It had only been 2 weeks of living with Jackson, but it felt like 2 years to Alleghany. He ordered her about by day and by night he took his husbandly due with very little improvement.
He gave her a list of things to do around the house everyday and today dusting was on it.
She was currently in the process of dusting all the glass jars off. He'd pitched a fit when he'd found she'd gotten into his precious food reserves.
"Are you stupid?" he'd asked, red in the face and spittle spraying from his mouth. "What are we supposed to eat all winter if you have it all eat up before the first snow flies?"
"Well, excuse me for being hungry."
He'd wiped his mouth and stomped off like an ogre.
She wondered what would happen if one of the jars got broken "accidentally" while she was dusting. She tucked some loose hair into her head scarf and grinned as she pictured him having a conniption of grand proportions.
She put down the rag and untied the apron, needing to take a break and wondering wryly if she was still allowed those.
On the way to the outhouse, which was another thing she hated about living here, having to tromp outside to the smelly building, she ran into Jackson's dogs who all started barking at her. He normally took the beasts with him. She supposed her warden had decided she needed guarding while he was away.
She had no choice but to turn around and run for the house.
Unfortunately, they beat her to the door, so she had to climb up on the porch rails to be out of reach of their snarling, snapping teeth. She was in a fine predicament.
"Oh, get away, you mongrels. I don't like ya'll either!" she shouted at them.
They only barked louder.
They were at an impasse. Her legs began to grow tired and the rough wooden pole she clung to was digging into her arms. It was then an idea came to her. She took one of her high-heeled shoes off and threw it as far as she could into the woods.
It worked. All 5 of them went bounding into the woods after it, thinking it prey or hoping for a game of fetch. She hobbled into the house and slammed the door shut. She could forget going to the outhouse until Jackson got back.
She took off her other heel. These shoes hadn't been cheep. Maybe she could make another pair out of one of Jackson's dogs or better yet take them out of Jackson's hide.
Her eyes lighted onto the mantle. In the evenings, she'd noticed him staring fondly at the little shepherdess that rested there as if it took him back to times past. He never said so, but she could tell. It was chipped and ugly, but he seemed to have an uncommon attachment to it.
Resenting the dogs, resenting him, and resenting all the chores, she went over and threw it against the wall where it made a satisfying smashing sound as it broke into little pieces. Sweeping wasn't on the list, but it was one extra chore she wouldn't mind.
"Why'd you leave your mangy mutts here?" she demanded when he came through the door that evening.
"Because there's a bear nearby. I thought you'd appreciate the protection."
"You thought wrong. Those worthless animals would probably be on the bear's side. I haven't been able to go to the outhouse all day!"
He rolled his eyes like he thought she was being overly dramatic, but he went back out to tie the dogs up, so she could use the outhouse.
He had a question for her this time when she came back in. "Did you take the shepherdess on the mantle?"
"I broke it while I was dusting. It was old and creepy-looking anyway."
"That was my mother's!"
"Sorry about that," she said with a careless shrug that showed she wasn't all that sorry despite her words.
He reached over and broke the red coral necklace hanging around her neck in retaliation without much effort. The beads pinged and rolled as they scattered across the floor. A gift from a former lover, but nothing she was sentimental over. He probably would have broken it a long time ago if he'd known that little fact.
He breathed heavily and his face was as red as her coral beads. He looked as if he wanted to hit her. She'd seen bits of anger in him before now, but this was apparently the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
His show of temper was satisfying to her in a way for it gave her a valid reason to leave him should her father want to know why the marriage had failed. And he would ask why.
Yet, if she wanted to be honest, she was a little frightened too. There was a seething, living rage that simmered just below the surface in Jackson and with a little push or slip who knew what he would be capable of.