Chapter 22 – Emmett – The Best Part of the Job.

Rosalie's head on my shoulder, her upper arm pressed against my bicep, nearly took my breath away. For a moment I was frozen in shock, and then I very gently rested my cheek against her head.

"I don't think Royce will just let me go," she said, very quietly. "He won't want me anymore, not if he thinks that I have…with you…"

Her voice trailed off and I fancied I could feel the heat of her embarrassment right through the top of her head.

"It isn't that I think he'll want me back, as such," Rosalie went on, gathering herself together. "But he will be furious at the thought that I've made a fool of him, or humiliated him, and he'll want revenge for that." She shuddered for a moment and sat up, hugging her legs and staring out at the river. "But he wants the baby, especially if it's a boy, and that's what I'm really afraid of. That he's going to come and take my baby away."

"Well, it's pretty safe where it is for the time being," I said lightly. The look of disdain Rosalie threw my way could have cut stone, and I let my face turn serious. "I'm sorry…but I promise you we'll take care of you and the baby whatever happens. I'm not going to let him take you anywhere you don't want to go, and I'm not going to let him take the baby when it comes either. He doesn't know you came with me, and even if he guesses it is he going to come all this way just to check? Even if he does, you've got me and my Pa and we've got a shotgun, and Royce didn't ever strike me as all that brave a man, to be honest. Not hitting girls."

Rosalie sighed and let a hand rest on the bump for a moment. "I hate feeling like a burden. It's not like I thought it would be, Emmett…I can see that it's going to be a real strain to have me here."

I felt a stab of guilt. Rosalie wasn't the only one who felt like a burden…in quitting my job I'd taken away an important source of income for the family and landed two new mouths to feed on the doorstep. It wasn't as though Rosalie would be of any use either- I knew that she'd have to take it easy, even if she did have any useful skills, which I suspected she didn't really. Certainly she'd never cooked or laundered or gardened as long as I'd known her!

"It'll be okay," I said optimistically. "It's early summer, and I can get some work harvesting in a month or two. The garden will be producing so there'll be plenty of veggies, and we've got the three milkers at the moment. That's plenty of food, and as for the rest…well like I said, we'll work it out."

Rosalie began twisting her rings on her fingers. "I have these," she said slowly.

I didn't say anything at first. I'd long ago stopped noticing the endless sparkle of Rosalie's jewels, but now that she'd drawn my attention to it there was no doubt that the enormous diamond engagement ring and solid gold wedding band glittering on her finger would be worth a bundle. "I don't want his jewels," I muttered.

"I don't want them either," Rosalie said fiercely, finally managing to tug them from her finger. "I hate him and I don't want anything around to remind me of him…so either you take them and sell them or do whatever you want with them, or I'm throwing them into this river right now."

"Well, no need to be rash," I said hastily, taking the rings from Rosalie and dropping them into my shirt pocket. I had my principles, but I also had to be realistic…life was uncertain and I couldn't have Rosalie throwing what equated to several years worth of income into the river. "I'll keep them for you. And now…how's your arm? Would you like to try taking off that splint?"

"Yes please." With only a tiny hesitation Rosalie offered me her arm, and I held it gently and tentatively unwound the bandages holding the splint on to it. As it fell away her elbow was revealed as being various shades of blue, purple and black, but Rosalie moved it slowly with a look of surprise. "It's not bad."

"Take it easy," I warned her. "Doctor Cullen said to move it gently, but keep it in the sling for a couple of weeks. He said it wasn't a bad dislocation and he got it back in place quickly, so it should heal well."

Rosalie knelt forward on the rock and splashed water on the arm with a groan of despair. "It looks horrible…and my face looks horrible too! I don't even know how anyone can look at me!"

I laughed, but only gently when I realised she was genuinely upset. "Rosa girl, you are beautiful," I said to her sincerely. "Maybe a bit bruised and battered at the moment, but that just shows me how strong you are." I scooted forward enough to gently wrap the linen sling around her arm and tie it at her neck to hold it steady.

My hands shook as I reached behind her to knot the fabric. She was so close to me, and with my hands on either side of her neck I was almost embracing her. I was close enough to see the extraordinary deep violet-blue colour of her eyes and the length of the dark lashes that ringed them. My eyes dropped to the smooth, pale skin of her aristocratic nose, and the slightly flushed curved of her cheeks, and then landed on her pink, eminently kissable mouth. Oh, Rosalie…

But before anything happened, Rosalie laid her hands carefully over mine and lifted them off her shoulders. For a moment I focussed only on the warmth of her delicate hands curved around mine, before she smiled at me shakily and released me.

I knew then that even though I'd brought Rosalie away from the hell she'd been living in, she hadn't been able to leave it behind, not really. There were more wounds left by Royce and his behaviour than what could be seen on the outside, and the ones on the inside might take a whole lot longer to heal.

"Come on," I said, "Let's go home."

Back at the house I hauled in the bundle of Rosalie's belongings and dropped it on the bed. Almost instantly Maggie appeared, her eyes alight with fascination.

"Do you want help to put your things away?" she offered. "It will be easier for me to do it since your arm is hurt."

"Thank you," Rosalie said graciously. "I'd appreciate it."

I left them to it. Hannah and Elizabeth joined them in a few moments, and from the kitchen I could hear their chatter and laughter. Rosalie seemed to be relaxing under the admiring words and looks of my sisters as they pored over her expensive, luxurious clothes.

Ma handed me a knife and a pile of potatoes. "Make yourself useful."

Obligingly I started peeling them as closely as I could. "Oh," I said, remembering. "Rosalie gave me her rings." I fished them out of my pocket and pressed them into Ma's hand. "She was going to throw them into the river, but I thought that might be just a bitof a waste."

Ma's eyes went wide. "Emmett, what are we supposed to do with these? They must be worth a fortune!"

"Probably even more than that!" I raised my eyebrows. "Ma, the money they had is crazy. But Rosalie doesn't want reminders of Royce…he was awful to her. I know what kind of person he was and I know some of what he did to her, but I don't know it all and I think it was really bad."

Ma shook her head. "It just shows that money doesn't mean anything when it comes to human nature, doesn't it?" She dropped the rings into the cracked china gravy boat on the mantelpiece and began slicing the carrots. "Unfortunately for Rosalie she's going to have a small but very demanding reminder of her husband in a couple of months!"

I felt a peculiar mix of protectiveness and jealousy at the thought of Rosalie having Royce's baby.

Sharp-eyed as ever, my Ma must have caught something in my face because she cleared her throat and said softly, "You can't change that Emmett, and it's something you're going to have to deal with. Anyone with eyes can see that Rosalie's carrying a baby, and everyone in these parts is going to assume it's yours."

I continued to scrape at the potatoes. "I don't care."

"But Rosalie might." Ma began chopping the peeled potatoes.

I shoved the last of the potatoes over to her. "I don't know…what does it matter?"

"People talk," Ma rapidly chopped the potatoes and threw them into the stew pot. "That doesn't mean you have to pay them any mind, but you and Rosalie need to be prepared for what will be said."

I washed my hands and wiped them on my pants, silent for a minute. Ma was right that people talked, and the beautiful, broken, pregnant Rosalie was surely something to talk about.

"Maybe I'll have a bit of a chat to Rosalie," Ma said musingly, and then shook her head with a sigh. "Of all the things I thought you might get up to in the city Emmett, this was not something I considered!"

"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I never meant for this to happen. But I didn't know that many people in Rochester and sometimes it was lonely. I was always driving her and walking with her and we started talking, and then…well, the next thing I knew she was my friend. Maybe I would have wanted it to be more, but she was married and I wouldn't have disrespected her by trying anything. You taught me better than that. But he hurt her a lot, and then he beat her and broke her arm and risked her life and the baby's life and…it's different now. For as long as she wants me I'm going to take care of her and that baby."

I saw Ma's eyes flick to the doorway, and I knew before I turned around that Rosalie had heard me. But her face was smooth and expressionless as Maggie scooted in under her arm and ran to Ma.

"Oh, it was all so amazing!" Maggie gushed. "More clothes than all of ours put together and all so beautiful and fancy, even the underwear…" She looked at me and giggled.

"Underwear!" I said, pretending to be scandalised. "Who's talking about underwear? Have you been turning cartwheels at school and showing all the boys your drawers again, Miss Margaret McCarty?"

Maggie sniffed and tossed her head. "As if I would ever do such a thing," she said scornfully.

"You did last year!" I pointed out.

"Well, I'm much more grown up now!" Maggie protested. "And anyway, I'm not the one with a boyfriend…"

"Maggie!" Hannah, evidently the one with the boyfriend, glared at our sister from where she stood beside Rosalie.

Elizabeth came in to the kitchen too, scrambling up on to my lap as she giggled. "Hannah's got a boyfriend, Hannah's got a boyfriend…" she chanted, adding brightly, "It's your friend Albie, Emmett."

I nearly pushed her off my lap as I swung around to stare at Hannah. "You…what?"

"Emmett," Ma said warningly. "This is not really your business."

"You're sweet on Albie Clements? But you're not old enough!"

"I'm sixteen," Hannah said defensively. "And it's not serious, we just…"

"They go to the dances," Elizabeth informed me. "Two times. And he walks her home from church."

That was serious enough in my book, and I didn't know that I liked it at all! Albie had been my pal since the infant grades of school and was generally a good fellow, but not at all good enough for my sister Hannah! "He can't go out with you! He doesn't even have a job!"

"Neither do you!" Hannah fired back. "And that didn't stop you from…" She glanced at Rosalie and bit her lip.

"Enough, children!" Ma said in exasperation. "Girls, did you find space for all Rosalie's things?"

"No, there's too much!" Elizabeth's eyes were wide. "Mama…"

"Okay then, I've put the stew on so I have a few minutes to come in and help you." Wiping her hands on her apron Ma bustled out of the room, pushing the girls ahead of her.

A little bemused by all that had happened I wandered outside. Eventually I stopped and leaned on the pasture fence, watching the cows and wishing they were my horse Star instead. The vague thought I'd had of saving my wages and buying another young horse to train was nothing more than a fantasy since I'd lost my job, and I sighed mournfully.

"What's the matter?" It was Rosalie, stopping and leaning a little awkwardly against the fence beside me. The bruising on her face was on the other side, and she looked flawlessly lovely as the breeze blew back the tendrils of hair that had escaped the braid.

"I was just thinking about my horse," I admitted. "Wishing that I hadn't had to sell her…but there, you can't change the past, can you? Not much point worrying over it."

"You could buy another."

"That's what I was saving for with my wages," I told her. "I sent most of it back to Ma, but I kept a little bit each time."

Rosalie looked troubled. "I'm sorry you lost the job because of me."

I stared at her incredulously. "Sorry I…what are you talking about? As if I could have worked for him knowing what he was doing to you!"

Rosalie flushed. "You don't even know all of it," she said miserably.

"I don't need to know if you don't want to tell me," I said gently. "After all, I don't need any more reasons to want to kill him!"

"I guess I'm just sorry that you lost your wages and your chance to do something different with your life if you wanted to," Rosalie said.

"I'm not sorry," I said. "I like being home…and I brought the best part of the job with me, anyway."

I held my breath as she turned to face me, showing me both the flawless and the bruised sides of her face. The beautiful and the broken…and I loved all of it.

Rosalie smiled and then her mouth opened and she laughed. "I heard what you said before. About taking care of me and the baby?" She waited until I nodded before she continued. "I am so grateful for that. You know that? I really, really am. But I need…please just give me time. I'm grateful to you, and I'm happy to be here with you and your family, but please…I need time."

For a moment she looked panicked, and I reached out and took her hand, wrapping it in both of mine. "I love you Rosalie. I guess you know that, so I might as well say it. But this isn't an obligation…you don't owe me anything. You have as much time as you need sweetheart…you have all the time in the world, if that's what it takes."