Chapter 20 – Emmett –Homecoming

The floor was hard and smelled funny, but I was so tired I didn't even care. I was half asleep before my eyes were closed, and I would have dropped off immediately if I hadn't heard Rosalie's voice through the dimness.

"Emmett?"

"Yeah?"

"What if he comes after me? What if he tries to do something?"

I yawned. "He won't."

"But if he does?"

I realised that she was genuinely scared. "I'm not going to let him do anything to you. I promise." I rolled over onto my hands and knees and crawled two feet across the floor before lying back down with a thump. "Look, I'm sleeping in front of the door. He can't get in. And we'll be home by tomorrow night, and if he found you there my Pa would have him shot, skinned and gutted in five minutes…my Pa won't stand for anyone hurting a woman."

"What will they think of me?" Rosalie said uncertainly. "Your family…what will they say about me leaving my husband and running away like this?"

"They'll understand," I said with conviction. "They'll see that there wasn't really any other choice, and they'll take care of you. I'll take care of you."

Rosalie slept after that, but she was a restless sleeper that night and for a long time I lay awake, listening to her toss and turn and hearing all her little whimpers and moans. For a moment I thought wildly about getting up on the bed with her and holding her, just to soothe her, but I knew how crazy an idea that was. Even when she cried in her sleep I could do nothing by lie silently, bearing witness to her pain and wishing I could change it.

It made me wonder what would happen between Rosalie and I once we reached Tennessee. Had she come away with me because it was me, or would she have fled with anyone who happened by and offered her sanctuary? Certainly she liked and trusted me but was it, could it ever be, more than that? Was it even possible for her to feel for me the way I felt for her in my heart?

I fell asleep late and woke first in the morning, stiff after a night spent on the hard floor. Rosalie was curled up on her side, her sleeping face peaceful, and I left her that way as I quietly left the room in search of some breakfast.

Rosalie was awake and dressed when I returned, standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom and wrestling with her hair, trying to comb it out with the fingers of her good hand. She had always worn it up and I was amazed to see how long and beautiful it was as it hung in rippling waves down her back.

"My face is awful!" she said in irritation. "How can I go anywhere looking like this? And I can't even do my hair with this stupid splint on my arm, even if I did have a hairbrush, which I don't!"

I put the two bottles of milk and the loaf of bread I had bought down on the bedside table and went across to her. "I can't do anything about you looking like you've been in a prize fight," I said shyly, "But I can help with your hair, if you'd like."

Rosalie raised her eyebrows at me, and I dimpled back at her. "Remember, I always had to help with my little sisters…if I can do braids on a wiggling three year old I can probably manage you."

Rosalie's temper melted away in the face of her laugh.

"I'm sorry I didn't throw your hairbrush in when I got your things," I said hesitantly, wondering what else Rosalie would be missing before the day was out. I worked my fingers gently through Rosalie's tousled hair, untangling and smoothing it out as best I could before I divided it up and began to braid.

"I should have thought of it," Rosalie fretted. "I should have thought of so many things! I didn't bring any of my toiletries, or anything I have for the baby."

"We'll sort it out," I said reassuringly. "We'll be home by tonight." Right then I couldn't wait to be at home, to tell my Ma and Pa what was going on and ask them what the hell I was supposed to do now.

It was a slow drive. The car engine sounded worse and worse as we drove along, and with Rosalie there I had to stop and find proper bathrooms instead of just stopping on a deserted stretch of road. We drank the milk and ate the bread for breakfast, stopped at a hotel for lunch, and then stopped twice more for Rosalie to be sick, which made her so embarrassed she could barely bring herself to look at me afterwards. I don't know that I've ever been so relieved as I was when we finally began bumping down the dirt road towards home.

It was late, the night shadows dark with only a quarter moon lighting the land. But it was enough to see home, standing solid and welcoming with a faint light shining from the living room.

"We're home," I said reverently. "Come on, let's go inside and say hi."

I was almost to the porch when I heard a thumping noise coming from the open window of my Ma and Pa's room, and a moment later Elizabeth's head popped out from between the curtains. For a few seconds she just stared at me, flabbergasted, before she scrambled out over the sill and launched herself off the edge of the porch and into my arms.

"Emmett! You came home!"

"Hey trouble," I said, giving her my usual greeting over the lump in my throat.

"I'm not trouble, YOU are!" she returned gleefully.

I laughed as she giggled, and we rubbed noses before she looked over my shoulder and saw Rosalie, and turned shy.

"Who's that lady?" she whispered, wrapping sturdy little arms around my neck and peeking at Rosalie.

"That's Miss Rosalie," I told her. "You should say hi."

But Elizabeth just shook her head and ducked her face into my neck. I laughed gently and patted her back. "This is Elizabeth, Rosalie. But she's feeling kind of shy right now…oh, Ma!"

Standing on the porch, wrapped in her woollen robe and with her hair in the long braid that hung down to her thighs was my mother, her hands over her mouth and her eyes shining as she looked at me. Without a word she held out her arms and I bounded up the steps to her, holding Elizabeth on one hip so I could wrap my free arm around her and hug her. "Oh Ma…I missed you so much!"

"Oh Em…welcome back! But what happened? I didn't know you were…who is that you've got with you?"

"That's Rosalie." I beckoned her forward and Rosalie stepped over to the porch and looked up at us.

"Good evening Mrs McCarty, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh Lord…child…" Looking at Rosalie my mother seemed more flustered than usual. Not that surprising really, considering that in the light spilling from the door behind us Rosalie's bruises could be seen quite clearly, the rounded belly of her pregnancy also obvious.

"Heavens above Emmett! You couldn't have written to warn us you were coming? Never mind that now," she said, holding her hand up as I opened my moth to protest, "Come inside and I'll get us all a cup of tea and we can talk. Elizabeth, go and get your daddy and tell him to put his trousers on."

I let Elizabeth down and she scampered off to the bedroom, while I held out a hand to Rosalie and helped her up the steps onto the porch. I could feel the tension humming through her body, and I gently rubbed her shoulder.

"Don't be scared. We're home, and it's all going to be okay now."

At least I hoped it was going to be okay. Pa's face, when he came out of the bedroom was thunderous as he stomped to the kitchen and filled the kettle. Ma led Rosalie out the back to the outhouse, and I sat quietly at the table with Elizabeth in my lap. She'd flat out refused to go back to bed, and I hoped her presence would keep my father calm and with a bit of restraint over his tongue!

"There." Pa placed a mug of tea in front of me. "Now, before they get back, you had better tell me you are not responsible for the mess of that girl's face, or so help me…"

"Pa!" I said indignantly. "As if I would ever hit a girl! You raised me better than that!"

"Yes, we did." Pa was still eyeing me threateningly. "And what she has in her belly? You responsible for that?"

"No!" I took a swallow of tea, not caring how scalding hot it was. "Pa, it's not like that. It's Rosalie King, my employer's wife- she's married! But he hurt her…you saw that. I didn't know what else to do…" I felt oddly near tears.

Pa must have noticed something, because he reached across and cuffed me gently across the head. "Ah lad, I didn't really think it of you. I just had to make sure." He shook his head.

Ma and Rosalie came back in, and Rosalie sat down beside me. Despite being glassy eyed with tiredness and almost reeling on her feet, Rosalie sat painfully upright on the chair and stared down at her hands folded decorously in front of her.

"Are you okay?"

"It was an outhouse," she muttered, almost inaudibly. "Outside."

"Do you have an outhouse inside?" Elizabeth demanded. "Like at the church hall?"

Rosalie looked mortified, and I muffled my laugh and tickled Elizabeth. "I missed you."

"And we missed you," Ma interrupted my game. "But I'd still like to know quite what you think you're doing turning up on the doorstep in the middle of the night."

I gave her a repentant smile. "Well, the thing is…"

"Tell it straight, Emmett," Ma ordered sternly. "No need to try and spin it- just tell me what you've been up to."

"I got the sack," I said apologetically. "Royce had upset Rosalie, and I was giving her a hug and he came into the room and saw us. He thumped me one and told me to get out, so I did that. But then he hit Rosalie and dislocated her elbow, and she came and asked me to take her away. So I did." I smiled reassuringly at Rosalie's stricken face. "We went to the hospital first and the doctor fixed her arm and checked the baby and she'll be okay, but she couldn't go back to him."

"Your husband did that to you, lass?" Pa asked Rosalie, his voice soft. "Even with you carrying his child he laid hands on you?"

Rosalie nodded jerkily. "It wasn't the first time. I won't go back to him. I don't have to stay here if it's too much trouble, but I'm never going back to him. I won't let him hurt me or the baby again," she said fiercely.

"Good for you," Pa said. "And of course you can stay here if you've a mind to…any friend of Emmett's has a place in our home."

I caught the tightening of Ma's lips, and I wondered anxiously what she was thinking. Was she sharing Pa's obvious anger towards Royce and his violence, or was she less than pleased about me dropping a pregnant young woman in her lap and asking her to take care of her?

"I suppose for tonight she can go in the bed, and I'll put Hannah and Maggie on the floor in that room," Ma said. "Emmett, you can sleep on the sofa or go out to the barn."

"I'm sorry for putting everyone out," Rosalie said stiffly. "I do appreciate you going to the trouble."

Ma smiled at her tiredly. "Don't give it another thought. Now, I'm sure the two of you are exhausted…we'll sort out places to sleep and we can talk more in the morning."

Ma disappeared into the big room, and a moment later I heard some sleepy-voiced complaints as she woke the girls and moved them from the big bed to pallets on the floor. A few seconds later I saw two faces peeping around the door frame, one with curly dark hair and the other with straight, eyes wide as they sought out Rosalie. Rosalie didn't see them, and when they saw me wink at them Hannah and Maggie both giggled and vanished back into the bedroom.

Pa took Elizabeth from my arms and took her into his room, which left Rosalie and I sitting at the table alone.

"Are you okay?" I asked her softly.

"I saw an animal when I went outside," Rosalie said with a look of sheer horror. "Some kind of giant rat…thing in a tree."

"Probably opossum," I said with a grin. "You can eat them, you know."

Rosalie shuddered, and then tried to smile. "Thank you for trying to help me."

I couldn't stop myself from reaching over and covering her hand in mine. "It's going to be fine, really it is…you'll like it here, and we can stay while we work out a plan."

"It's nice of your family to take me in," Rosalie said awkwardly. "I didn't realise it would be such an imposition."

"It's not," I said, squeezing her hand. "It's fine…and you'd better go to sleep, you look all in."

I led her to the bedroom door, where we could see Ma settling Hannah and Maggie into beds on the floor. Will and Stephen were asleep on the floor at the foot of the bed, Will sprawled out on his back and Stephen curled up with his head jammed in Will's armpit.

"I'm sorry we haven't anything better," I whispered to Rosalie, suddenly ashamed of how little my family had to offer her as I took in her shocked face.

"It's fine," she said, a little shakily. "As long as I can lie down and sleep, it will be fine…"

Reluctant to leave her, I nevertheless backed away when Ma put her hands on my chest and pushed. "Out," she ordered me, and I obeyed, taking a seat back in the kitchen opposite her and Pa.

For a moment they both just looked at me, and then Ma sighed deeply and said, "Your employer's wife, Emmett? Really?"

I looked at my hands and squirmed. "It's not like that."

"Are you telling me you're not in love with that girl?"

The question from my usually practical, taciturn father surprised me so much I automatically looked him in the eye and answered truthfully. "I do love her. But I haven't ever acted on it, and I don't know how she really feels about me."

"Well, she asked you to take her away, so I can make a fairly educated guess!" Ma said tartly, but then she leaned over and rumpled my hair with a sigh. "It's good to see your face again Emmett, but I can't help thinking that you're in for a whole world of trouble."

A/N – And there's Rosalie's introduction to Emmett's home in Tennessee…outhouses and shared bedrooms and scary things in trees! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone reading and commenting to me- I really appreciate people taking the time to let me know what they are enjoying. Still lots more to come!