Chapter 16 – Emmett – An Emergency
Dear Ma, I'm not so sure about this job anymore. I like the work, but everything is kind of messed up here. The man I'm working for is not a good man. He doesn't do anything to me, but I think he treats her badly and now that she's having a baby…
Sighing heavily, I crumpled the paper in my hand. How could a letter, full of my scrawling, untidy handwriting and misspellings, ever make Ma understand how it was here?
And what did I want her to do? Tell me to quit and come home? The thought of home made my heart ache with how much I wanted to be there with them, but the thought of leaving here, of leaving her, made a rushing wave of panic rise up within me.
I couldn't leave her.
No matter how much I railed against myself, no matter how often I called myself a stupid fool for it, berating myself with the fact that she was married and was not, could not be mine, I could not bring myself to leave Rosalie.
My eyes drifted over towards the conservatory. From where I was sitting with my back against the trunk of an oak tree in the yard, I could clearly see Rosalie asleep on the chaise inside. She'd taken to napping there of an afternoon, as sleek and contented as a cat in the sun. Even as I watched she stirred and stretched, the rounded bump of her belly showing against the taut fabric of her dress, before she settled back into slumber.
For a minute, knowing there was no one else about, I let my guard down and allowed myself to just look at her. So beautiful. Relaxed in sleep, Rosalie glowed with good health, her cheek pillowed on her hand and her hair spread across the chaise.
She was happy with her growing belly. Occasionally I saw her lay a hand over it when she thought no one was there to see, and her face would grow even more beautiful with a look of tender anticipation.
It hadn't seemed to change anything with her husband though. Oh, he was happy about the baby, the son and heir he assumed was going to arrive as demanded. The very day after Rosalie told him a team of decorators arrived at the house to begin transforming a space on the upper floor into a nursery; and even I noticed the emerald pendant that appeared on Rosalie's neck later that day. But the pregnancy didn't seem to do anything to stop the careless cruelty of Royce King that I was sometimes witness to in the car, nor to alter the frequency of the arguments that could be overheard in the house. Perhaps the only change was that Royce began to spend more time out with his friends of an evening, and I spent many long and boring hours waiting outside clubs and bars for him.
Seeing him enter the conservatory late that afternoon, I looked over at him with interest, even as I sank a little deeper into the shadow. I wasn't skiving off work, sitting here and trying to write to my Ma, I was just having my regular break, but I wanted to avoid him.
I couldn't help frowning though, as I watched him lean over Rosalie and shake her shoulder harder than I thought necessary. She jerked back into wakefulness, sitting up immediately and shaking herself awake.
Royce was clearly annoyed about something. I knew I shouldn't be watching them, that it wasn't any of my business, but I didn't turn my eyes away as he towered over her with a dark and angry face and snarled at her. Rosalie shook her head and I could see her speaking rapidly, but Royce refused to be mollified and the two of them left the conservatory still in some disagreement.
I gathered up my notepad, pencil and the plate that had had my sandwich and made my way back to the kitchen, where Miss Ellen and two other helpers were preparing for a dinner party to be held that evening.
"Emmett, put your plate down over by the sink," Miss Ellen told me. "Then you can have one of the little pastries over on the side counter and tell me what you think." She gave me a wink, and I laughed as I helped myself.
"Very good," I told her with my mouth full.
"Excellent. We don't want anything to go wrong tonight," she told me, with a sideways look at the help to make sure they weren't paying attention.
"Trouble?" I asked, not letting on about what I'd seen in the conservatory.
Miss Ellen frowned. "There are important guests coming this evening, apparently. Mr King was a little…unhappy that Mrs King was sleeping instead of preparing."
I stuffed another pastry in my mouth to stop myself from saying something that might get me in trouble.
"You need to go and wash up," Miss Ellen directed me. "I've got too much to do here to greet the guests so you can put on your good suit and act as butler." She eyed me critically. "Fingernails too please Emmett."
"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled.
Feeling oddly disgruntled I went back to my room and scrubbed until my skin was pink, doing what I could to flatten my hair - which was admittedly not much – and then shrugging into the monkey suit. Ready for butler duties.
Back in the house Miss Ellen insisted on retying my tie and then approved of my appearance and sent me through to the front hall. I could hear Royce and Rosalie upstairs, the angry tones turning into words as they left their room and came closer.
"But Royce…"
"These are important people, Rosalie! I need you tonight!" Royce sounded agitated.
"Okay, fine!" Rosalie snapped.
"I mean it Rose! Don't sulk…this is your job as my wife, so damn well do it!"
The conversation, if it could be called that, cut off as they came in sight of me although I kept my head averted and pretended I'd heard nothing.
"McCarty, bring them in to the main drawing room as they arrive," Royce ordered, heading that way himself.
A few steps behind him, Rosalie gave me a brief smile. As always when she dressed up she looked as glamorous as a film star, but as she stepped off the bottom of the stairs she seemed to sway for a brief moment. Concerned, I reached towards her.
"Ma'am? Are you all right?"
For a moment I felt her hand on my forearm, her fingers gripping hard enough to dig into my skin and actually hurt, but she smiled at me airily and said, "Of course McCarty. I'm fine."
She wasn't though. I could tell her skin was white beneath the makeup, and her violet eyes seemed curiously dull. But she carried herself tall and as I showed the guests into the formal drawing room she greeted them with perfect poise and grace.
I announced when dinner was ready, and the guests who had been milling around or sitting and drinking cocktails all began to gather themselves together and move towards the dining room. As always I looked for Rosalie, easily finding her golden hair and beautiful face no matter how big the crowd. So it was that I saw her stand up, saw the whitening of her already pale face, and saw the almost graceful arc of her fall as she fainted.
"Rosalie!"
I shouted for Miss Ellen, and then without care as to whether it was my place to do so I not, I shouldered my way through the crowd until I could drop to my knees by her side.
"It's just a faint, no cause for alarm," Royce was reassuring the guests, one hand laid uselessly on Rosalie's forehead.
"Sir," I said quietly. "I don't think it's just a faint."
I nodded behind him and Royce turned his head, his swarthy face taking on a greenish hue and his mouth curled in distaste as he saw the blood stain on the chair Rosalie had been sitting on. As I gently lifted her head I saw that there was already blood on the floor where she had fallen, drops soaking into the furry cream rug and ruining it.
"For Christ's sake," he muttered.
"She needs the hospital." Miss Ellen said decisively, appearing at my shoulder and taking in the situation at a glance. "That much blood…she might be losing the baby, poor lamb, and there's no time to waste here. Emmett, run for the car right away. Mr King, I'll see to the guests if you'd like to go along to the hospital with her."
"Right." Royce rose to his feet and said sharply, "Thank you. McCarty, I'll get the car and you bring Mrs King out to the front."
Without waiting for an answer he disappeared. Ignoring the concerned squawking and muttering of the guests as Miss Ellen guided them firmly from the room, I slid my arms underneath Rosalie and scooped her up into my arms.
She was so light! Rosalie had always seemed to have such a strong and indomitable personality that I never thought of her as fragile, but slumped unconscious in my arms, my face lolling against my shoulder, there was a heartbreaking frailty about her. She whimpered momentarily, violet eyes opening and blearily meeting mine.
"McCarty…" she murmured, "The baby…"
"It's all right," I said to her comfortingly, having no idea if it was or not. "It's all right…you just fainted, and we're going to take you to the hospital okay? They'll be able to tell you about the baby."
I could feel the wetness of her blood soaking into my shirt as I held her against me, and I prayed that what I was saying was true and that she was all right. But I remembered the last time my mama had been carrying a baby and had started bleeding, and I shuddered. Please don't let that happen to Rosalie.
Royce had brought the car around to the front of the house as I came swiftly out the door and down the steps, carrying Rosalie as gently as possible.
"Get in the back," he ordered impatiently. "It'll be easier if I drive…has she come round yet?"
"Not yet," I murmured, sliding awkwardly into the back seat with Rosalie still cradled in my arms. The role reversal was disorienting as I looked from Rosalie's limp form lying across my lap to the back of Royce's head as he drove furiously through the night.
The hospital wasn't busy when I carried Rosalie inside. A nurse ushered us into a private room and I reluctantly lay Rosalie down on the bed. I didn't want to let her go, not when I could see blood blooming like flowers on her gold dress, in stark contrast to her pallid face and bloodless lips. But she wasn't mine, and all I could do was surreptitiously touch her hand with mine before I backed away, leaving the room as the tall blond doctor entered.
I stayed in the waiting room with Royce, since no one had told me to do otherwise. Royce paced and smoked, while I sat silent and still in a corner of the room, staring at the blood on my shirt and jacket as it darkened and stiffened as it dried. Rosalie's blood.
Please be okay.
I was surprised by the strength of my feelings. I had known that I cared for Rosalie, that there was something about her that drew me to her even as my own good sense held me at a distance, but I hadn't know how deep those feelings ran. Not until I sat there, smelling her blood on my clothes and remembering the look of her white, unconscious face tipped back over my arm and feeling bereft, did I realise how far I'd fallen.
"Mr King?" It was a long time before the door opened and the white-coated doctor came in. He was looking grave, but he smiled at Royce in a way that eased the knot of tension in my throat. He wouldn't look like that if she were dead.
Royce's dark brows lowered. "Yes, doctor?"
"We're not sure what caused the haemorrhage, but the bleeding has stopped now. Your wife lost a lot of blood, but she's resting comfortably for the moment…"
"The baby," Royce cut in without preamble. "What about him?"
"The baby is fine for the moment," Dr Cullen said cautiously. "As I said, the bleeding has stopped, and I was able to hear the heartbeat with the fetoscope so we know the baby has not passed away. But that kind of bleeding is not normal in pregnancy and without knowing the cause we can't make any predictions as to the future."
"I want that baby," Royce said flatly. "Whatever can be done, do it."
"We're doing everything we can for the baby and for your wife," Dr Cullen said pointedly. "Rosalie will need to stay here for the next several days at least, but for now she is stable."
"I'll be off then, since there's nothing more I can do now," Royce said briskly. "Thank you doctor, I appreciate it."
"You're welcome to go and have a word with Rosalie before you go." The doctor suggested. "She may not be asleep yet."
Royce shook his head dismissively. "No, I'll let her rest. I'll have some of her things brought over tomorrow, since she'll be staying. McCarty, let's go."
Royce was well out into the corridor, striding quickly towards the exit when I reached the doctor. I knew I should just follow him, that he'd be waiting for me, but I stopped by the doctor instead.
"Is she …is she going to be okay?"
Dr Cullen gave me a slightly curious smile. "I hope so."
Royce was waiting impatiently by the car as I got there, and I hurried to open the door for him. "Home now, sir?"
"No, it's still early." Royce stretched out in the back seat and yawned widely. "Take me to Morrigan's."
What the hell? He'd just left Rosalie in hospital in an incredibly delicate condition, and he wanted to go out drinking and gambling at one of the seediest clubs he frequented? But he was smoothing a hand through his hair and straightening his tie, and I knew I couldn't say anything. Sighing inwardly, I drove him downtown.
Waiting that night was harder than normal. I kept thinking of Rosalie, of the way her body had felt so soft pressed against mine when I held her in my arms. I kept thinking of the blood that still stained my clothes, and the way the earthy, coppery scent of it lingered in my nostrils. I wished I was with her, holding her hand and watching over her as she slept.
Royce came staggering drunkenly back to the car eventually. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that he had a girl under his arm, giggling tipsily as Royce openly fondled and kissed her.
"The door, McCarty?" he slurred when I failed to jump to attention.
I wanted to hit him. My hands tingled with my fierce desire to bunch them into fists and smash the cocky grin off his face. I wanted him to bleed as much as Rosalie had been bleeding. I wanted to tell the girl with him to run back to her friends and stay far, far away from the kind of man that Royce King was, that he could do this to his wife while she lay in hospital.
But of course, I couldn't do any of that. Because all it would lead to was me losing my job, and losing the money that I had been sending home and that I know they found such a help. Because if I lost my job I lost Rosalie, and as hard as it was to be near her and yet so far from her, it was better than having none of her.
So I opened the car door for Royce and the girl to slide inside, and I bit my lip so hard it bled as I drove them home and listened to what was going on in the back seat. At home Royce took her inside, and I went and parked the car in the garage. My day was finished, but I sat for a long time with my head bent forward over the steering wheel, my face pillowed on my arms and nothing but bleakness in my heart.