Rose, Exposed

by Afton Locke

  “No.”

  “Come live with us a while, then,” Cali offered. “As long as you can press a seam, we don’t care what color you are.”

  Rose jumped off the bed. “That’s a wonderful idea. When do you leave?”

  “On tomorrow’s steamboat.”

  A sudden, hard knock on the doorframe sent Rose’s pulse into a tailspin.

  “Leroy,” Rose exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  He glanced at the bag he held. “We left this at the dock in all the confusion. Let’s go.”

  “Go where?” she asked.

  “Pearl Point. Caleb is waiting in the car. He gave me my old job back. Isn’t that great?”

  She kissed his cheek. “Thank goodness. I’m so happy for you.”

  Cali abandoned her packing and headed toward the door. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

  Leroy looked into Rose’s eyes. “Now we can finally have the life together we always dreamed about.”

  But she just shook her head.

  “What are you shaking your head for? I thought you loved me.”

  The raw pepper in his voice sliced her chest open to the heart.

  “I do love you,” she replied after pausing a moment to compose herself. “You see, that’s the only thing I am sure about. Everything else confuses me.”

  He sighed hard and grasped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “This is me, Rose. Our families aren’t here. Now we can really talk.”

  Violent winds threatened to pull her apart in a hundred different directions. His touch only intensified the sensation. She turned her head, breaking his grasp.

  “Our families are always with us, Leroy,” she replied, surprised by how calm she sounded. “They’ll never approve of us.”

  He shrugged. “That’s their problem, not ours.”

  “Our families are a big part of our lives.”

  “That didn’t seem to stop you in the hotel room. You’d changed your mind about us, hadn’t you?”

  She looked away. Had her feelings really been so obvious? “I was only thinking I didn’t want it to be our last time together.”

  And that she couldn’t stand the thought of him marrying another woman, but she didn’t think saying so now would help her case.

  “Seeing our families together today, arguing with each other, made it very clear what a poor match we’d be,” she added.

  “Family isn’t a good enough reason to keep us apart,” he said.

  “Maybe not, but poor Mary is. What about her?”

  He shrugged. “When they released me, they said she was raped by a white man at the hotel. That’s a terrible thing, but what does it have to do with us?”

  The calmness she clung to shattered, making her fingers tremble again.

  “Everything! How can I rush off to marriage when I ruined her life? She’ll never be able to marry now.”

  “You don’t know that,” Leroy protested. “She’s a pretty girl. A kind and gentle man will come along.”

  Rose flung out a hand. “What if people see us kiss on a street somewhere and assume I’m white? You could be hung after all. In fact, the mayor banned me from this town.”

  “None of that matters in Pearl Point.” Dropping her bag, he bent and picked her up again as if she were a sack of feed.

  She kicked her legs and slapped at him, but nothing fazed him. “Put me down.”

  “I told you Caleb is waiting in the car. Now stop being so stubborn, woman.”

  “You’re just like my father,” she yelled, successfully wriggling out of his arms.

  “I’m nothing like that man,” he yelled back.

  Rose squared her shoulders. “You’re exactly like him! I’m going to Baltimore with Cali.”

  He paced in a tight circle. “What? Absolutely not.”

  “Leroy, men have told me what to do all my life. Because of it, I don’t even know what I want anymore.”

  The sadness in his eyes almost made her cry again. “I thought you wanted me.”

  “I do. I did,” she said. “But if I marry you, I want to be really sure. I want to do it because I want to, not because you told me to.”

  Her eyes opened wide when he clasped her by the waist and pinned her against the wall.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Convincing you.” He pressed a scorching kiss behind her ear that made her knees wobble.

  “Leroy, don’t. Please.”

  He kissed her on the lips, mesmerizing her with the dance of his hot tongue. Two strong hands palmed and possessed her bottom, making her cunt explode.

  “Remember how I fucked you against that brick wall at the jazz club?” he whispered in her ear.

  Her pussy remembered. Having him pound her backside into that wall with his powerful cock and hips had shattered her with ecstasy. She’d give anything to feel that again.

  “We’re in Cali’s room,” she protested.

  “Right nice of her to let us use it,” he said as he rubbed the outline of his hard cock against her pelvis.

  Her nipples swelled into hard points that demanded attention when she pressed her chest into his. “I thought Caleb was waiting for you.”

  He straightened and backed away a couple of inches. “Oh, right. Rose, please don’t go to Baltimore. I can’t break my word to Caleb again and chase after you.”

  She gripped his jaw. “And I don’t want you to. I just need some time alone. Can you understand that?”

  He nodded.

  “I’ll write to you,” she promised.

  He scribbled the address for her using the paper and pencil on the desk and pressed it into her hand.

  “Don’t make me wait too long,” he said.

  She kissed him once more and he was gone.

  Within moments, she crumpled to the floor, sobbing. Unformed thoughts raced around her mind and she couldn’t put them together anymore. All of them floated in a salty sea of sadness.

  Why couldn’t she just do what Leroy wanted so they could both be happy? Didn’t most women obey their men? Hadn’t she obeyed her father her entire life? What was this stubborn thing that stood between her and love? She was not strong enough to tackle it, let alone understand it.

  Rose felt herself being lifted by a pair of arms under her shoulders. Once she was on her feet, she held onto the wall. It was as if her life had become a giant boat, spinning in the tide.

  “Come on,” Cali said. “Let’s get you up to bed in your old room. I’ll bring you a bowl of chicken soup. You’ve had quite a day.”

  Rose nodded. Maybe if she slept long enough, this maddening confusion would go away.

  * * * * *

  While Leroy rode in Caleb’s car toward Pearl Point, the events of the day pecked at him. Had he really almost died today? It didn’t seem real. He fingered the pulse in his neck just to make sure it was still there.

  Would Rose ever be his? His heart squeezed when they passed the driveway to her parents’ home. Had it really been only a few weeks ago since he’d sat in that tree with her in his arms? He’d always wanted her so much. Was that because he could never seem to have her?

  When they arrived in Pearl Point, it was as if he’d been gone for years. Caleb showed him the latest construction the oyster workers had done.

  Leroy touched the wood with critical fingers. “This is all wrong. It’s not braced right.”

  “I guess you’ll have to fix it,” Caleb said.

  Leroy shook his hand. “Thank you again for giving me this second chance. You don’t know how much it means to me to do the work I love.”

  “I know you won’t let me down again,” his boss said.

  “So when is the wedding date?” Pearl asked.

  Leroy looked down at the ground. “There isn’t going to be one. Not for a while, at least. Rose is going to Baltimore for a while.”

  A muscle in Caleb’s jaw twitched as he shook his head. “Here we go again.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m staying,
” Leroy promised. “Rose is tired of being ordered around and needs time to figure out what she wants.”

  Pearl touched his arm. “A true test of love is to give it freedom, you know. If you hold it too tightly, you might lose it. Rose will come back when she’s ready. She loves you.”

  Leroy recalled the butterfly he’d almost crushed by trying to catch it—the one Rose had begged him to free.

  Caleb clapped him on the back. “Let’s have an early dinner and turn in. I plan to work your tail off tomorrow to make up for lost time.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Hard work was exactly what he needed right now. Anything to take his mind off Rose. It would kill him to lose her after everything they’d been through together, but it was her decision now.

  * * * * *

  The next day, Rose got off the steamboat in Baltimore at the Light Street pier. She lingered to watch the passengers disembark and the crew unload produce from Oyster Island’s farms. Had she done the right thing coming here? If she’d planned to put Leroy at the back of her mind, she was mistaken, because memories of him lingered everywhere, especially the alleys. She hoped Cali didn’t take her to any jazz clubs.

  Cali’s sister Thelma was short and heavy and smiled more than Cali. Rose’s gaze traveled all over the small apartment when she arrived. A fan blew, moving the hot air around, but doing little to cool it. As she wiped her damp forehead with a handkerchief, a dog barked outside to the rhythm of the honking cars and a child screamed down the hall of the building.

  Her new home, she thought. There had been so many recently—her parents’ house, the school and now here.

  Clothing dominated the small space. Some of it was neatly folded in stacks, some hung from racks or hooks and still more sat in mountainous piles. The scent of starch and fabric ironed just short of the scorching point tickled her nose. From the looks of things, she wouldn’t have much idle time to think about Leroy.

  “You’re awfully pale.” Thelma studied her face. “You ain’t white, are you?”

  “Not completely, no.” Rose rolled up her sleeves. “I’m ready to get started.”

  As the woman dumped a mountainous pile of dirty shirts in her arms, Rose felt the weight of toil, but something else too. Something lighter.

  Independence.

  * * * * *

  A week later, Leroy winced when he eased into his seat at the dinner table in Pearl and Caleb’s cabin. He ate breakfast and lunch with the other workers, but evening was family time. Pearl insisted on it.

  Caleb grinned at him as he spooned some beans onto his plate. “Got a few sore muscles, do you?”

  Leroy nodded and grunted. “A few. Pearl, can you butter a piece of bread for me? My arms hurts too bad to reach across the table.”

  “You’re overdoing it,” the other man said more seriously. “You don’t have to keep proving yourself.”

  “Yes, I do. I let you down and I need to make it right.”

  Pearl winked at her husband across the table. “Leroy is a stubborn man. Don’t try arguing with him.”

  Caleb fixed her with a pale blue stare. “And you need to stop doing so much canning, young lady. You shouldn’t be on your feet all the time in your condition.”

  “I’m barely showing yet. You act as if I’m about to go into labor.”

  “I guess you’re not the only stubborn one in the family, Leroy,” Caleb said.

  “When Rose comes, she’ll help you with the canning,” Leroy told his cousin.

  Pearl’s eyebrows lifted. “Did she make plans in the letter she sent you?”

  Leroy stared at his napkin. “No, but she’ll come. I know it.”

  Caleb rested his elbows on the table. “I’ve been meaning to tell you, Leroy, you’re welcome to pick out a plot of land of your own. Next year you can build a house on it.”

  Leroy’s breath caught in his throat. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

  “And the car,” Pearl hinted. “Can you believe he’s finally thinking about getting rid of that old dinosaur?”

  “With the baby coming,” Caleb continued, “we’ll need to get a newer and safer car. I have a feeling the brake bands aren’t going to hold out much longer.”

  “He’s trying to say the car will be yours,” Pearl added, “if you can manage the repairs.”

  Caleb winked. “You’ve borrowed it so often, it probably feels like it’s yours already.”

  “Thank you,” Leroy said again. He didn’t think he could ever say it enough.

  Afterward, Caleb and Pearl discussed the oyster plant while they ate, digesting the day with the meal. Leroy thought of Rose’s letter, which he’d almost memorized. Apparently, the women wore her out with work, so she must be just as tired as he was. She missed him and was enjoying the time away to think. He wished the letter said she would come home to marry him too, but it didn’t.

  Every night, he spent hours lying awake, going over every inch of her lush body in his mind. Then he thought of all the men she might be meeting in Baltimore. Men she’d want more than him or even dangerous ones like the one who attacked Mary.

  He’d vowed to stop making her decisions for her, but he still planned to do everything he could to help her make up her mind. He had a good job and would soon have land of his own. But there was still one obstacle, he realized. Their families. How in the world could he fix that?

  “Look.” Pearl pointed to a butterfly, which had landed on his cap resting on the table.

  “How the—” Leroy exclaimed.

  “We’ve got to get some screens up on these damn windows,” Caleb said.

  Screens were the last thing on Leroy’s mind as sweet joy poured through his blood. The butterfly landing on the cap his father had given him could only mean one thing. Rose was coming back.

  * * * * *

  Next Sunday afternoon, Leroy sat at a different family table. This one was in his family homeplace. Seeing the butterfly on his cap made him wonder what his father would do in his situation. Charlie would have sat back and enticed a woman to him instead of forcing her. It hadn’t taken Leroy long to figure out he could help his cause by getting blessings from the families.

  His muscles didn’t freeze this time when he looked at the empty chair. It hadn’t been his choice to lose Papa, but he now accepted it. Just as he would accept Rose’s final decision, whatever it was.

  “You all have got to move to Pearl Point,” Leroy insisted to his mother and sister as he bit into a piece of cornbread. “Now that Buck is gone, there’s no way you two can take care of yourselves.”

  One good thing about not pursuing Rose so hard was the ability to focus on his family again. Maybe she was right. He couldn’t be a worthy husband if he gave up everything important to be with her. Now that he had his job and family back, he was a complete man.

  “We’ve been taking care of ourselves just fine,” Sadie insisted. “Haven’t we, Mama?”

  “She rows that boat like a professional,” Mama agreed.

  “Well, I don’t approve of it,” Leroy said. “You need a man around. You know what happened to the mayor’s daughter.”

  Sadie made a fist on the tabletop. “That’s because itty bitty white girls don’t know how to defend themselves. Do you honestly think any man would dare take advantage of me?”

  He chuckled. “I think I’d feel sorry for the man.”

  Mama squeezed his hand. “It is good to have us as a family again. That worthless Buck is gone and your silly white girl moved out of town. Hallelujah for that.”

  Leroy gripped his fork. “Rose isn’t white and she’s coming back.”

  “Don’t fool yourself,” Mama replied. “She ain’t ever coming back. That high-falutin’ father of hers is going to pick out somebody just like him for her.”

  “You’re wrong. Rose is making her own decisions now,” Leroy argued.

  “She’s not right for you,” Sadie said, “and I don’t like her.”

  The plates jumped when Leroy’s f
ist hit the table. “How would you even know? You never bothered to get to know her. You just hate her because she’s pretty.”

  Sadie’s chair scraped back with a screech. “And I’m not?”

  “You said it, not me,” Leroy replied. “You’re just as bad as those Klansmen, judging every woman you meet by how she looks.”

  “Sadie, sit down,” Mama said. “Leroy, look what you’ve done to your sister. That girl of yours is still causing trouble, even when she ain’t here!”

  Leroy sighed. It was just no use with them. Maybe Rose was right. Maybe it would never work.

  “Aw, hell. Why are you two so hard on other women?”

  “You watch your mouth,” his mother warned, “or I’ll wash it with soap. I don’t care how big you are.”

  Sadie snickered. “Now this I’d like to see.”

  “Sorry, Mama. But you even treated Pearl this way at first and she’s your own kin.”

  Mama gripped his hand. “Because you’re special, boy, and we want what’s best for you.”

  “Rose is best for me, but she won’t marry me without your blessing.”

  Mama raised a brow. “She said that?”

  “More or less. She respects family and knows how important you all are to me.”

  Sadie studied her fingernails. “I suppose we haven’t really given her a chance. She’s just so pretty, she reminds me of that woman I found Buck in bed with.”

  Leroy looked over at his father’s empty chair. “If he was here, I’d ask for his blessing, so I’m asking you, Mama.”

  “If he does get married, maybe he’ll stop meddling in our lives and let us live here in peace,” Sadie added.

  Mama got up and began clearing the dishes. “We want you to be happy, son. I reckon if you don’t marry her, we’ll never hear the end of it.”

  He clasped Mama’s wrist, which had an empty plate in it, and grinned. “Does that mean—”

  “Yes, you’ve got our blessing. Now let go of me before I drop this plate on your head.”

  Leroy jumped up and kissed her on the cheek so hard, she did drop the plate. “Oh, Mama. You’ve made me so happy. Now put it in writing.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to mail it to Rose.”

  “I’ll get some paper,” Sadie offered.