A TWIST OF FATE
Chapter Sixty-Three
Jack opened the door to his apartment and
stood aside to let Rose enter first. He was deeply worried, his brow furrowed.
Placing Rose’s bag on the table, he closed
the door and locked it. Rose stood miserably in the center of the room.
"You’re safe here." Jack tried to
reassure her.
"When are you putting me on the
train?" asked Rose, looking up for the first time.
"Tomorrow. We are both going to New
York."
"You are coming too?" Rose seemed
surprised.
"Of course I am. Rose, I wouldn’t send
you anywhere alone. I promised to look after you." He took her hand.
"I don’t know what Cal has done to you,
and I hope you’ll tell me, one day, when you want to. But I won’t let you down.
I have a job in New York. I was going to tell you, somehow, before I
went."
Rose gently pulled her hand free.
"What are you going to do in New
York?" she asked. Jack felt pained by the look on Rose’s face. Her eyes
were red from crying all way here and she look frightened.
"First of all, take your hat off and
have a seat. Do you want a drink?"
Rose nodded. Whilst she settled herself and
wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, Jack poured them both a drink.
"Here." He put the glass before her
and sat opposite.
"This is all I have in the world."
Rose looked at the bag.
"It’s a start." Jack tried to be
cheery. "And it’s more than some have. You do understand, Rose, that life
will not be the same anymore."
"If that is what life is like then I
don’t want to live like that anymore." Still clutching the handkerchief,
she took a sip from the glass.
"I have thought about this much. But if
I did not go now, Jack, I could never have got away, ever. Cal convinced the
doctor I was mentally unbalanced. He was sending me away to a home and he...he
told me that he would make sure I would never leave."
Jack looked intently at Rose. Although he
understood this from the note Rose had sent, it still shocked him that anyone
could conceive such an idea. He reached across for her hand and squeezed it. He
tried to be positive.
"Well, you are free of him now. This is
a new start. We stay here tonight and leave tomorrow morning. I have a job
decorating a new restaurant. Just some murals. It will take a week, two at the
most. But the pay is good and my friend Fabri, the one got married; he was
going to put me up for a week. We may have to get somewhere for us to stay
instead, but that’s not a problem. Then, when you are up to it, we’ll make some
decisions about what you really want."
"What I want? Oh, I don’t know. I have
some money to keep me going...I don’t know if I’ll ever be free of him, Jack. I
am so terrified. You don’t know what he is capable of."
"Oh, I do." Jack took a drink.
"How do you?" Rose asked.
Jack could have kicked himself. He didn’t want
to talk about this yet.
"I guess that someone like him could be
pretty mean." Jack tried to bluff his way through.
"Mean? Oh, Jack, you have no idea. I
will never ever be free of him. If he ever finds me, he will kill you, and me
also. Oh, what have I done, Jack? He will always be there, haunting me. I will
see his face wherever I go. I will never be free. Maybe this idea was stupid. I
should have just gone to this home." Rose sobbed into her handkerchief.
"Oh, Rose. I know it seems like this
now. But in time it won’t. Really it won’t. He doesn’t own you, Rose. You are a
person. To send you away? How could he even think up that idea...I don’t
understand how he could have ever thought of it. He didn’t deserve you
Rose." Jack suddenly realized that what he was saying may seem
inappropriate at the moment.
"Cruel? Oh, yes, that is Cal." She
sighed. "There is something I have to tell you Jack. I have to tell you
now."
"You don’t have to tell me
anything." He smiled, trying to make her at ease.
"I do. You see Jack, the day I saw you
last, to say good-bye. Well I had just found out that I was to have a
baby." Jack looked at her in disbelief. A baby. This was something he
hadn’t reckoned on. How could he look after them both? This changed everything.
Rose carried on, staring at the table as she
spoke, not noticing the expression on Jack’s face.
"I thought it was best if I tried being
a good wife and mother. Just like Cal wanted. I thought maybe he would be
pleased and would leave me alone now he had what he desired. I knew I could not
see you again, for that would give a glimpse of the life I...wanted and could
never have. That would be too cruel. But as soon as I got home that day, well,
he started to argue with me. I did not have chance to explain. He ranted and
shouted. Then he threatened to destroy my pictures, the only things I had that
were truly mine. Then he began tearing and smashing them. He wanted to burn
them and took them. I ran after him and…" Rose paused and looked up at
Jack.
"I struggled with him at the top of the
stairs. I fell and I lost the baby."
"Oh, Rose." Jack was at a loss as
to what to say. So he simply said, "I don’t know what to say."
"There is nothing you can say nor
anything anyone can do to change anything Jack. Life is too cruel. The cruelest
thing of all is that I did not want a baby. But I did not wish that to happen.
Yet it did and now I feel guilty." Rose put her head in her hands.
Jack got out of his chair and went over to
Rose.
"Rose, Rose, you must not feel guilty.
It wasn’t your fault." Jack felt very awkward, not sure what to say or do.
He had offered to help Rose, but now, he wasn’t sure if he could help her.
Putting her on a train and taking her to safety was one thing, but coping with
her distress he wasn’t sure about. He had never had to deal with anyone so
upset before.
Rose dried her eyes.
"Dear Jack, I know you mean well."
She patted his arm. "I have to deal with this myself."
Jack sat down again.
"I haven’t told the landlord I’m
leaving, but the rent is paid for the next few days. I am not going to tell
anyone where I am going. That way, I figure no one can follow. I have just a
few things to pack this afternoon. We can go early in the morning. Is that
OK?"
"Yes."
"I have to go out later to pick
something up for dinner. You can stay here with the door locked. Tonight you
can have the bed and I’ll sleep on the couch. The bathroom is down the hall,
though. I’m sorry it ain’t what you are used to."
Rose tried to smile. It was something she was
going to have to get used to.
"Jack, Cal said something to me that I
do not understand. He told me you had left town. Why on earth would he know
that?"
"He has spies everywhere. Maybe they
were watching me."
Rose stiffened. "Then surely he will
come here and look for me. We can’t stay, Jack."
"Rose, I didn’t want to tell you this,
but Cal’s thugs paid me a visit, about the time you went away. They told me to
leave town. I don’t know why. Maybe Cal was jealous. They roughed me up a bit
to get the message across, so I stayed low for a bit, then I went to New York.
So as far as they will think, I haven’t been seen around for a while. They’ll
think I have gone, trust me."
Rose looked at Jack in disbelief.
"They threatened you?"
"You could say that."
"Oh, Jack," cried Rose. "What
have I done to both of us? What have I done?"