The Happy Marriage of Rosannah Winthrop (Completed)

Ch 22 - A Short Interlude

Copyright to VedaPettigrew

Rosannah wished she could stop shivering, twas perfectly ridiculous to be quaking so when she was outside under the hot sun, but she was unable to control the tremors that overtook her body.

She was sitting on a bench in their private garden and Bult was stationed in her study. He had wanted to stay outside with her, but once he checked the entire garden and realised that nobody would be able to gain entry, he agreed to her request for some time alone.

She wondered if her parents were gone yet. She hoped it were so, for 'tho she was proud of herself for facing them without showing her inner fears and anxieties, she was in truth now, a quivering wreck. Seeing them had brought back most unwelcome memories - in the very place they had been banished. Henry had created such a safe haven for her that she had not been touched by the ugly truths of her upbringing for some time.

Now, however... now the ugliness had come to her doorstep, seeking her out and torturing her with vivid pictures, recollections that she could not stop. She wrung her hands, squeezing hard to ineffectually try and redirect the flow of her thoughts and emotions. Seeing her mother wearing the very hatpin that she had used against Rosannah, pained her excessively. It seemed her cruelty had not abated, her lesson not learned.

Why would her mother have done such a mean-spirited thing if not just to hurt her one last time? To use the thing to stab her once more. Her mother would have had no choice to come today, her father was the only one responsible for that stupidity, but the gleam in the baroness' eye when she took in the moment Rosannah had noted the pin, made her think that wearing it was her mother's choice alone.

Fortunately, whilst she had betrayed her shock at seeing the reviled thing so unexpectedly, it had been of short duration. Comfort from the stalwart man who had stood beside her giving her silent strength, helped her to pull herself tall, and she refused to further acknowledge its abhorrent presence.

There had been a joyous bubble that erupted within her when her shocked mother realised her plan had failed to amount to anything of worth, and Rosannah had not managed to conceal her satisfaction when the baroness showed her disappointment.

Rosannah did not think that Henry had noticed the thing, for she knew he would have shown far greater anger and possibly even refused to house her mother elsewhere...  which was why she neglected to tell him. She put her head in her shaking hands, hating that she had been so deceitful. Henry deserved it not.

She wondered if the baroness would accept his offer. Despite her wickedness, Rosannah hoped indeed that she would. Knowing what freedom felt like, she never wished for someone else to feel trapped in such horror, unable to escape pain and fear and sadness. In fact, she was resolved that upon her return to London, she would set up some charity for women in such a position.

T'would have to be done secretly, her views on the matter did not necessarily align with the law or popular opinion, but it would not stop her. She would present the idea to Henry and hope that he would support her endeavour.

Which she was sure that he would.

More guilt piled on top of her, she should not have hidden a thing from him. She was a terrible wife, after everything that he had done for her, to try and deceive him so, could not be borne. No indeed. Oh she felt awful. Truly shamed.

"Rose?"

That Henry's voice came at such a time meant that she could not hold back from running to him and throwing himself into his arms in a flurry of sobs and apologies.

He held her tightly, muttering words of comfort which only increased her guilt.

"No Henry," she sobbed, "you do not understand. I have wronged you."