silly,
but Rose felt she had to give Maria something back and they had had great fun
borrowing cutlery from downstairs and laying huge table placements and talking
about some of the banquets Rose had been to.
They had become firm friends and Rose was
beginning to open up to Maria about her life with Cal. That afternoon, as they
worked, Rose had spoken more openly about what Cal had done.
"Cal was a bad man Rose, not all men are
like that."
"I don’t believe that. Just before I
left, my own Mother told me that me Father was no better than Cal and that if I
had done as I was told…well, she said I brought everything on myself."
"That’s not true! Not all men are that,
my Fabri isn’t. Jack isn’t."
Rose looked up from her sewing. "It
makes no difference to me now Maria. I am Cal’s property and I will never have
another man."
"What do you mean Cal’s property? What
are you talking about?"
Rose sighed. "I am Cal’s wife. I may
have left him but in the eyes of the law he is my husband. He will always be
there, like a ghost haunting me."
Maria leaned forward and touched her arm.
"You have left Cal. You have done the
hard part. Now it is time to move on and you must leave Cal behind."
"How can I? I cannot divorce him. He
will always be there. Maria, I will never forget what he did to me."
"You will never forget, but you will
learn to live with it. And you must move on and leave Cal behind. Otherwise he
has won."
Rose shook her head.
Maria continued. "If Cal is the man you
say he is, he will not look forever for you. When he realizes you cannot be
found, he will move on and find another wife and have his heir. He could
divorce you in your absence. But either way, he will move on and you
must."
"I had never thought of that Maria. You
are probably right. Cal may give up eventually. But I will probably never know
what he does. I don’t want to know."
They sewed a little more in silence. Rose
concentrated on her stitching. She was mending one of Jack’s shirts under Maria’s
guidance. She had only ever sewn tapestries and useless cushions before. Now
this was something important. Shirts had to be mended. They were not cheap to
replace.
Maria looked at Rose, trying her hardest with
the shirt.
"You know Jack cares for you very much,
don’t you, Rose?" she ventured.
Rose looked up straight away. "Jack and
I are friends Maria, nothing more."
"Would just a friend do for you what
Jack did?"
"I told him that I could not care for
him in that way, that I was Cal’s wife. I told him that if he was here as
anything other than a friend than he should go."
"Oh Rose, you care for him too! Just
admit it!"
"Have you not listened to what I have
said?" cried Rose, her face flushed.
"I have listened to you trying to
convince yourself. You are young and have a lot of life to live. Too long to be
held back by that man. If you both care for each other then there is nothing
wrong."
"I don’t want to talk about it Maria.
Please. Can we talk about something else?"
Maria sighed, annoyed that her efforts had
failed.
"I’ll check on the cakes," she said
and went to the kitchen.
Rose put her sewing on her lap. In truth, the
last few days, she had started to have feelings for Jack. She was still
terrified of Cal finding her, but when she was with Jack, she felt safe. She
knew Jack would only do the best for her. Rose also knew Maria was right. Cal
had to be left behind and she had to move on, mentally and physically. But were
these feelings for Jack real or just because he was there? She was sure he
still cared for her. There were the smiles, the genuine interest as to what she
had done all day. But he had not tried to hold her or kiss her again. Probably
because of what she had said.
Jack seemed very happy and relaxed in the
company of his friends. Fabri had been very apologetic to her and very kind to
her since. Genuinely kind and not forced for Jack’s sake. Jack had told her
about the meeting at Joe’s and after the dinner Fabri had prepared she was
ready to give life at the di Rossi’s a chance. She had been very nervous about
going back. But one of the benefits about a society upbringing was how to be
gracious and polite to those who had not been so. She had gone really for
Jack's sake and Fabri tried so hard. He had prepared a special stew that he
used to cook for Jack and it was delicious. Maria was fussing over her like a
mother hen, obviously anxious that all should be right between them and nothing
was mentioned until after the meal. There was an awkward period, after the
plates had been cleared, when they knew it was time to face up to their
problem. They were both sheepish like two naughty boys being told to apologize
by their mother. Rose asked Maria if she could help in the kitchen not really
wanting to witness any anguish or anger that had to be shed. She was almost
shocked to see Maria with her ear to the door listening! But when it was over,
they asked the girls back in the room and Fabri apologized carefully for his
manner.
Rose didn’t recall what he said. She wanted
to forget the whole incident. But Jack had not mentioned them coming to stay.
This invitation was a surprise.
"Please say you will," implored
Maria.
Fabri looked at Jack. He knocked the hair
from his face, smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"It's up to you."
Remembering her manners, she smiled at Fabri.
"Yes we will accept," she replied.
She knew that this was the rift between the two of them healed.