The Wolf you Feed
Chapter 46
Rosie sat on the edge of the bathroom counter. She had a handful of granola in one hand she was slowly eating while she watched her daughter play in the bathtub. The little girl had an old plastic cup she was filling with water and dumping over her own head. No matter how many times she repeated the motion, when the water splashed over her head the little girl laughed and squealed in delight.
The door to the bathroom was open. Rosie could see Spencer as he yanked the shirt he had just put on back off and tossed it onto the pile of recently discarded clothes on their bed. The man's behavior wasn't typical for him and his constant pacing was putting her on edge. He was usually calm and in control of himself. At first Rosie had found the man rather boring. He was handsome. But he was also at least ten years older than her. And white. And the son of the leader of this town, which instead of being a selling point, made her nervous. But once she saw how patient and kind Spencer was to her small daughter, Rosie had decided that after her experiences in the beyond, maybe boring wasn't so bad. Spencer made her feel safe and secure. He was a calming influence on her cousin. And on her as well. Usually.
Spencer paced back towards the closet, staring inside like he was hoping something new had appeared since the last time he checked, which had only been about thirty seconds before. Then he marched to the bed and pulled a shirt from the pile, yanking it over his head with a grunt. Rosie brought her hand up and tossed the last few crumbs of granola into her mouth. Not only was Spencer's pacing putting her on edge, she couldn't even begin to guess the reason for it. She knew they were eating dinner at his mother's house. But they ate dinner at his mother's house at least once a week. Along with half the rest of town. He had never acted like this before.
Rosie stepped into the doorway of the bathroom. But before she had a chance to address Spencer, Eugene stepped into their bedroom.
"Can't find anything to wear?," the man asked, gesturing towards the large pile of rumpled clothes on the bed. Spencer shrugged his shoulders. "You can borrow my shirt," Eugene offered. He pulled out the hem of his oversized t-shirt to display the slogan on the front which read Virginia is for Lovers with a large red heart. Not only was the shirt far too large for Spencer, the front was smeared with an old grass stain.
Eugene's offer had the intended effect. Spencer stopped his frenzied clothing search and began to laugh. Eugene patted the taller man on the back, mumbling something about all mothers being alike. Then he turned and headed off down the hall. Rosie smiled as she leaned down to lift her daughter out of the tub. She had spent enough time quietly observing the man to know that Eugene was much more perceptive than people gave him credit for. He always seemed to have a kind word ready just when she needed it most. Despite having almost nothing in common, he and her cousin Tony got along famously. Their latest joint venture had been setting up new hunting snares around the outskirts of town. Eugene had designed the traps and Tony had built them. Since then, the amount of small game they had been catching had doubled.
"Is everything ok?," Rosie finally asked. She shut the bedroom door before setting her daughter down on the floor to run around. If the door was left open for even a moment, the little girl would streak straight for the staircase. Climbing up and down the stairs was her favorite activity at the moment and Rosie was terrified her daughter was going to end up with a broken limb. That would be scary even in the old world. But now that Denise was dead, their town didn't even have a proper doctor. Breaking a limb could result in permanent disfigurement or even death.
Rosie's daughter tossed the towel her mother had wrapped her in onto the floor and ran naked for the closet. She pulled the door shut behind her, her high pitched giggles easily giving away her hiding place. Spencer ignored Rosie's question for the moment and headed for the closet. He crouched on the floor and waited for the child inside to fling the door back open. When she did he put his hands up like claws and roared at her. She shrieked in delight and threw herself into Spencer's arms, wrapping her small arms around his neck. He carried her to the bed and tossed her down, quickly fastening the child into a cloth diaper before she could wriggle away.
"Nothing's wrong," Spencer said, finally answering Rosie's question. He set her daughter back on the floor, smiling when she immediately took off for the closet again. Rosie stared quietly at him. His words said one thing but his body language and behavior said the opposite. Without a doubt, something was bothering him. Rosie stood quietly for another moment as she considered pressing Spencer for more information. While something was clearly wrong, it didn't appear that anything was wrong between them. Rosie turned and began sifting through the clothes on their bed, looking for something for her daughter to wear. She decided that she would just let the subject drop for the present. If Spencer was still acting strange after dinner she would ask him again what was wrong.
TWD
Reg watched his wife rearrange the place settings on the dining room table for the third time. He smiled. It was still his opinion that this dinner was a bad idea. Deanna and Spencer needed to sit down and talk things out privately. Deanna didn't approve of their son's involvement with the little wolf girl. The girl was too young. She was already pregnant with another man's baby when Spencer met her. And she had a giant W carved into her forehead. She was not the well educated, well spoken daughter-in-law that Deanna had imagined for herself.
Deanna had been unhappy about the relationship from the beginning. But she refused to even admit that to Reg, and definitely refused to say anything to Spencer. Instead she had been what Reg considered to be 'over polite' about the situation and kept herself busy pretending that it didn't bother her at all. Spencer most likely knew his mother disapproved. But he didn't say anything either. Instead he had been pretending that he had no idea what she thought. This was the dynamic of Deanna and Spencer's relationship. They had been dancing around each other since he was a teenager. Both of them were so afraid to hurt the other's feelings that they often didn't say things that needed to be said. This led to problems festering and then eventually one of them would blow up. The process would then start over again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. After what happened in the church, tonight was promising to be a blow up between them.
Before Deanna could arrange the table again, the front door was swung open. Spencer walked in, holding Rosie's little daughter in his arms. The little girl immediately began struggling to get down. Though younger than Rowan's brother, Rosie's daughter was much more active and had begun walking at an extremely early age. She ran for Deanna and began pulling at the leg of the woman's pants, wanting to be picked up. Deanna pulled the little girl up into her arms and hugged her close. Though she wasn't the biological grandchild Deanna had been wanting for years, the little girl was still hard to resist. Deanna's expression softened as she brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen into the child's face and kissed her on the soft round of her cheek. Reg smiled. Maybe this dinner had not been such a terrible idea after all.
TWD
Something strange was still going on. Rosie didn't like it. Spencer and his mother were talking like there was nothing wrong. They had both been contributing to a conversation about the greenhouses that Reg wanted to design and build. But despite their polite words there was a strange tone in their voices and Spencer's body was tense. The food was good but Rosie was having a hard time eating it with all the tension she could feel in the air.
In Rosie's house, if her Aunt had been angry at her or Tony, the woman would just chase them around the house with an old flip flop until she caught them. When they got too old or too big to be beaten with a dirty shoe they just got yelled at when they did something wrong. While no one, including Rosie, really enjoyed being screamed at or smacked, she would prefer that to the family dynamic that was playing out in front of her. At least you knew when someone was mad and what they were mad about. Then it was over. Like ripping off a bandaid. It was better to get unpleasant conversations over with quickly and leave them behind rather than prolonging things.
Rosie lifted her plate, scooping what was left of her green beans onto the plate in front of her daughter. She guessed the little girl was gearing up for a growth spurt because she had been devouring anything they put in front of her for the last few days.
"You get enough?," Spencer asked her, gesturing towards the food still left on his plate. Rosie smiled and nodded her head. Spencer never finished his food until he was sure both she and her daughter had both had enough to eat. It was a small gesture that no one else noticed. But Rosie noticed. He was a good man. She reached under the table, placing her hand on his knee and gently rubbing. Spencer finished the last few bites on his plate quickly so he could set his fork down and pull Rosie in for a quick kiss. Just on the forehead. Even that was a lot of physical affection considering his mother had her formal place settings on the table.
Spencer let go of Rosie and leaned back in his chair. He crossed his arms and turned his head to stare at his mother. A formal dinner invitation from his mother always meant that she either had bad news or that she was upset about something. He had a fairly good idea of which it was on this occasion. Spencer had seen the look on her face when he stood up with Rosie and Tony at the church meeting. But he wished she would just hurry up and say whatever she wanted to say. She was giving him indigestion.
"Are you planning on heading to the garden tomorrow?," Reg asked Rosie in an awkward attempt to break the silence. Rosie nodded. She and Olivia were making cheese in the morning. Then they were meeting up with Nokake and Michonne to go work in the garden together. But before Rosie could inform Reg of her plans Deanna set her wine glass down on the table with a thump and cleared her throat.
"Spencer," she declared as she stared at her son, "...You are NOT going on this Hilltop mission."
