January 14
Afternoon
After a tasty lunch of pastrami on rye, Rosemary watched as Lee started the Model T and drove down the dirt road leading into town. He had business to attend to in Calgary, a good two and a half hour drive away, and would be gone past supper. She'd convinced him she was fine, that her recent display of emotions was actually just a desperate cry for a nap. He had lightly kissed her lips and made her promise she was fine. She did to appease him, but her heart knew otherwise. Even now, the landscape before her blurred with deep pockets of unshed tears.
Her secret.
They said secrets always had a way of popping up when you least expected it. Well, that couldn't be more true. The last thing she had hoped to deal with was Harriet and all the unworthy feelings she brought up from her past. To be honest, right now just dealing with her own pregnancy news was enough to send her reeling.
How confusing this all was. If only the past would have stayed buried in the past. She wished she could wad up her past and throw it out into the roaring Oldman river before any more of its secrets could come unfolded. Yet, even if she did that she had the awkward situation of Harriet arriving soon. It was a matter that just had to be dealt with. Like it or not.
She glanced at the settee. Right now she would like nothing more than to snuggle up with her favorite afghan on the settee for a few minutes. She reached for the light cream blanket and pulled it up to her shoulders, the warmth washing over her. If only there was an emotional afghan she could pull over her soul. For so many years her secret had remained buried deep, but now it was fresh and raw. After so long of pushing it away, what was she to do with it just riding on her sleeve? It was becoming more and more evident day by day. There wasn't any disguising it now, try as she might. But now was not the time for such thoughts. What she and the baby needed most was a little cat nap. Her breathing slowed and she felt herself entering the land of slumber, the only respite for several days from the pestering of the past.
-A good hour later-
What on earth? Was that a scratching at the door? She shifted her body up to a sitting position and her sleepy eyes went to the front door, wondering what the sound was. Oh, it better not be a nasty little mouse. The one time there had been a mouse in the house she refused to sleep or eat until it was caught. Who knew what kind of diseases little vermin like that carried? Lee had worked night and day to catch the little mouse, setting up all kinds of traps at every corner of the room. Finally, after three days of miserable living conditions, that horrid creature had been caught and disposed of. That was not an experience she was willing to repeat. She shuddered and pulled her legs up under her just in case if a furry varmint was scurrying under her this very minute. Instead, another scratch sounded at the door. Followed by a quiet mewing. Why… was that a cat?
Her curiosity got the better of her, and she hobbled over to the door, leaving her warm afghan swooped up on the settee. Opening the door a narrow slit, she peered out and there, on the stoop, was a light orange tabby cat.
"Oh dear! You precious little darling. However did you find your way here? Where is your home?"
Mew.
She elongated her neck to look down the street both ways, hopeful to find an owner nearby, but the street was deserted. She bit hard on the edge of her nail. Lee didn't take too kindly to animals in the house, and to be honest, for the most part she agreed with him. But this one just looked so lost and lonely. Not to mention small and hungry.
"Alright." She nodded and the kitten lifted her head, her sweet, innocent eyes meeting hers.
"Stay there. I'll be right back."
Rosemary hobbled as quickly as she could to the kitchen and retrieved a glass of cream from the icebox. She poured it into a shallow bowl and returned to the kitten. But she was gone.
"Here, kitty, kitty." She sang out.
No response. Oh well. Perhaps the little kitten had found her way home after all.
She turned and brought the bowl of cream back into the house. She was shutting the door when she heard a soft purr. Sure enough, the kitchen was nestled on the settee in her favorite afghan. She stifled a chuckle.
"Okay, you can stay awhile. But you better not let my Lee-Lee catch site of you. He's a nice kind of fellow, but believes animals need to stay outside where they belong. I usually agree with him, but something is different about you. Do you have a family you need to get home to?"
She put the bowl down, and the little creature hopped down and began to lap at the cream hungrily.
"Well, no matter. You are here for right now and to be honest, I have been in need of a confidante: Someone to just listen to my story without giving advice or judgment. What do you say? Are you up for a good listening?"
The kitten finished her bowl of cream and climbed back up into the afghan, her eyes already becoming heavy with sleep.
She reached down and stroked her soft fur with the back of her finger.
"You see, it all started when…"