UNTIL I FOUND YOU
Chapter Eight
The train pulled into the station
late at night two days later. Tired and irritable from being on the train for
so long, Jack and Rose disembarked. Rose looked around at the station.
"Where are we?" she
asked, stepping closer to Jack.
"Eau Claire station. We’d
better catch a carriage to Chippewa Falls."
"Aren’t there any
cars?" Rose asked. In Philadelphia, there were cars aplenty.
"Not as many as there are in
New York and Philadelphia. The horse and buggy are still the common mode of transportation
here."
"Oh." Rose nodded,
thinking to herself that after a bumpy train ride, she didn’t really want a
bumpy carriage ride, but she had no choice. Hopefully, soon she and Jack could
find a comfortable bed and get a good night’s sleep for once. That awful bunk
on the train was hard and lumpy. Plus, she couldn’t sleep with her husband.
"Hey, you!" Jack
hollered to a boy with blond hair and gray eyes sitting on a crate.
"When’s the next stage to Chippewa Falls?"
"Tomorrow morning, sir! Last
one left about an hour ago!" the boy answered.
"Damn," Jack muttered.
He was hoping to get Rose to a nice inn in town tonight, but it didn’t look
like that was going to happen, and by the look on Rose’s face, she wasn’t very
happy.
"So, what are we going to do
now?" Rose asked, looking up at Jack, shifting her bags into her other
hand.
"I guess we’ll have to sleep
on that bench over there. The town is a mile away, and Chippewa Falls is
two."
"Perfect." Rose sighed
tiredly.
"Come on. It won’t be so
bad. At least it’s pretty warm and the stars are out." He led her over to
the bench. Placing their bags under the bench, they sat down and cuddled closer
together. "If you’re hungry, I have an apple from breakfast this
morning," Jack offered.
"That’s all right, Jack. I’m
not hungry." She sighed, cuddling closer to him, trying to get
comfortable.
"I’m sorry, Rose. I know you
weren’t expecting it to be like this. I promise it’ll get better." Jack
sighed.
"I know it will. It’s just
that…I guess I’m a little homesick. Around this time, I would go into my
father’s study and just sit in his chair. Pretend that he was still alive. His
scent still filled that room. The scent of cologne and tobacco."
"My father’s scent was of
the field. He spent so much time out there. And my mother’s was of home-baked
apple pie. God, I miss them. It’s going to be weird going back to the house and
them not being there."
"I wish I could bring them
back for you, Jack." Rose cuddled closer to him, trying her best to get
comfortable.
"I wish you could, too. In
fact, I wish that they could meet you, Rose. I think they’d like you. I really
do. Especially my mother. She’d say I could learn a couple of lessons from you
on manners." Jack laughed.
"Oh, really? Well, I, for
one, think you’re a perfect gentleman."
"Thank you, Rose." Jack
kissed her head before yawning. "Are you as sleepy as I am?"
Rose nodded. "I can sleep
for a week once we get to a bed."
"Me, too. First stop when we
get to Chippewa Falls is Mrs. Gladys’ boarding house. My house is a little
further away, and I don’t know what my cousin has done with it. So, it’s best
if we stay there."
"All right." Rose
nodded. "Are the people friendly here, Jack?"
"The friendliest. But just
to be on the safe side, let’s keep the details of how we met to ourselves.
Chippewa Falls may be a friendly town, but it has its share of judgmental
people." Jack tightened his hold on Rose.
"All right," Rose
agreed, her eyes drifting closed. Fifteen minutes later, she was in a deep
slumber. Jack stayed awake the entire night, guarding his beloved Rose. He
wanted to make sure that no harm came to her.
"I love you," he
whispered, and continued looking up at the starlit sky.