Chapter 1
Rose gave him a smile in return and nodded, "I'll be back soon. Excuse me."she slipped out and closed the door softly. She stood in the hall for a few seconds, giving herself time to digest her situation. It didn't work. Her mind still refused to confront the 'how' and the 'what now'. Shaking her head, she went to the water closet down the hall and went in. It only took her a few minutes to change into her pajamas. Nice cotton, pale pink and white stripes. So comfy.
Ready now, in case she was seen, she went down the stairs to the main floor. She didn't hear any radios, which meant Mrs Martin was gone home. From the entrance hall, she peeked into the dining room. "Rose."
Hiding a grimace, she turned around to face her father. Robert wasn't particularly tall, but he was broad and looked strong. Grey hair crowned him at the temples of his combed back dark hair. His heavy eyebrows were almost always drawn together in an impatient expression, going along with his square jaw and persistent frown. That was how he looked in this moment, dressed for the evening in an English cut suit, a cigarette in his hand.
"Papa." she said, turning around and folding her arms across her chest, "I'm sorry I missed dinner."
Robert rolled the cigarette between his thumb and finger, "Not feeling well?" he presented it as a question, but Rose felt that his tone marked it as a obligatory statement. So she stayed silent and waited, like she normally did, for him to excuse himself. Perhaps it was the knowledge that she had a boy up in her room at that very moment that made it seem like her father's deliberation took far too long. She fought the urge to tap her toes impatiently. "I was going to tell you at dinner, that John Baxter has requested to be added to your list of suitors. I gave my permission."
"What?" Rose nearly shouted, the news taking her completely by surprise. Of all the things that had happened this afternoon. As her mind flew in all directions at once, she could only stutter, "J-John Baxter is no gentleman. He's.. he's a fop!" she did tap her toes now, agitated and unwilling to deal with this news now.
"Mr Baxter comes from a family of good means, and will be a lawyer like his father and brother." he said, putting the cigarette in his mouth, "He will come to call on you tomorrow evening at six sharp."
Rose grew angry and set her shoulders back, "I don't want to waste my time with that conceited cheat. How could you do that without talking to me first? she asked, her voice rising, "Anyway, I'm busy tomorrow. I have errands to run all day."
"And at six, you have a date with John Baxter." Robert said through ground teeth, his own temper flaring. Still taller than Rose, he stepped close and griped her upper arm tightly. Too tightly. Rose gasped and crumpled slightly, "That appointment you will keep, Rose." He gave her arm a squeeze before releasing her and turning without another word. He left through the front door, closing it behind him.
Rose stood there for a minute, holding her arm and fuming. She muttered some choice words under her breath, nearly quivering with her unspent anger. Turning on her heel, she stomped back into the kitchen and threw open a cupboard. She slammed a few things down onto a tea tray. Glasses of water, a few biscuits, and a bottle of headache powder. Climbing the stairs, she set the tray down in the hallway. One more place to go before returning to her bedroom. She went down to the end of the hall to the master bedroom. She didn't pause on her way to the dresser. She knew that her father hadn't worn quite a bit of his old clothes from before we left to fight. He couldn't throw them away either. Rose doubted he'd even notice that few bits and pieces were missing.
Scooping up some pajamas, pants, suspenders and a shirt, she closed the dresser drawers and left the way she came, not lingering to look at her mother's old vanity by the window. Retrieving the tea tray, she headed back to her bedroom, trying to put her father's words out of her mind.