“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.
“We’ve got to go. The meeting will start in a minute.”
Peter helped her into his car, and the drive was taken mostly in silence. Rose couldn’t find the right words to say to him.
Everyone was going to change in Cape Falls. She didn’t know why it was going to be now, but she knew it was. Kelly had started a rollercoaster ride, and no one was going to settle until they got justice.
The town hall was heaving with activity. Peter parked the car, and Rose waited for him to open her door. He was always the perfect gentlemen. She looped her arm through his, and together they made their way to the front of the hall. Their seats were reserved. Dean and Laura were sat together.
Peter waved at the couple, and Rose smiled. They took their seats next to Daisy and William. The red-head was crying as she held onto her husband.
There were murmurs among the folks. No voices were raised.
Silence fell on the hall as Gabriel took his place on the stand. He stood on the podium looking out at the audience. His voice would carry far and wide, and the few people who didn’t make it to the hall would know what he said.
“I’ve brought you hear today for an incident that occurred last night.” Gabriel stopped, looking down at his notepad. He started laughing, lifting up the notebook. “I was going to use a bunch of statistics and crap. You’re not going to listen to this shit, and seeing as this is our small town I think it’s time you all f**king woke up.”
Rose flinched at the anger.
“Last night, Brad, Tyler, and Adam—you all know their last names. You’ve seen them together a number of times. They took Kelly Lighthouse and proceeded to gang-rape her.”
Rose listened to his words, flinching as he detailed what had happened to Kelly. He went into graphic detail about what happened to her.
Biting her lip, Rose stared up at the stage then all around her. Not a soul in the room was without a tear. This was the harsh reality of what happened.
“They didn’t think Kelly would have a voice because of the way this f**king town works. It ends now. I was going to leave. I was going to take my wife and children and leave this place because you’re all a waste of my time. No, that’s not going to happen. This ends now, today. You will leave this room, and you will think about that young woman who has been violated. You will leave this town knowing that every single one of you had a part to play in her crime.”
Gabriel stormed off the stage not giving anyone a chance to argue.
The crowd didn’t erupt in argument. Slowly, the crowd disappeared leaving the few outcasts remaining.
“I can’t believe it has taken something like this to get through to them,” Paul Steer said.