The Home Coming Queen

Episode 17

*Rose realises after 2 years that she wants to go home to her husband*

Rose woke up one Friday morning in February almost two years to the day since she left her husband Blond Tobacco and took off on her journey of self discovery. When she opened her eyes she looked up as she usually did to see a little patch of sky where her skylight roller blind didn't come all the way down. She could always tell if it was raining because she could hear the rain on the roof. That morning there was no rain, and she could see the sky was very dark grey. There was no sound of birds singing and the air was heavy with thunder.

Rose closed her eyes again and thought of Blond Tobacco, she wondered what he was doing now. If he was still the same man she married, Rose knew exactly what he was doing at 8.30 am. He would be sitting in his comfortable chair in the conservatory drinking a cup of coffee and smoking his pipe. Rose felt an overwhelming sense of longing in her heart when she pictured him in her minds eye. She could see him sitting there and she wanted to reach out and hold him.
In that same moment Rose knew that she was going to go back to Blond Tobacco.

Rose stood outside her apartment for the last time and looked up at her window that faced on to the canal, she could see the leaves of her geraniums pressing up against the glass.
Then without further ado she picked up her suitcase and walked in the direction of "The Winding Stairs Bookstore" to say goodbye to her dearest friend Sandalwood.

Rose was sitting on the train when the sky opened and the thunder began to roll, she rested her newspaper on her lap and leaned back to watch the rain make streaming rivers across the carriage windows.

The evening felt surreal as Rose stepped out of a taxi outside the gate of her old home. The sky was streaked orange and black, the house seemed to loom in the darkness and there were no lights on. Everything was much as she remembered it. Rose noticed the door needed a lick of new paint and the windows needed a good cleaning, she would give Lavender a call in the morning to come over and lend a helping hand (both Rose's sisters knew she was coming home but they had vowed not to say a word to Blond Tobacco or any of the men).
The first thing Rose noticed when she stepped inside her front door was the smell of her husbands pipe tobacco.