A TWIST OF FATE
Chapter Seventy-Eight
"This is so awful, Fabri," Maria
whispered softly, sadness in her dark eyes. She glanced across the room to
where Rose was sobbing on the sofa, Jack trying to comfort her.
Fabri bit his lip.
"They knew this might happen."
Maria turned to look at him, surprised that
his words were so harsh.
"Fabrizio, I thought you’d accepted this
situation."
"I have," he whispered back.
"But I have to think of you, Maria. You may be in danger now."
"No, I’m not," she protested.
"What if that man had come for Rose this
afternoon, eh? Would he have taken you, too? Would he have hurt you? What if
they followed you here, eh? They could break in, and God knows what would
happen. I have to think of you, Maria."
"They haven’t found her yet. The paper
said the search had switched here. New York is a big place. They’d never even
think of looking for her in the Italian quarter! She has always worn a hat when
we have been out. We have been careful, Fabri. We have!" Maria tried to
persuade Fabri.
"It isn’t safe anymore, for you, for
Rose, and for Jack. I’m not going to throw them out, Maria. Don’t look at me
like that!" Fabri took Maria’s hand. "But I think they know it’s time
to move on."
Maria looked back at the couple on the sofa.
"Maybe you are right," she replied
sadly.
*****
"Do you really think he is New
York?" Rose asked tearfully.
"I don’t know, Rose." Jack shook
his head. "It doesn’t say." They had both read the article umpteen
times and knew it by heart, but it didn’t stop the questions.
"Maybe he sent people here to ask
questions. Maybe he is here." He squeezed her hand. "But if he is,
you know as well as I do he’ll be in a hotel far from here at the other end of
town. Could be that he had this article put in the newspaper of every major
city."
Rose looked at him, puzzled, her cheeks wet
from crying.
"Well, if he hasn’t a clue where you are
and he gets this article printed everywhere, then he stands a better chance of
hearing from someone who may know something. He has the power to do this. Any
newspaper would be glad of a story from the great Hockley."
Rose ignored the bitter sarcasm in Jack’s
voice.
"So he may not be looking here, then? He
may just be trying to scare me or get information?" Rose brightened a
little, but Jack didn’t smile.
"We can’t take any chances, Rose. After
the man in the suit today..." He paused. "I was afraid for you. And
it made me realize how much you mean to me and how important keeping you safe
is. We can’t stay here any longer. We have to think of Fabri and Maria. It
isn’t fair to them."
Rose rested her head on Jack’s shoulder,
feeling safe and warm there.
"I know what you are saying is right.
The last days have been so good, I forgot what fear felt like."
Jack stroked her hair.
"You are safe, Rose, safe with me.
Tomorrow, I get paid from Joe. Then, we can move on."
Rose lifted her head. "You don’t need
that money Jack, if you don’t want to go back."
"I earned that money, Rose. I need
it."
"But…"
"The money you have is yours. You earned
it from him. But please, don’t expect me to live off it. I want no part of
it."
"It is our money, Jack. Our
future."
"No, Rose. I pay my way."
Rose put her head down again, knowing how
Jack felt on this subject. They had had this conversation before, and there was
no point in arguing. She understood Jack’s point, too, but did not understand
why he was vehemently against taking a dime from her.
"Where will we go?"
"Well, how about Europe? You always
wanted to see it properly."
She lifted her head again to look at him in
wonder.
"Europe? You mean it?"
"Sure. You wanted to do all those things
we once talked about. America isn’t too safe for you. So why not? I can go to
the pier tomorrow and see what ships are leaving. I hope Cal doesn’t know about
me. Then he’ll be thinking that you are somewhere in America. With what you
took from the safe, that maybe you are holed up in a hotel somewhere and just
maybe if a porter or some servant saw this article and recognized you then
they’d call him, hoping for a reward. He would never think you’d leave the
country, would he?"
"No, but if he does know I’m with
you…" Rose trailed off.
"Then he knows he has a problem, for I
know places he would never find you, where a wealthy woman would never go. If
we try and leave the country, he can’t watch every port and passenger
list."
"Will it be safe?"
"Well, we won’t be going first class. It
would attract too much attention! And we, I mean I, don’t have the money for
that. Or the clothes. We have to blend in. But we can get a cabin of our
own." He smiled for the first time.
"We could always travel as Mr. and Mrs.
Dawson," he added.
Rose looked at Jack intently, her eyes
falling into his deep pools of blue.
"I will never go back to him, Jack. I
want no part of him anymore." With this, she pulled off her wedding and
engagement rings.
"I guess I should have done this a while
ago."
"You did it when you were ready
to." Jack kissed her hair. "I am proud of you, Rose. I always will
be."