Chapter 32 - Facing Down What Divides Us - Part III
Within a short time, having handed Layton's plate to him, Melanie sat in a chair at the end of the bed, slowly eating her own dinner as she listened to Layton quickly clear his plate. Since she knew he hadn't had any lunch that day, she added a large roll to his plate, despite it was a near guarantee he was going to leave a trail of crumbs in the bed. But at that point she felt it was more important that he was well fed than she lecture him again about trying to keep a clean bed.
For his part Layton filled the silence by telling her everything Pelton had told him about his injury, ending with she had apparently not thought there was much to it aside from a lot of bruises.
When they finished Melanie took their plates back to the kitchen and washed and dried them before returning to the bedroom. As she walked into the room, her hand suddenly found the small circle of gold in her pocket again.
"I almost forgot." She said as she walked over to her side of the bed and sat down. Pulling out the ring she handed it to him. "Dr. Pelton asked me to give this to you."
Layton's face immediately lit into a smile at the sight of the ring. "Oh, great!" He stated, taking it from her outstretched hand. "I thought that got lost after they cut it off. Thanks for saving it."
Melanie sat for a few moments, imagining the look on his face of how happy he was to have the ring back.
"That's your wedding ring." She finally stated in a non-committal tone.
Layton was still examining the ring under the light by his side of the bed. "You would hardly know it." He replied, paying more attention to the ring than anything else. "This poor thing is really damaged."
Melanie paused for a few moments. She knew it really wasn't any of her business, but she had her suspicions anyway. "Why were you wearing that ring, Layton?"
Rolling back over and looking up, Layton studied her expression for a moment. She had already taken the bandages off for the night, so for once he could see her whole face. But it was her tone more than anything that told him something wasn't right.
He gave a slight shrug, then remembered she wouldn't see it. "It was Zarah's idea, actually." He answered her.
"Zarah?"
"I ran into her a few nights ago in the Night Car. We sat down and had a drink. She said people were noticing I wasn't as visible around the train lately and she wondered where I was."
Melanie was already sniffing something she didn't like. "What did you tell her?" She asked in an almost disinterested tone.
Layton shrugged again out of habit. "I told her I had been working with you in the engine. She wasn't exactly crazy about the idea."
"I'll just bet." Melanie stated in a tone almost too low for him to hear.
Layton frowned at the comment. "She thought it was too dangerous." He explained. "That's when she asked me if I still had our wedding rings. I told her I thought I did. I wasn't really even sure where they were. But she wouldn't leave me alone until I found it and put it on. She said she knew it was just crazy superstition, but she would feel better if I wore mine for good luck. Kind of a Talisman."
"And you bought that?" Melanie asked.
Layton gave her a genuinely confused look. "Why wouldn't I? She was into that sort of stuff before the freeze."
Melanie shook her head, muttering "Men!" as she did so.
"Well?" Layton asked as Melanie got up from the bed.
"Layton, have you not noticed anything about Zarah's behavior as of late?"
Layton frowned again. "Like what?"
"Like she's been warning every woman off of you since you came up the train?"
Layton lay in the bed for a few moments, then started to laugh. "Are you serious? My ex-wife? Melanie, Zarah couldn't careless who I..."
"How many barmaids talk to you in the Night Car, Layton..., recently?" Melanie cut him off.
Layton thought for a moment. "Well, Audrey keeps them pretty bus..."
"And your ex-wife keeps them all at bay according to Audrey. And apparently now she's set her sights on me. She wanted you to wear that ring so I'd take the hint."
Layton laughed again. "Melanie. That's just crazy. I only put the ring on after you were blinded. You wouldn't have even seen or known about it."
Melanie gave him an incredulous look. "Unless she thinks there's more going on here than there is."
Now Layton was starting to look uncertain. "For instance?"
The look remained. "How else would a blind person know you were wearing a ring? And on what finger?"
"I told you?" He asked carefully.
"Try again."
But Layton just shook his head slightly. He really didn't feel like getting into this with her right now.
Why did she care so much about what other people thought? Had she really never dealt with gossip on the train in seven years? For him it had started nearly from the day he took over the train. Some of it was amusing. Like the ones, before he had found a permanent home, that had him bedding down with every female on the train. Personally he had only ever hoped his love life was that great.
Some of it was just ridiculous. Like a few that suggested Wilford was actually still on the train and he was the new front man for him.
But it was only the ones that were just plain vicious that he ever directly addressed. Like the one Bennett had suggested before he knocked the man to the floor of the engine room.
"Well,." he stated past a wide yawn, "I doubt she meant any harm by it, and I sure she never thought this would happen. She'll likely feel pretty bad about it when she finds out."
Melanie watched him roll over in the bed, hugging the coves around him.
"I doubt it." She said softly.
The next morning Layton woke up and carefully began trying to find one area of his body that didn't hurt. But by the time he got to his arms he simply gave up. From the way his body felt he wondered how he ever managed to get any sleep last night, finally settling on that Melanie must have slipped some pill from Pelton into his food, since everything started to go fuzzy just after dinner.
Turning over to her side of the bed, he noted it was already empty.
Glancing at the clock he gave a weary sigh.
8AM.
He fell back on the bed. She was likely already up and off to the engine.
With some amount of effort, he managed to pull himself out of the bed. With any luck he would be able to walk himself down to the engine room to find out what she was up to. But knowing her limitations, she was likely besieged by a happy group of apprentices, all of them eager to have their favorite instructor back.
Well, he told himself firmly, she was HIS teacher first, and he would simply march down there and remind them of that fact.
Cleaning up a bit first, Layton was just puling on his shirt when he walked into the main room and stopped abruptly.
Sitting on the sofa, Melanie appeared to be waiting for him.
All of his senses instantly went on high alert. Whenever Melanie delayed leaving the cabin to go coddle her engine, it was usually because she wanted to talk. And since she was putting the subject matter before her engine, it was usually something fairly serious.
Cautiously he walked over to her, standing in front of her as he tried to judge what he was getting himself into.
"I thought you would be in the engine room by now." He said as casually as he could manage. "Surround by the apprentice hoard."
"No. I was waiting for you to get up. But I didn't want to wake you since Pelton said you needed to get as much sleep as you could so your body could heal."
"Well, I appreciated the lie-in. But I guess it's time to get to work." He stated, hoping he was wrong and perhaps she had just been waiting for her guide to the engine room. "Maybe today we could start in the main engine room. Check with Javi and see if everything ran smoothly last night. Does that sound about right?"
For a few seconds Melanie didn't answer him as she sat still just staring at the space in front of her. But finally she turned slowly to the sound of his voice.
"What's the point of this, Layton?" She finally asked him.
Layton was a bit perplexed by the question. He figured she might be a little cautious about returning him to the forward engine. That was why he had suggested staying in the main engine room to start with.
"The point is so I can learn..."
"Learn what?" Melanie quickly cut him off. "How to get injured? Blinded?" She paused as she turned her face to his voice. "Killed? Because that's what could happen. That's what I could end up doing to you."
"Melanie," Layton started in a deliberate voice. But she quickly cut him off again.
"I didn't even know you had that ring on. If I did I would have told you not to wear it in the engine room. But I couldn't see it, Layton. I can't see the dangers. I know the technical aspects of the engine...but what good is that if I can't see the physical dangers." Her voice fell to a barely audible whisper. "I could have gotten you killed."
Layton could hear the hurt and fear in her voice, and he could tell she was retreating again. Having her teach him the engine had been a perfect way to draw her out of herself. To show her she was still useful to the train. And in his opinion it had been working miracles with her attitude about her condition.
But more than anything it was helping them rebuild their relationship. And as far as he was concerned, he was well on his way to Ms. Audrey's bonus points with her by proving not only was she still useful to the train, but that even if she weren't, it didn't change how he felt about her. So he wasn't about to let her crawl back into that protective shell and shut him out again.
"Melanie, it was an accident." He told her. "Sight or no sight, it could have still happened."
"But it shouldn't have." She replied. "And all I can do is make sure it doesn't happen again."
Layton was pretty sure he didn't like the sound of that.
"How?" He asked.
Melanie looked up again in the direction of his voice. "I'm not taking you back into the engine." She stated resolutely. "The lessons are over."