Page 7 of Legacy of Roses

“Practice.” Rosalie gave the soup another stir. “Do you remember how loud they used to be when they were younger?” She shuddered dramatically, making her mother laugh.

Glancing sideways at her mother, Rosalie smiled. Every laugh she won from her seemed twice as valuable now. They had all been forced to work harder since the move, but her parents didn’t have youth on their side like Rosalie and the boys.

“Don’t look at me like that,” her mother said softly, slipping her words beneath the boys’ chatter. “I’m fine.” She looked around the cramped kitchen which was part of the cottage’s main room. “But thank you for this. You know we appreciate everything you do.”

Rosalie flushed, leaning over to inspect the soup more closely. Her parents had been gracious from the beginning. Even when her father had been forced to transport his own merchant goods, leaving his family for long trip after long trip, no one had blamed Rosalie for the family’s separation.

It only made her feel worse.

When the evening’s tasks were finally done, and Rosalie lay in bed, Daphne already long gone to slumber, she couldn’t get her mother’s lined face from her thoughts. How long had shebeen working in the garden while Rosalie was off inspecting the manor?

Rosalie should have stayed behind and helped. But if she hadn’t gone, Dimitri would have plucked that rose, and then they would all have been in trouble. Dimitri might have had no connection to Rosalie, but the Legacy would have sucked her and her family into the mess that followed somehow. She might have missed helping with the weeding, but at least she had averted disaster.

She scoffed quietly to herself in the darkness. It was no surprise that a young man with a face like Dimitri’s would be causing trouble.

Objectively, Daphne was right about his good looks. He was even tall and broad-shouldered. Jace had caused enough of a stir among the local girls, and Dimitri far surpassed him. Young men as attractive as Dimitri were best avoided. Only someone with a face like his would have dared wander around an unfamiliar kingdom, getting himself and the innocent people in his orbit into trouble.

She was glad she would never see him again.

“You don’t have to walk me home,” Daphne said mildly. “I do know the way.”

Rosalie grinned at her. “You know perfectly well I was itching to escape. The sun is shining far too beautifully to be cooped up inside—especially with those three.”

Daphne grinned knowingly. “Do you think they’ll actually clean to your mother’s satisfaction this time? Or will they end up having to redo it all like usual?”

Rosalie’s laughing rejoinder trailed off as she spotted a small cluster of young people in front of the Fosters’ elaborate home.

“What’s going on over there?” She tugged Daphne toward the group, keeping her face carefully averted from the other side of the town’s central square. It was still painful to see the charred ashes where her home had once stood.

“Is that Dimitri?” Daphne asked, making Rosalie forget all about the houses.

Dimitri should have been long gone. There had been enough time remaining the day before for him to complete the necessary research. Even if he’d stayed the night at one of Thebarton’s inns, he should have been on his way first thing in the morning.

Unless his destination had been Thebarton. Her heart sank.

She wanted to deny it, but it was obviously Dimitri. His head stood tall among the young women who surrounded him, and she could clearly see his profile as he flashed them all a charming smile, chuckling at something one of them had just said. Rosalie’s outrage grew as he gave the speaker a piercing look designed to set her heart fluttering. He was even worse than Jace had been.

Rosalie marched up to the collection of familiar faces. The five girls gathered around Dimitri had been Rosalie’s friends once, even if they had never been as close as Daphne. And they were still friendly enough that Rosalie was greeted with an array of welcoming smiles.

But the welcome would have been far warmer a year ago. The group’s dynamic had changed now that Rosalie was no longer the daughter of the most prosperous merchant in town. When Rosalie could no longer invite them to the largest house on the square, the invitations she received in return had dwindled considerably. And while she hadn’t been totally excluded from her social circle, she had slid from its center to its fringe.

The experience had been more humiliating than if they had rejected her entirely. If faced with rejection, she could have blamed it on outside pressure or fear. As it was, she had been forced to accept that her old position hadn’t been based on her value as a person and friend but on her parent’s financial worth. It had been a sobering realization, and it colored backward to taint years of friendship.

Blythe—the Fosters’ oldest daughter and new center of the social scene—gestured them into the circle.

“Rosalie! Daphne!” She looked pleased to have something interesting to share. “You must meet our newest neighbor.”

Neighbor. Rosalie’s heart sank the rest of the way from her belly to her toes. It was true, then. Dimitri was staying.

“Rosalie.” Dimitri greeted her with visible pleasure, apparently oblivious to her reaction.

The single word was enough to send a frisson through the group. The eyes, which had already gravitated from the newcomers back to Dimitri, turned in Rosalie’s direction again, their expressions now ranging from curious to sour.

Rosalie ignored them. These same girls had envied her Jace’s attention once, and look at how that had turned out. She had been a fool then, but she refused to be one again. If the others hadn’t learned from Jace that appearances could be deceiving, they were only setting themselves up for pain.

“You didn’t tell us you were staying,” she said to Dimitri, making no attempt to keep the accusation out of her voice.

His pleased expression faltered, replaced with a look of confusion. She might even have bought it if she hadn’t just seen him playing to his audience, eating up the attention. Whatever game he was playing, he hadn’t been honest the day before.

---