Rose (Suitors of Seattle) (17 page)

“How was your day?” he asked.  Would she mention the man he’d seen her with?

“Oh, it was great.  The morning sickness wasn’t as bad as it’s been so I worked on my knitting, and I cut out some clothes for the baby that I’ll start sewing on Wednesday.”  She smiled happily, tucking her hand through his arm and guiding him to the small parlor she preferred.  “I know it’s early to start the sewing, but I can’t help but be excited.  I want to make her a tiny little quilt as well.”

“Her?” he asked, grinning at her enthusiasm while he died inside.

“I’m not calling my baby an ‘it’ and I think it will be a girl, so ‘she’ and ‘her’ are the pronouns I’ll use.”

“Okay.”  He sat beside her on the couch, wondering if the man she’d been with earlier had sat with her there.  “What will you do tomorrow?”

She shrugged.  “Tomorrow’s my day at the home for battered women.”  She looked down at her hands sadly.  “Aunt Harriett told me yesterday that the new woman, Annie, went back to her husband.  Her arm is barely mended from the break, and she’s already going back.  He promised he wouldn’t hit her again.”

“You think he will?”

“I don’t know.  I think any man that would hit the woman he loves once would do it again.  What’s to stop him if he knows she’ll just go back to him?  I hate it, but I do think he’s going to hurt her again.”

The maid came to the door then to let them know it was time for dinner.  Shawn was surprised that in everything she did, he could see nothing that would indicate anything was different or that she was seeing another man.  The woman was born to be on the stage.

After dinner, Rose smiled at him, running her hand down his arm.  “Are you going to do paperwork tonight?  I thought I’d spend the evening upstairs.” 

Shawn stared down at Rose, obviously torn.  She was acting like she had their entire marriage, as if she was interested in him sexually.  As if she loved him.  It was hard to watch her act that way, knowing that she felt absolutely nothing for him.  “I need to work.”  He pressed an absent kiss to her cheek.  “I’ll see you at bedtime.”

Rose watched him walk away, unsure of why he’d just turned her down.  He never did that.  She shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck.  She could use a bath anyway.

After her bath, she changed into her nightgown and climbed between the sheets, determined to stay awake long enough to make love with her husband.  He may not love her, but he made her feel loved every time he touched her, and sometimes that was just as important as the words were.

She couldn’t imagine why he’d turned her down.  Usually if she made the offer, he followed along behind her to the bedroom with no questions asked.  If it meant putting off paperwork, then he’d put off paperwork and just do it the following morning.  She worried that something was wrong with him he hadn’t mentioned. He’d asked about her day, but she hadn’t asked about his.  Was that it?  Was he upset that she hadn’t asked about his day?

When Shawn finally opened the door to
come to bed, she smiled in the darkness, happy to be able to show her love for him.  He undressed and climbed into bed, staying on the opposite side of the bed.  She rolled to the middle of the bed to let him know she was still awake and pressed against his back, her hand rubbing his shoulder gently. 

“How was your day?” she asked softly.

Shawn laid there for a minute, wishing he could pretend he was asleep, but she knew his sleep habits as well as he did at this point.  “Long.” 

When he said nothing else, she moved away.  “I’ll let you sleep then.”

He stared at the wall for a moment, before rolling to face her and pulling her to him, making love to her with an intensity that surprised them both.  He held her and played with her body, making her cry out again and again before he finally claimed her. 

She fell asleep with her head pillowed on his shoulder, a slight smile curving her lips.  As he stared down at her in the darkness, he wondered if she was dreaming of him or the man from the park
.  Would he ever be able to trust her again?

*****

When Rose arrived at the battered women’s house the following morning, Mildred met her at the door.  “Annie’s back, and it’s not good.”  Mildred’s eyes were sad.

Rose closed her eyes, worried about her.  “What happened?”

“He came here begging her to come back.  He promised he’d never hit her again.  He promised she would be treated like a queen.  He told her he loved her and missed her, so she went home with him.”  Mildred had tears in her eyes as she explained.  “A neighbor heard her screams last night and went to check on her.  She was on the floor unconscious.  He’d left her there, obviously not caring what happened to her.”

“Please tell me he’s in jail!”

Mildred shook her head.  “Of course not.  It’s not against the law to beat your wife.”  She walked toward the kitchen, knowing Rose would follow.  “The neighbor went and got the doctor who checked her out.  He said she’ll be okay, but she has several broken ribs and her cheek is broken.  She has a black eye and a concussion.”  Mildred ladled a portion of soup out of the pot she’d cooked it in.  “This broth should help her.  She’ll need you to feed it to her.”

Rose sighed.  “Annie hates me.”

Mildred smiled, patting Rose on the shoulder.  “Annie hates everyone.  She asked for you when she woke up.”  She put the bowl on a tray along with a spoon. “Take it to her.”

Rose took the tray up the stairs, wishing
for the right words to say.  She knocked once on the door to Annie’s room and pushed it open.  She cringed inwardly when she saw Annie’s face, but set the tray down on the dresser.  Taking the bowl of soup, she sat beside the older woman’s bed, and dipped the spoon into the broth.  “I’m glad you’re here,” Rose told her simply.

Annie nodded, her eyes filled with tears.  She opened her mouth for the bite and swallowed.  “I am too.  I never should have gone back to him.”  One lone tear spilled down her face.  “I just wasn’t ready to let him go.”

“I know you weren’t.”  Rose spooned up another bite.  “Are you ready to let him go now?”

Annie considered that as she ate the next few bites off of the spoon.  “I think I am.  The first time I left, when I was here before, I felt like my life was over if I couldn’t have him in it.”  She looked at Rose, a smile tilting a corner of her mouth on the side that didn’t have a broken cheek.  “All I can think about now is going on.  Starting over.  I think I’m going to go home.”

“Where’s home?” Rose asked.

“Alabama.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”  She fed Annie another bite of the soup.  “Are your parents still there?”

Annie nodded.  “They are. 
They didn’t want me to marry Arnold.  I did anyway, and look where it got me.”  She gestured to the room.

“This is a good place.  We’ll take care of you until it’s time for you to go home.”

“I need to get a job to earn a train ticket.”  She frowned.  “I’m afraid to leave here, though.  What if I run into him on the street?”

“Don’t worry about the train ticket.  I’ll talk to my aunt Harriett, or I’ll buy one myself.  We’ll get you home as soon as you’re healthy enough to travel.”

“Why are you being so nice to me when I wasn’t nice to you before?”

Rose shrugged.  “I’ve never been in the position you were in.  If I found myself being hurt by my husband, and my parents couldn’t help me, I would hope I would be able to find someone who would help.  Let me be your someone.”

Annie nodded.  “I’m grateful.”

“I don’t want your gratitude.  Just promise me you won’t go back to him.  No matter what he says.”

Annie sighed.  “I promise.”

*****

On Saturday, Rose and Lily went back to the dressmaker’s shop.  Lily was fitted to her dresses, and Rose was thrilled with how perfectly they fit.  They’d chosen well for her sister’s slim build and coloring. 

While they were there, Rose ordered several new dresses of her own, explaining they would have to have room to be let out for her later months.  The dressmaker had been making clothes for Rose since she was a little girl, and she loved the idea of making clothes for Rose’s children.  “I can’t believe you’re old enough to have a child of your own!” she exclaimed.

Rose grinned.  “I can’t either, but I am.” Her hand automatically went to her still-flat stomach.  “Another seven and a half months or so and she’ll be here.”

“She?  That determined to have a girl?” Lily asked.  “Does
Dr. Shawn know?”

Rose nodded.  “I told him we were calling her
‘she’ until we learned differently.”

“I’d love to have a niece.”  Lily sighed.  “I’d love to have a daughter of my own.”

Rose shook her head emphatically.  “Don’t rush things.  I think Mama was right to make me wait until I was eighteen.  I can’t imagine my life if I’d married anyone but Shawn.”

As they left the dress shop, Lily asked, “Do you like being married?”

Rose nodded.  “I do.  I love everything about it.  Shawn is a good husband to me.”  She frowned slightly as she said the last bit.

“Why are you frowning if he’s a good husband?”

“I don’t know.  He’s been acting strangely for a few days.  It’s like something’s wrong, but he hasn’t said what.  I’m trying to figure out what his problem is.”

“Have you asked him?”  Lily had always been practical.

Rose shook her head.  “Not yet.  I will this evening.  He went to work this morning.  On a Saturday.  Usually he keeps the weekend free for us to do things together.  I don’t know why he’d work today unless he’s upset with me about something.”

“Just ask him.”

The main thing that had been different about Shawn was his lack of sexual interest in her.  She couldn’t figure out why he didn’t want to touch her all the time like usual.  Was he afraid he’d hurt the baby?  Was there something else going on that she didn’t know about?

When Rose got home from the dress shop, Shawn was in his study.  She went to the door and knocked on it, determined to talk to him immediately.  Having voiced her opinion aloud to Lily gave her courage she hadn’t had before. 

At his call of “come in”, she opened the door and went to sit in the chair opposite his desk. 

“Is something wrong?” she asked bluntly.

He raised an eyebrow, resting his chin on his joined hands.  “What could be wrong?”

She shrugged.  “I have no idea.  You’ve been acting differently, though.”

“Different in what way?”

“Well, you don’t seem interested in…making love anymore.”  She said the last words quickly to get them out.  “Is it because of the baby?”

Shawn felt the annoyance building inside him.  She could sit there and ask him what was wrong with him when she was obviously having an affair?  What did she care if he was making love to her or not when she had another man happy to fill in for him?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he answered coldly.

Rose sighed and stood up.  “I’m going to go take a nap.  If you want to talk to me, you can find me there.”

*****

Shawn watched Rose leave his office, feeling angrier than he had in a while.  She’d acted as if nothing were wrong when they both knew that she was seeing another man.  Why couldn’t she just come right out and admit it?  What did she think to gain by not saying anything to him about it?

Shawn stared down at the paperwork in front of him.  He didn’t want to do any of it.  All he wanted to do was hunt down the man he’d seen Rose with and hit him.  He wouldn’t hit her, of course, especially not now that she was pregnant with his child.  He could hit whatever man she was seeing, though.

As the day wore on, Shawn became angrier and angrier.  Once Rose was up from her nap, she went to her parlor and resumed her task of making things for the baby.  He couldn’t figure out why making tiny little clothing items made her so happy, but it obviously did. 

In the late afternoon, he spoke with one of the maids.  “Please move my wife’s belongings to another bedroom.  I’m worried that I’ll roll over and hurt her in my sleep, and I have no
desire to injure her or the baby she carries.”

The maid nodded and rushed to see to Shawn’s wishes.  He couldn’t sleep in bed with the woman he loved every night and know she was thinking about another man.  It would make him crazy.

*****

When Rose opened the door to their bedroom that night, she saw that none of her things were there.  She went downstairs to ask Shawn what had happened.  “Shawn?  Why are my things missing?  Where are they?”

Shawn didn’t look up from his book.  “I had one of the maids move them.  They’re in one of the other bedrooms.”

Rose bit her lip, trying not to cry in front of him.  “I don’t understand.” 

Shawn shrugged.  “I don’t want to hurt you or the baby in my sleep.  What if I roll on top of you?”

Rose stared at him for a moment, unsure whether he expected her to believe that nonsense or he was joking.  Finally, she decided he must really want her to believe it
, and she rushed from the room, tears falling unchecked. 
Why is he treating me this way?  Did he just want a baby, and now that I’m pregnant there’s no need for him to sleep with me or talk to me or be around me?