Chapter twenty: Demons

"Does she know that you love her?" Rosemary asks.

"Why am I even talking to you?" Thomas says with an exhale. Rosemary has been grilling him for what seemed like an entire day, but was actually three hours. She'd been quiet until Kate had finally fallen into a calm and peaceful sleep.

"Because I'm her sister and I've had an investment in this whole thing from the beginning. I got into a lot of trouble for you two." She explains. "I don't think she loves Emmett. I think she wants out of this house and this life and he's the best she can do. I know she loves you."

"How?"

"It was clear to me when I saw the way she was acting with you the moment you two walked in the house. Kate never fights with anyone, even Emmett. That's why I made sure you two got to spend all day at that awful fair."

He blinks in surprise. "You wanted to be there!"

"God no, you two needed to spend time together and it worked. You completely forgot I was there at least ten times. And I had to fake that nap in the boat on the lake!" he stared at her in surprise. "That was the most uncomfortable position, I had to lie in for hours, but at least you two talked during that whole time!"

"You…are far craftier than I give you credit for."

"Thank you." He shakes his head in amusement at Rosemary's satisfied tone. "Then you had to go and leave for two weeks, she was distracted and quiet! Then you came back and she was happy again. I daresay I even know the moment you fell in love with her. Was it when you saw her in the wedding dress?" Thomas exhales, vexed that a thirteen year old could see how strongly he felt about her sister. "I saw the look on both your faces when you lifted the veil. I think the two of you forgot we were all in the room for a second. Am I right?"

He nods. "You're right."

"What happened between the two of you the night of the ball? That's when she started acting strange. Oh, and by the way, I'm the one who flattened the tire."

"It's complicated."

"Good God," her eyes widened. "you tried to have sex with her at the ball!" Thomas chokes. "No wonder she was out of sorts that night. Katherine's not ready for that sort of thing and you tried way too early!"

"I did not!" She looks at him skeptically. "I just kissed her that was all."

"Well, that was some kiss then!" she tilts her head to the side. "If Emmett hasn't traumatized her, she might let you try-

"I am not going to discuss having sex with your sister, with you." As cute as Rosemary is, the girl has no filter on her mouth.

"Fine." She sighs as she continues. "She tries to avoid you, but she always looks so upset when you're gone. I also catch her looking at you, when she thinks no one is looking. And today," she shook her head, pressing one hand to her heart dramatically. "you might as well have been a prince riding in to save her from the evil dragons."

"It was just your mother, hardly a dragon."

"Doesn't Emmett qualify as a dragon?" he shoots her a look and she shakes her head. "You're right, he's a fly." He smirks as he brushes a hand through Kate's hair again. "I've never heard her cry before, even when she came back from the war. Everyone tells me it was no big deal, but I know better. What did she see?"

Thomas is silent for a long time; he can't tell her anything that he saw. It haunted him, he can only imagine how long it's been tormenting Kate and she's tried to bear it all on her own. "She saw Hell." He said simply. "She thought she was free, but, she realized that she never left."

There's a tap on the door, causing them to look towards the door. Rosemary carefully gets off the bed. "Who is it?" he asks as he raises his voice enough to be heard, but not enough to wake Kate.

"Mr. Shelby?" it's Mr. Kovach. "Let me in."

Rosemary looks to him. "I'll get the door for you."

"You're in there too Rosemary?" her father sounds confused.

"If he's alone," he states. "let him in."

Rosemary walks over to the door. "Are you alone?"

"Yes. I made her mother and Emmett wait in the library." Rosemary unlocks the door and Mr. Kovach walks in. he's slightly surprised to see Thomas is sharing Kate's bed with her, but the concern becomes apparent when he draws closer and sees her pale face, swollen eyes and tear stained face. He exhales. "She looks so exhausted."

"She cried for almost an hour." Rosemary says quietly. "It was really scary. He got her to stop."

Mr. Kovach exhales and runs a soft hand through his daughter's hair. "We need to talk downstairs."

Thomas shakes his head. "I can't leave her alone. Took forever to get her this way."

"She's asleep Mr. Shelby." Mr. Kovach states. "As improper as it is, I'm indebted to you for helping out my daughter. If you wish to return, I'll allow it, but just for tonight."

Thomas carefully sits up, causing Kate to whimper. "It's alright," he says as he gets out of the bed. "I'll be back. I promise." He looks around and spots her robe at the foot of the bed. He takes it and puts it around her shoulders, brushing her hair back from her face one last time. Rosemary has managed to distract her father about something and he lightly presses a kiss to her forehead. She stirs, but doesn't wake. He then steps towards her bedroom door. "Right, let's get this over with."

Mr. Kovach shuts the door. "Rosemary, short version of what happened today."

"Emmett bought Kate honeymoon tickets to France." Rosemary doesn't even try to hide her disdain. "Kate started crying and Mr. Shelby tried to get her to calm down. Mother started screaming at her, calling her a selfish person. She also said that Kate needed to get over the war because she endured nothing. Kate collapsed and Mr. Shelby carried her upstairs. I went with him and I locked them out of her room because they were still upsetting her. They only left when Mr. Shelby pointed Kate's gun in Emmett's face." Rosemary then added hastily. "It was empty, I saw him empty the gun myself. He then told everyone to leave and not to bother them until you arrived." She held her father's gaze. "He took care of Kate. All mom and Emmett wanted to do was argue, but he helped her."

Her father nodded. "Thank you. Now, go have your dinner." Rosemary pouts and walks down the stairs. He turns to Thomas and exhales. "Let's right this situation."

The moment they entered the library, the shouting had started. Emmett was still there and this time, the man actually had some color in his face from anger. About time, the man started showing some emotions. "You pointed a gun in my face!" unfortunately, the emotions were aimed at him and not at his fiancée who was upstairs bedridden.

"You two seemed oblivious to the fact that she had to endure a traumatic time!" Thomas snapped as they shut the door behind him. "How were you two helping her?! She was on the floor sobbing and all your screaming at her was making it worse. I wasn't going to allow you two to torment her further!"

"How dare you say such a thing!" Mrs. Kovach snapped.

"Mr. Shelby pointed an empty gun at the two of you. He's not as irresponsible as he seems."

"Why is he still here?" Emmett demands. "Every time I see him, he's with Katherine!"

"Are you implying, something Webber?" Mr. Kovach demands. "That Kate isn't being faithful to you?"

"I'm saying I think his motives aren't as clear as they appear!" Thomas can barely keep a straight face, because Webber's suspicions are actually correct.

"I trust you're aware that Kate and I were both at Verdun?" Thomas bites out. "We know a lot of men who did or didn't make it."

Emmett now has the decency to look uncomfortable with his accusation and the anger whooshes out of him instantly. "I wasn't aware of that connection. I apologize, Mr. Shelby."

"Do you know anything about her time in the war?" he demands. "Have you asked her about it?"

"I thought she'd put the past behind her."

"None of us ever put it behind us or moved on. I've seen grown men who've come back more broken than her!" he snaps. "It was a f**king hellhole out there. I saw things I never want to see again. I killed men, but she had to try to put them back together. And then she got shot!" his anger level is boiling. "I'm almost tempted to put a bullet in you so you'll understand what the hell that feels like!"

"Oh, I know what a bullet feels like, Mr. Shelby!" her mother suddenly spits almost venomously. "I've felt their sting and seen blood before."

"Willow," Mr. Kovach reached for her hand. "Easy. You don't need to tell him."

"I'm fine." She pulled her hand away. "December 29th, 1890. I was 8 years old; it was snowing hard in Dakota. I should inform you at this point that I am part American Indian, Lakota. The American Calvary had been sent in to disarm us." Her tone was calm and unemotional. "Not to bore you with the details, someone fired a shot and the American Calvary went crazy, shooting down over 300 Indians including women and children. My own mother was shot down while nursing my baby brother." She runs a hand through her hair. "I can no longer remember where the scar is, but I assure you, there's a section in my hair that shows where a bullet grazed my scalp when I was 10."

This is the exact moment Thomas sees her mother clearly for the first time. Her dark eyes now reveal the storm that she's tried to keep at bay for years, but failed. "When I came, to, there was a blizzard and all I could do was wait under the nearest corpse for the storm to break, which it did three days later. Afterwards, I was taken to pine ridge reservation. I was one of 50 to have survived that. My brother was found frozen to my mother's breast. I escaped shortly after and traveled south. A 'family' found me on the trails and claimed me as their own. They took me down to Mexico, where they used me in every fashion they desired for 8 years. After that, I met and married Gilbert, after he rescued me." Thomas now understood so much more about her mother. She'd lost her entire family, endured abuse, but was too hard to break. Is this what Kate could have been like, had she not finally cried? "I never cried and I never looked back for the family I lost. They were gone and my tears wouldn't bring them back. My daughter is too weak to do the same thing!"

Thomas is silent for a long time, pondering on her words for a long time. "I am sorry for your loss, you lost your family and you clearly had a horrible life until you met Mr. Kovach. But just because you endured that, it doesn't mean Kate hasn't suffered." Her mother rolls her eyes. Kate must know what happened to her mother, which is why she's so submissive to her mother. "She was at Verdun, where an average of 70,000 men a month died. Some died on the battlefield and you can imagine how many died in hospital while she tried to help them."

"Regardless of what she saw or feels, she has to move on." her mother says plainly.

"I've met men, my own brother included, who haven't moved on. If grown men haven't moved on, how can you expect a woman to?"

"Because she is getting married and she cannot carry that in her future. It's her past."

"Her past is a part of her." he turns to Emmett. "If you truly love her, you take all of her, demons included."

"Alright, everyone needs to calm down. This has clearly been a stressful day and I'm truly sorry that I wasn't here when all of this went down." Mr. Kovach sighs as he moves towards his wife. "Willow, my love," he kisses her twice. "I do wish you'd lighten up on Kate, but I also know that you do love her and want what's best for her." he pulls her into a hug, which after a moment of hesitating, she returns it. "I love you." Thomas is almost certain he sees her mother blush faintly as Mr. Kovach whispers something in her ear before kissing her on the cheek. The embrace is brief and Thomas sees that Mr. Kovach loves his wife, no matter how hard of a woman she may be to love. "Let this matter go. Please.

"Alright." She breaks the embrace to tuck a strand of her hair back behind her ear. "I'll go check on Rosemary. Will you be joining us for dinner?"

Mr. Kovach nods. "Of course, I'll be along soon." He turns towards Emmett as Mrs. Kovach leaves the room. "I trust that you'll be exchanging those tickets as soon as possible?"

Emmett's silent before asking. "If she has her demons, shouldn't she face them? Now would be the perfect time, I can help her through it."

Thomas goes for the whiskey as Mr. Kovach patiently shakes his head. "When she's ready, she will. Just because you're ready, doesn't mean that she is." He points out. "My wife hasn't completely come to terms with hers and every once in a while, they torment her. I don't love her any differently. I love her more because I know how hard it was for her to finally let go and trust that I loved her after so many people had hurt her."

Emmett nods. "I understand. I do want the best for her and I'm sorry to have caused this. I genuinely didn't think this would upset her that badly."

Thomas quietly curses Emmett in Romani as he downs his glass of whiskey. Mr. Kovach turns to him. "And you, Mr. Shelby, I thank you for acting in my daughter's best interest. I daresay you've seen a few men react that way, when it's a woman…it's hard to see."

Emmett nods and steps towards him. "I don't appreciate you pointing the gun in my face, regardless of it being empty, but I am thankful for you taking care of Katherine. I do love her," Thomas doesn't doubt it; he only doubts the depth of his love for her. "these have been difficult times for us due to the preparations; me passing the exam, neither of us have been able to see each other as much as we want. While I dislike you and your manner, I am glad that she has a friend who she can confide in during my absence." He extends his hand towards Thomas. "Shall we put this behind us?"

Thomas hesitates for a moment before reluctantly shaking Emmett's hand. "Agreed."

"Good, now, I'd like a word with Mr. Shelby in private."

"Will you tell Kate, I'll call her tomorrow?" Emmett asks Mr. Kovach, who nods. Emmett turns to Thomas. "Is she doing better?"

"She's sleeping now. I'll check on her before retiring."

"Thank you." He pauses for a moment. "Maybe, one of these days all three of us can sit down at talk about it. She's never told me any of that and maybe, she'll feel more comfortable with you being present in the room." Thomas simply nods. Emmett picks up the envelope with the two tickets and exits the library.

As soon as the door shuts, Mr. Kovach instantly demands. "What's going on between you and my daughter?"

Thomas blinks, slightly surprised by Mr. Kovach's out of the blue question. "I told you everything. There's nothing new to report."

"That is not what I'm referring to." He states as he folds his hands. "I saw the look on your face when I entered that room and you held her, all day while she cried. I know not something a man with a less than savory motive would do. That suggests a closer intimacy than you're willing to admit." He gestures towards the seat opposite him. "Do me the honor of telling me the truth right now. Is there anything going on between you and my daughter that I should know about?"

daynareynolds: It did seem like she picked it out.

Guest: And again, he managed to escape.

Thehoodedassassin: I bet this one was even more unexpected. I finally told her mother's story, which I haven't done in previous stories. As we've learned, she has her own demons that she needs to reconcile with.

Idcam: Emmett is thoughtless, but he at least had the decency to apologize to Thomas and ask him to help him understand that bit of Kate better. Her father, is clearly more distracted by the obvious.

Mina Silver: Thank you very much. Her mother certainly is.