Chapter 8:
"Murdoch!"
William looked up from the fingerprint sheet George showed him in the hall of Station 4.
"Yes sir?"
"What did Mrs. Brenks want?" he asked him, hands on hips.
"Who?" William quickly panicked.
George got up from the chair he was sitting in across from Henry and took the sheet from Detective Murdoch.
"She didn't look like she was there for anything to worry about…" George remarked with his head in the print sheet.
"Why do you say that?" Thomas suddenly asked.
George Crabtree looked up and noticed a large portion of the Station's heads turned towards him. Then, he noticed a strange expression on the detective's face.
"Well, she…" he still hesitated as he stared at Murdoch. "She was smiling at the detective, so it must not have been very serious, right?"
Henry Higgins chuckled in his corner as he was followed by a few officers into the room.
"Well! Be careful Murdoch. I don't want Doctor Brenks on the back when he tells us that his wife left him for you." laughs Inspector Brackenreid, patting his best detective on the back.
William camouflaged his nervous laughter with a throat clearing that Thomas took as embarrassment vis-à-vis his little joke.
"Then well… You must admit that she is still damn well put together." Officer Sullivan shouted openly.
William looked up at his colleague and heard himself say a sentence before thinking about it.
"Those are thoughts you better keep to yourself, officer."
A thick silence settled over the Station as William continued to stare at Officer Sullivan, frowning.
"If you will excuse me… I have other things to do." William said dryly before storming out of the Station.
Thomas Brackenreid watched William quickly exit the Station, utterly amazed at his reaction. Why had he reacted like that, he thought as he ordered a sheepish-faced Officer Sullivan back to work.
Then Thomas' face lost its color. What if the joke was not really a joke? Murdoch had met a woman had he said. Could this be Dr. Ethan Brenks' wife?
What trouble had his best detective gotten himself into again?
"Mom?" Rosemary called her mother shyly.
She had walked past her bedroom and seen her staring at herself and combing her long golden hair while humming in front of the mirror. It was not in her habit to hum and it was actually what had pushed her to go to her mother that day. Rosemary had always been very close to her mother and much less to her father, even though she loved them both equally. But, for a little while now, Rosemary had moved away from her on her own accord. She knew she had hurt her mother a lot by making this decision, but she had thought it was best for herself. For her mental health.
Her mother had always taught her that all lives were equal. That everyone had the right to a chance. A chance to do what he liked: doctor, lawyer, teacher… get married, stay alone, have children or not. She had listened to her fantastic stories about a young woman who had dared everything. She had dared to go against her family's opinion and live her own dreams. She had gone west, alone, and had established herself as the town's doctor, despite the controversial opinion on women.
"You will see, Rosemary." she had told her. "One day, women will be accepted at their true values."
The little girl at the time, barely 10 years old, had looked at her mother with stars in her eyes. She had got it into her head that she too would have the right to this special chance. Then she grew up. She had looked at her mother with a more mature eye and realized one thing that had broken her heart: she was not happy. That fantastic story she had always told her about…it was a story she had made up herself. A story that she would have liked to live if she had had the courage to come out of the preconceived opinions of society.
She had grown up and she had understood that, in only a few years, if not now, she too was going to have to get married and have children. She was going to have to marry a man she did not love, and she would have to stay at home all her life to take care of her duties as a woman. She would not go to college... It was just a dream that would never come true. A dream that her mother had in common with her…
"Mom?" Rosemary insisted, continuing to stare at her mother's reflection in the mirror. She seemed so deep in thought that she barely noticed her.
"Oh, my dear." she smiled as she turned to her big daughter. "Everything is fine?"
Rosemary moved cautiously into the bedroom. She looked around the room despite knowing full well that her father was still at a charity event.
"Yes, and you?" Rosemary asked cautiously, approaching her mother.
"Perfectly." Julia smiled.
Rosemary was struck by her mother's beaming face. She noticed that she had never seen her like this. She was also struck by her beauty. She had always found her mother magnificent, like all little girls. But that night she looked at her as a woman looks at another woman. She realized that she hoped to one day be able to look the same attractive as her mother.
She suddenly remembered a conversation she had overheard between her parents not long ago. She had heard the desperate voice of her father expressing to his wife how lovely she was and that all men had a crush on her. That he feared she would leave him for one of them one day. To which her mother replied that it was just his imagination. A sentence difficult to digest for Ethan Brenks.
Rosemary just rolled her eyes when she heard their conversation. But looking at her carefully today, she understood that these were not empty words. It was not his father's imagination, but reality.
"You seem… different." Rosemary commented, not knowing how to get her mother to explain her condition.
"You find?" her mother asked innocently, putting her brush on the table.
Rosemary noticed a sudden flush on her mother's cheeks.
"Yes…"
"Well, I got a letter from your Aunt Ruby. That must be why."
Rosemary did not answer and just watched her mother dust imaginary dust on her table. She did not insist, although totally curious about what could make her mother so beautiful. She knew it could not be her father. She would never say that her father and mother did not love each other. It was totally wrong. She knew her father was madly in love with her. Sometimes he looked at her with so much admiration that Rosemary's heart sank. Her heart ached because she also knew perfectly well that her mother did not have the same feelings… Her father was happy, but her mother was not and that was what made this precious difference.
Note: Julia and William's behaviors are beginning to change, and it is noticeable. Thank you for the review I received :) Hope you will like the rest.