Flower Ch. 03

I sat down and stared unseeingly in front of me, once again collecting the small shards of my frightened self to try to piece myself together. I heard a well-known "wroof" and looked down at a worried-looking dog. He didn't approach me, but sat a few feet away, looking at me and tilting his head slightly to the left as if wondering what had happened this time.

I heard steps coming down the gravel path and worriedly stood up, wondering who was coming my way, hoping that it wasn't my husband.

"Rose," his angry voice called out for me "I wasn't finished with you yet!"

All my senses were screaming for me to get away, but I started walking quickly towards him, to prevent him from seeing Alfred. I had gotten about half way to him, when a golden-haired shape ran past me, heading for my husband. The always so sweet Alfred had now been replaced by an angry, barking dog, fur standing on end and teeth bared in a vicious-looking grin. My husband's quick steps came to a full stop as he stared first at the dog, then at me, then back at the dog. The grim look on his face made my body start to tremble, but when he tried to approach me he was stopped by an angrily barking dog.

"I don't know whose dog this is," he said "but you and that person, and most of all that dog, will all be sorry!"

Once again, shock sent me falling, this time to my knees as I covered my pale face with shaking fingers. I should have known that I couldn't keep Alfred a secret, I should have made sure that Edward kept him safely at home. Why hadn't I gone to Edward and told him about my husband, why hadn't I tried harder to protect them both?

A wet nose pressed to the side of my neck made me look up at poor, dear Alfred. Poor Alfred, poor Edward.

I slowly stood up and walked towards my neighbor's house, followed by a now happily panting dog. I stared down at the ground, not capable of looking at my beautiful surroundings. My steps were heavy as I walked around the corner of the house, straight into a solid form that wrapped its arms tightly around me. A small scream managed to slip out through my tight lips before I froze in absolute terror.

"Rose," a warm voice told me "it's me, Edward. I realize I shouldn't have hugged you, but sometimes I don't think before I react. I'm not going to let you go right now, because I think you're either in shock or that you're having a bad panic attack, but when you feel up to it, we'll go indoors and drink some warm tea."

I'm not sure how many minutes it took for me to unlock my tight jaws and start breathing slowly and steadily, calm breaths to slow my pulse and soften my tensed up muscles. Edward kept talking softly, switching between soothing nonsense-words and telling short stories about Alfred's adventures as a small puppy. I concentrated on breathing and listening until finally the last piece of tension left my body and I leaned into Edwards warm embrace and put my face on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I whispered "I'm not having a very good day today."

"I'm sorry I scared you," he whispered back "I didn't mean to make your day even worse. Do you think you can walk those few steps into the house now?"

I straightened up, nodded and walked on weak legs towards the house, pulling myself mostly by the power of my will up the few steps to and through the open front door. I sat down on the chair in the kitchen, where I had been sitting smiling happily just a few weeks ago. I looked up and saw Edward walk in carrying two thick-looking blankets. Before long he had me securely wrapped up in two layers of colorful, comfortable fleece and I soon felt warm and strangely safe.

Edward started making tea in silence and I once again looked at the wall in front of me. All the paintings, pictures and small knick-knacks made me wish I had met his wife. She seemed to have been a bright and cheerful kind of a person, who walked through life spreading happiness.

"When did your wife pass away?" I asked, raising my voice slightly to penetrate the sound of the boiling water.

"Sally died three years ago," he answered, busying himself with the tea pot "in a freak car accident, as she was driving home from the hospital where she was volunteering. She liked to keep busy and she wanted to help people. She didn't' really need to work, since she came from old money, but she loved being able to help in any way she could."

"She must have been a very special person!" I told him, my experience with rich people and their lives mainly showing a great lack of compassion.

"She was," he continued "this house belonged to her, and she kept it and her arms open to anyone who needed it. She even took me in, with all my bad habits of working too much, singing in the shower and digging holes in the butter."

I smiled at the description of his small character flaws, thinking that a loving home with only those types of tiny annoyances sounded absolutely wonderful. I would give up my soul for some normal, healthy bickering about bad habits.

Edward poured the tea and sat down in front of me, studying my face for a long while before letting out a long sigh and leaning back in his chair.

"I heard Alfred barking and I can't imagine it was you he was barking at. Do you think you can tell me what happened?" he asked with his calm, soft voice.

I nodded and cleared my throat, prepared to tell him as much as possible, to make him understand that he needed to get himself and his dog as far away as possible.

"My husband came looking for me when I was... sitting... in the garden. Alfred was there when he started yelling for me to get back to the house, and when I did as he said, Alfred came running and started barking at my husband. And my husband promised he would hurt both you and Alfred."

"And he probably promised he would hurt you too, didn't he?" Edward muttered, his voice still calm, but with a hint of anger in it.

I nodded, but didn't tell him that that had been a certainty even before the man and dog had met in angry battle.

"So if you go back there now, you probably know what will happen, don't you?" he continued, worry showing in the tense lines of his face.

I nodded again, struggling to take one calm breath after the other.

"Will you then let me help you?" he asked, reaching his hand towards me on the table in front of us.

"I can't pull you into this," I whispered "you have no idea of what he's capable of. If he has promised he will hurt you, he will do so by any means necessary. I don't want to see you, Alfred or anyone else hurt! He doesn't know that Alfred is yours yet, but he will find out and then find the quickest and best way of destroying you. You have to get away from here before that happens!"

"But you will let him hurt you?" he responded "You will go back there to get hurt, god knows how much, rather than letting me find you a safe place?"

"To protect the people I love; I would go back there every time!" I whispered.

"Please tell me about them then, these persons that you love, are they the selfish sort of people that would stand back and see you hurt, for them?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly "Because I don't think you would consider them friends if they were that selfish."

"They don't know anything about it," I whispered back "and I don't want them to know. If they knew they would just try to help, and my husband has promised he will destroy them if I go to them for help or if I try to get away from him in any way."

"He's using your friends then to make you do whatever he wants? And you're just going to let him continue doing that? Do you think any friendship is worth that price?" he asked, his voice heavy with sadness and anger.

"If I didn't believe it was worth it, I wouldn't have stayed even a month. But as it is, I'll have to find a way to protect them before I try to get away." I answered, as strong in my conviction as ever.

Edward shook his head, a sad frown covering his face.

"So why don't you call them now and tell them to run far away, as you've done with me? And then let me take you to a safe place?" he asked softly.

"I'm going back there now to tell my husband that I have never seen that dog before, and you're going to make sure that both you and Alfred are as far away as possible when my husband starts searching for you!" I said as I rose slowly and removed the blankets around me.

I took a deep breath and walked out of there, hoping that he had listened to what I'd been saying, that he would heed my warning.

* * * * *

I had reached out to try to help her, but she wouldn't accept my offered assistance, and in my heart I had already known that she wouldn't. I had tried to make her see that she had to get away, had tried to make her understand that there was no way for her to protect everyone around her, but I had failed.

I had first seen her beauty, admiring the perfect flower from afar. I had then seen her weak and trembling, that same flower shaken by powerful winds. And I had now finally seen her strength, the steel behind her frail appearance, which left the flower standing after a heavy rain.

I knew there wasn't much I could do save her from what was to come, but I had to try. I picked up my phone and called my nephew, hoping that he would have some contacts in the police force that could help save her.

I was going to continue trying until there was nothing more I could do. And then I would still try just a little bit longer.