Cannonball

Chapter Twenty: Marriage Troubles

"That's another one lost to this flu going around," Polly muttered putting down her newspaper, she was surprised how fast this sickness had spread since the men had returned home. 

With each new day there seemed to be a report of someone falling ill and there had been several reports of those dying from the sickness that seemed to be spreading like a fire around the community. 

Rosemary did not reply, she stared out of the window into her back yard almost not hearing what Polly was saying; her mind thinking about how strange Thomas had been acting since his return. 

He all but avoided her now and it broke her heart that there was little that she could do to ease his mind and take away the pain that he had been left with. 

"Rosemary?" Polly said when she did not get a reply, she stared at the young woman almost surprised to find her staring almost unseeing out of the window. 

A frown formed on her lips and she pushed herself out of her chair before she made her way over to her; she reached out to touch Rosemary's shoulder only for her to jump in surprise. 

"Sorry Polly, what were you saying?" Rosemary asked shaking her head, she swallowed knowing that it was not the first time that she had drifted off like that. 

She moved away from the window not wanting to forget herself again, she was certain that her actions concerned Polly and she did not want that when there was nothing wrong. 

The last thing that she wanted was anyone else sticking their nose into her marriage and making the situation worse; a defensive Thomas was not one that would ever open up. 

"Is everything alright?" Polly questioned, it was no secret that Thomas had thrown himself into working at the shop; she had been surprised with how many times she had walked in on him just sat in that office. 

Things had not been right since the boys returned and Polly could not imagine what they had seen or done while they were fighting for their king. 

"It's nothing Pol," Rosemary said trying to reassure her, she doubted her words were convincing but she did not want any fuss when they were meant to be heading to church. 

The weather looked rather pleasant today and Rosemary was eager to get out of the house for a few hours lest she drive herself insane with all that worrying about Thomas and when he would be home.

Polly pursed her lips, she did not believe her for a second and she hated that Rosemary had found herself in such a position; Thomas had no idea just what he was putting his poor wife through by acting as he did. 

However, she supposed that it was a tad better than what Arthur was doing these days; he was constantly getting into fights and his temper was worse than ever, she had even seen him snap at Finn that morning. 

"We should get going... we shouldn't be late to church," Rosemary insisted heading out into the hallway and grabbing her coat, she closed her eyes for a moment before shaking her head and getting ready. 

Helping Kathleen into her coat, Rosemary tried to ignore the look that Polly gave her; she did not want to talk about the fact her marriage seemed to be falling apart. 

Catching Rosemary's arm before she could open the door, Polly stared at her knowing that there was something going on here and she worried for Rosemary. 

"If you need to talk... you know where I am," Polly insisted, if anything was happening then she wanted to know about it; she always looked after her family and that was not going to change now. 

No matter what was going on then she would help Rosemary in any way that she could; she would certainly be speaking to Thomas about his actions as of late and would try and push him in the direction of his wife.