Black Rose

Leftover champagne

They didn't come back upstairs for a long time. I put on a brave face for Jackson and kept him busy, but on the inside, all I could think about was what was happening downstairs. What was Blake doing to Gwen? I couldn't hear anything from up here, but that didn't necessarily mean that nothing was happening.

It killed me not knowing, but I knew that I had to stay with Jackson and protect him from whatever was going on down there.

After he had breakfast, he got his colouring things and did some colouring while I washed up. The process made me cringe, but I felt that Blake would be mad if I left the dirty dishes there.

As I was finishing, doing the cutlery, I suddenly got to thinking about what had happened, what Gwen had done here. I felt my heart start pounding and quickly dropped the last few pieces of cutlery, some butter knives, forks, and the chopping knife I used for the bacon. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, steadying my heavy breathing. I'll do them later, I thought.

To try to ease my anxiety, I went and joined Jackson for a while, and he babbled on about what TV shows he liked, and the toys he had, and the things he wanted. I was surprised at how chatty he was. Gradually, the panic eased away and I started to feel normal again.

I didn't bring myself to finish the washing up though.

After a while, he got sick of colouring, so he put his colouring things away, then sheepishly asked if I could watch TV with him. I agreed, so we went to the theatre. When I turned the screen on, it was switched to live TV, and I couldn't resist the chance to look at the news once more, so I flicked across to the NBC.

Before I could even listen to the story on screen, Jackson let out a groan, flopping into one of the big cushiony chairs. "Lia! This is a boring TV. Can you put on my show please!"

I laughed and dropped down in the chair beside him, navigating to the Nick Jnr channel. "How's this?" I asked.

He let out a murmur of approval, already intently tuned to the drama unfolding on the screen. I smiled, watching him for a minute before vacantly watching with him.

We stayed there for a while, just chilling, and my mind drifted away, first to Gwen, wondering what was happening downstairs. Then my mind wandered to other things. I thought about Blake, and that morning, lying in bed. I thought about the man at the party the night before, the trafficker. I thought about everything that had happened the day before, the lawyer, seeing Jordan again, the restaurant and the girl in the restroom, then the rest stop and the waitress who knew me.

I wondered what would happen next. The snow was too thick for anyone to get through easily, so the waitress's dad would have a difficult time getting some sort of rescue team out here. If he even could.

A gentle knock on the door broke me from my thoughts. I looked up to find Blake leaning against the doorway, smiling.

He didn't bring Gwen with him.

"Where's mommy?" Jackson asked. Blake gave him a reassuring smile.

"She doesn't feel too well right now, bud, so she's just having a little lie-down." He said. "Did you get some breakfast?"

Jackson nodded. "Lia gave me Cheerios."

Blake smiled. "Perfect. Now, why don't you go off and play with your toys, and maybe if you're nice and quiet, Lia can watch some more TV with you later."

Jackson nodded hesitantly. "Can mommy watch too?"

Blake sighed. "Well, I think we should let her rest so she feels better, right?"

Jackson's face fell but he nodded. "Okay. I don't want her to go back to the hospital."

"Me neither, Jack," Blake said. Jackson climbed off the chair and wandered off, back down the hall to his room.

Blake let out a sigh, and I couldn't help but give him a pointed look. He raised an eyebrow. "What? Why are you looking at me like that."

"What did you do to her?" I asked, mustering as much disapproval as I could.

He shook his head. "Rose, I don't like your tone."

"Blake!" I said, exasperated. "I'm not trying to upset you. I'm just worried. I want to know what you did to her."

"I didn't do anything, Rose," He said, but I didn't believe him. Before I could press more, though, he changed topics. "Come on, while Jackson is playing, I want you to help me clean up the ballroom."

I frown. "The ballroom? But the party ended early."

"It might not have lasted very long, but it was still a party, and there's a bit of effort that needs to be done in cleaning up," He said. "I sent all the staff home because of the snow, so it's just you, me, and some leftover champagne. How does that sound, Rose?"

"I'm not sure... I want to see Gwen." I said, glancing down the hallway.

He let out a terse laugh. "You will, Rose. Just not right now. She needs some time to cool off, okay?"

I hesitated, then finally nodded, looking back at him. "Alright."

He smiled. "That's my girl."