Chapter 23

She told him, 'George, I have developed an adoration for you! That is just quite not settling and is growing stronger each and every day!'. George was over the moon to hear that, 'I love you as well my dear lady! Will you marry me?' was what he said. Rosalie went to Aunt Angie as nobody knew for how long he had that ring stuck in his pocket or it would ever come out if it were not for Angie's confession and Rosalie's insistence. They got engaged that day and married the next week. It was a simple church wedding. Nothing less of a grand one, all the friends around the town came and they had a grand dinner with all the grand services. It was just too good to be true for Rosalie. She grew weak and lethargic as the time passed.

It's been two months now, since Johnathan arrived at his father's former estate that is now his own by right. He joined work as he stepped on the land and didn't visit his father in the Royal estate which his half royal family owned. He visited his father after a month of his settlement in his work and personal life. It was a brief stay where he remained silent as his aunt directed him and dared not to open his mouth as the poison of the past memories made it bitter. He was acquainted to the life in Italy his father taught his through his example. He almost never visited his yearning family once and now Johnathan was following him. His father forced Johnathan to return back as he never collected his mother's items as a child because he was quite young. And now being a solicitor, he understood and took care of all the things himself.

He was not there just to claim her mother's last memoirs but the tender and sweet memories he associated to the things she used to eagerly wear and touch. He loved them all as much as he loved him mother, he was there once more in which that sweet queen spends her forlorn life. He resided in the same estate where his mother lived after his father was nowhere to be seen or found. He rarely visited them on his birthday's or when she fell sick. After that the visits ended altogether. He was the witness of his mother's misery and was the soul companion in her remaining days. His Aunt visited him and stayed with him the week following his mother's death. He was disappointed in his father, may be because she too in her life experienced such a betrayal as Johnathan's father had brought upon his mother.

He was shattered into pieces with every tear that his mother dropped he felt the pain, yet he could make up what she experienced. He only made sense of the betrayal when he read her journal.

'It was heart-wrenching to know about who your loved one is doing. Yet, you remain silent and bare it as some sort of sentence you brought upon yourself!' These were the words that added to his melancholy in the cold days and nights at that estate. Even the bright sun couldn't remove the sadness he now bore in his heart, it was his love certainly but now grasping the pain his mother felt was now a burden. He needed to drop it off his shoulders. He missed her mother dearly and now he missed Rosalie even more as the attachment and friendship they nurtured became stronger in the last few days. How the time passed he couldn't quite make sense of it. One moment it is dawn and the other it is dusk, one moment he steps out for work and the other he returns home to the gloom. It was the way he spends his first month there.

'Sir, what would you have for dinner?' the maid asked. 'Nothing, I presume!' he replied. 'But sir, you must eat something! Or you will catch a fever as it is cool, and you need energy!' she said. 'Alright, then bring some soup?' he said. He walked in the garden where fog dispersed like a transparent sheet of cold like the freezing curtains suspended in the air. He now knew how the pain dominated the cruel cold and made her feel quite comfortable then. It felt like both the cruel cold and the cruel pain balance in the spell of the night in that lonely estate's garden that is attraction and joy to many but is now comfort to him. He sensed no cold and no pain just comfort and ecstasy now just like his mother. But he was aware that he was not his mother and he needed to live and feel alike again. So, he decided that he will inquire his father what he could not ask him as a child.

Rosalie spends her days keeping up with her work and her pain. It ached deeper and deeper. It was the first time; she couldn't tolerate it anymore. Her senses failed her and she remained collapsed for a week. Rosalie doesn't remember how she spend the week, but Nora, Angie, Eliot, Richard and George never left her side. Angie wanted to help her, and she couldn't bare see her like that. Nora and Richard had a wedding by the end of that week which they decided to adjourn till she feels well. When Rosalie gained consciousness, her head felt foggy and she asked, 'How long have I been out?'. Angie and the rest were quite happy to see her awake. She told her, 'It's been a week!' She shed some tears and said, 'I thought we lost you!'. She leaned in and embraced her warmly. Rosalie shed some tears too as she was the one who was aware of what she was experiencing. Nora informed her about her plan to adjourn the wedding till she feels well to which she protested, 'I would not want that at all for you! Richard needs to decide where he would settle! So, don't do that! I promise I wouldn't die before baking a cake for your wedding!'.

All of them laughed and Nora stated weeping and tugged her shoulder as hard as she could, 'How could you be so mean! You are not leaving us it is just some stress that you are experiencing!'. She embraced her and said, 'Just get well for us! We need you and now the town's bakery is a bit off without you! So just pull yourself together!'. Eliot went to the Kitchen and assisted Angie with tea and soup for Rosalie which Nora snatched from him and felt her quickly. Nora briefed to her about all the preparations. She was happy and eager to join them but felt weak to move. Rosalie asked her to join the rest and reassured her that she will be alright all by herself. She read her granny's diary. It was hard to digest but she read about how she separated George and Angie. It boiled her blood she was ready to forgive her for keeping her away from the diary for such a long time but how she influenced George and Angie was intolerable. Her mother was about to return, and she was not happy about it.

Johnathan was now tolerant to how his days passed in this monument of his mother. He often saw her walking through the corridors and expecting his father waiting for hours. He often watched her buttoning his father's coat before he left. As he settled in the dinning, he used to watch her even now sitting by his father and he never dared to interrupt the illusion. These were his happy memories in the house. He remembered that how his father started staying out for work more and more. It was unbearable for her mother who kept herself engaged in the preparation of the household. She joined Johnathan every day in the garden for long walks. She read him sweet and adventurous stories but when he slept. Her mother was lost, and a ghostly spirit dominated her body who he witnessed numerous times strolling alone in the garden. It ached his little heart to observe her strolling with bare feet in the cold and freezing garden at night. The grey sculptors appeared more horrifying and even added intense gloom to her mother's anguish. Johnathan recalled how painful it was for her mother when her fears and doubts came true.