Rose cleared her throat looking toward the bed. Kelly’s face was bruised from fighting. Her body was covered with a hospital gown, covering most of the damage.
“Rose is here, honey. I’m going to check on your father and give him an update.”
Rose watched the older woman kiss Kelly before leaving her alone. There was only a year between the two. They weren’t strangers, but they weren’t close to each other. Rose felt like she had to be here for the other woman.
Kelly stared at her, not saying a word.
“How are you feeling?” Rose asked, then cursed. “I’m so sorry. That was insensitive.”
“You could start by coming inside and sitting down. I’d feel less contagious if you were to do that,” Kelly said, her voice sounding hard.
Rose moved into the room, taking a seat that Kelly’s mother had been sat in a moment ago.
Kelly let out a breath.
Rose saw the tears in the other woman’s face. Kelly was older than she was by a couple of years. Having only left school last year, Rose didn’t know if she could handle what Kelly was going through.
“I don’t know what to say to you,” Rose said, admitting the truth.
“No one does. My Dad gets angry, and I can’t even look at him. Everything has changed.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
Kelly nodded. “Yeah, I remember. I know you were engaged to be married to him.” The disgust in Kelly’s voice couldn’t be covered up.
“I’m not, Kelly. It was forced. Peter Miller got me out of that mess, and I actually think I’m sort of dating him.” Rose smiled and then stared at her lap. She shouldn’t be talking about her good news.
“Don’t do that.”
Glancing up, Rose wondered what to say. “Don’t do what?”
“Don’t feel bad for having a happy life. He, erm, he complained about you leaving him while he was doing it. I know you’re not with him at all.” Kelly sat up, wincing as she did. Rose reached out to help, but the other woman shook her away. “Don’t help me. I can’t stand for people to touch me. I can talk to you because I know he tried to hurt you. You’re different, Rose.”
Nodding, Rose took a seat again.
“I know I’m considered sweet, and when I heard you were waiting to see me I thought you’d try and talk me out of getting him convicted. You and your family are part of the old ways where we keep crap to ourselves.”
Rose shook her head. “He needs to rot in jail for this. I’d never try to talk you into doing something you didn’t want to do.”
“Good. I may be sweet to everyone, Rose, but I’m not going to back down from this. What they did was wrong. I’m not backing down, and I’m not giving up. They did this with other girls. They were talking about it while they—” Kelly shook her head. “Cape Falls needs to change. They thought they could get away with it.”
“They won’t, Kelly. Your voice will be heard above theirs. Things are going to change.”
Kelly nodded. “I need you to make sure today that my voice is heard in that meeting. I want them to know the town is the cause of this.”
Rose listened to Kelly’s instructions. Gabriel would see Kelly’s message was put across.
“I heard that John helped you.”
The tears fell harder and faster. “He didn’t do anything, Rose. He has to suffer with the rest of them.”
Rose stayed listening to Kelly for a long time. When her mother finally returned, she said her goodbyes and made her way out. Peter was waiting for her. He stood when he saw her, and she went straight into his arms.
“It’s okay, baby.”
“She’s strong, Peter. This shouldn’t have happened to her. Her voice needs to be heard. Cape Falls has got to change, and she picked me to make sure her pain gets across.”
She noticed several of the locals were listening to her talk with Peter. They turned away when she gave them a pointed look.