Wild Rose (Short Story)

Chapter 4

A branch scraped against my window at sunrise. Called from sleep, I turned to see what it wanted. The branch tapped again. Now untangled from the sheets, I opened the window. The large, low sweeping oak broke up the morning light as the sun rose higher in the sky. Its branches were a maze of pathways that seemed reached all the way up to heavens. I use to spend a whole day hidden among its branches as a child seeing if I could reach that those highest branches.

"Now Elisa you get down here and come practice your scales," Mama would call up.

"But mama, I am busy," I said as I continued to climb higher determined to reach the top.

Mama crossed her arms, "You get down here this instant, or I'll tan your hide. Polite young girls don't spend their time up in trees, so boys can come to look up their skirts."

"But theirs aren't any boys around mama," I said.

"Get down now Elisa, I won't be askin again."

I began my descent never having reached the top, as I had done many times before, but the branch I was holding onto broke beneath my weight. I screamed as I fell through the branches of the tree never to reach the heavens.

The face looked back at me from the mirror. A perfectly manicured face had replaced my reflection. I placed my powderpuff back in the dainty china holder.

When I entered the parlor, I saw daddy smoking a cigar and reading a book.

"Where's, mama?"

"Gone to town for the day, do you need something dear?"

"I suppose not," I said taking the seat next to him. Silence pervaded the room as I listened to each crutch of the pages he turned.

I glanced at a movement on the front porch. My breath caught somewhere between my stomach and throat, as I realized who was it looking in through the window.

Augusta smiled at me.

"Excuse me, daddy, Elaine is at the door."

"Mmh" was all he responded with.

I raced to open the door. There he was standing on the steps in the broad daylight, I could now see the beginning of the line on his face and the few gray strands that peppered his air.

"What are you doing here at this time on the mornin?"

"Don't act like your not happy to see me. I saw you sitting in there with that board expression pasters on your face," he said stepping closer.

I took a step away, "You haven't answered my question."

He moved closer so that my back was now against the railing on the porch.

"I didn't know ten was early for people down here. In New York, everyone wakes up before the sun has time to get up." He grabbed my hand, and I felt the hard calluses on his palms. "I was hoping to take you out for the day. Does that sound agreeable to you Elisa?"

My voice was like honey on his tongue. I looked around at the lonely streets. "Let me just tell daddy I'm leaving," I said as I hurried to the door.

"I going out with Elaine for the day," I said through the cracked door.

"Ok, sweetie," he turned a page, as I shut the door.

"You really like it here?" Augusta asked leaning against a gravestone.

"You wanted to take me on an unconventional outing," I said walking closer to him but keeping to stone between us. "I have simply alleviated the need for you to find a suitable location." I ran my fingers along the well-worn stones. "This is the only place I can be truly alone."

He watched me with his dark eyes. "How did such a common town produce such an unconventional woman?" Augusta asked removing a strand of hair from my face.

"And what was it about this town that drew you in?" I ask reaching down to pick a rose growing on a grave.

"It was a beautiful woman whose lips were to the color of that rose."

I felt the blush blossom on my cheeks.

Augusta moved in front of the gravestone his hands holding my face gently in his hands. His thumb brush against my lower lip. I want him closer to me. To run his hands over my body. To whisper my name in my ear in his deep voice.

He stepped back from me a smile playing on his lips. "Do you know the people buried here?" he asked.

My bodies ached for his touch to return.

"Yes, my whole family has been buried here since the civil war."

He took the rose from my hand and placed it in my hair, "and so will you be too one day, I right."

"I supposed," I breathed a sigh as his arms wrapped around my waist.

The sheets stuck against my hot skin like flys in honey. I tossed in bed unable to rid him from my mind. His eyes had looked at me like he truly saw me unlike to eyes of those around me who only saw what they wanted. Kicking the sheets off me, I gave up on sleep and sent to look out the window. The oak tree stood outlined against the night sky.

I heard a knock at my door.