Rose Read online

  “What time can I get up?” Lucas asked, already half-asleep.

  “I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours.” She turned her head to look at him, only to find he was already fast asleep.

  <><><>

  Mack finally woke for the day at eight in the morning, to the sun streaming through the curtains. Lucas was still asleep, curled into her side. She just lay there, listening to the peace and quiet, that would only last as long as Lucas slept.

  Sliding quietly out of bed, so as not to wake him, she collected her clothes on the way to the bathroom, placing them on the chair in the corner while she showered. Once finished, she headed back into the bedroom, in time to watch Lucas wake up.

  “Is it time to get up now?”

  “Yes, it is. Come on, let’s get you washed and dressed, then I’ll make you pancakes with syrup.” Mack grinned, as she caught a leaping Lucas in her arms. She swung him around before carrying him through to his room and the bathroom.

  <><><>

  “Are you really, really sure I can’t have ketchup with my pancakes?” Lucas had a rather angelic look on his face.

  “Lucas, you do not put ketchup on pancakes. It was made to go on fries, which is why they made syrup, to go on pancakes.”

  While she had a glaring match with him, Mack placed the syrup to the side of his plate, along with a glass of chocolate milk.

  “Wow, chocolate milk! Okay, syrup is good.”

  She had to turn away so Lucas wouldn’t see her smiling.

  Finally, taking her own seat, she finally found herself waking up as she drank her first, delicious coffee of the day.

  After breakfast, she followed Lucas into the sitting room and switched the Wii on for him to play for a while.

  As she thought about the sorts of books she enjoyed reading, a blush warmed her cheeks. Mack wasn’t sure what Daniel had been thinking, unless he had spotted Seduce by Lexi Buchanan, which had been sticking out of her purse once, a few weeks before.

  Mack heard a brief knock on the door and was just about to answer, when Thomas walked in. “Morning, Miss Mackenzie. Hope you had a good night’s rest.”

  “I did, thank you.” She’d just finished speaking, when Lucas ran in from the sitting room, straight to Thomas, who bent down and gave him a big hug.

  “I was wondering if I could take the kid for a couple of hours?” Thomas asked and pulled a chair out at the table, before sitting down.

  “Would you like coffee?” she asked.

  He nodded, removing his cap.

  Mack poured a cup of coffee for them both, and joined him at the table. “What do you have planned today?” she asked.

  “I was thinking that I have a lot of those comics, like we were reading yesterday, in a box in the garage. I thought maybe Lucas could help bring them into the house so we can have a look through them together.”

  “What a lovely idea. Thank you for asking him, Thomas. By the look of things, Lucas would love that.” She burst out laughing, due to Lucas’ rather exuberant reaction.

  “I’ll just go wash up again. Be back in a minute.” Lucas bounded upstairs to the bathroom.

  After watching Lucas retreat, she turned back towards Thomas. “Thank you for telling me about your family last night. I really enjoyed listening. I just hope you didn’t think I was being nosy.”

  “It’s okay. I haven’t really spoken about them before to be honest, and I quite enjoyed sitting here drinking coffee while I talked about them with you.”

  “I’m glad. I was slightly worried after you left, in case talking about them had upset you.”

  He shook his head. “It was a long time ago. I was fine.”

  “Okay then, now about Lucas. Are you sure you don’t mind having him? He can be a handful.” Mack frowned. She was a lot younger than Thomas, and Lucas could probably tire an elephant out, with the amount of energy he seemed to have.

  “Don’t worry yourself. If there’s a problem, I have your cell number, and I only live five minutes down the footpath.”

  When Lucas reappeared, Thomas stood up from the table and took hold of his hand. “Bye, Auntie Mack.”

  Mack smiled. “Bye, Lucas. You behave yourself if you want any chance of being invited back.”

  Lucas grinned. “I will.”

  “See you, Thomas. And thank you again.” She watched them walk off down the footpath, hand in hand. They looked good together. She really wished she had her camera nearby, just to capture the image.

  <><><>

  “Mr. Degan,” Lucas asked. “How old are these comics? There’s a lot of dust?” He started sneezing.

  Thomas couldn’t help but laugh and cough at the same time. “I’ve had these since I was a youngster. I started buying them with my allowance in 1942, and bought them for about five years, I think.” He frowned. “Call me Thomas, okay?” He didn’t understand why parents insisted on children calling adults Mr. and Mrs. It drove him crazy and always had. As a child, he would push his mother’s buttons and call one of her friends by their Christian name, and then act shocked, as though it was a slip of the tongue. It used to embarrass his mother something wicked. She eventually stopped taking him with her, which of course was what he’d intended.

  “Okay. Can I have a look inside this one, please?” Lucas asked, waving around a rather gruesome covered comic.

  “That’s the Halloween edition. Take a seat, and I’ll bring you some milk and cookies.”

  “Yummy.” Then he remembered his manners. “Thank you.”

  Thomas headed into the kitchen, trying to remember the last time he’d had so much fun, and couldn’t. His wife, Janet, died when they were both fifty-six. That was twenty-four years ago. They hadn’t been blessed with children of their own. Janet had been an only child, and both of Thomas’ siblings had died years before. So, he had no nieces or nephews, just children of friends, who he’d become an honorary uncle to over the years.

  It had really been too long since his house had a child inside.

  <><><>

  Mack was back downstairs after she’d finished emptying the boxes of clothes and books. She hadn’t realized just how many of her books she’d brought with her. They were now in neat piles on the top shelf of the closet, in the hope that Lucas couldn’t reach them.

  With the boxes dismantled, she decided to store them up on top of the kitchen cabinets. Dragging a chair over to the kitchen counter, she climbed up, hoping there were no spiders. Reaching up to place the flattened boxes on top, she noticed what looked to be a book at the far end.

  Mack made sure the boxes were safely stored before she walked along the counter top and reached for the book, thanking God when no spiders accompanied it.

  Her feet were planted firmly back on the kitchen floor as she grabbed a cloth to wipe the thick covering of dust from the book.

  Due to her love of all things historic, her skin tingled as she held the long forgotten tome. This one looked really old, especially with all the dust. It must have been up there a long time. Mack stroked the front of the soft, leather bound book, before peeling it open to the first page…

  This is the diary of a Rose

  March 4, 1947

  “Oh, my.” Mack lowered herself onto a kitchen chair. Stunned. The diary was...sixty-six years old, and who was Rose? Why was her diary on top of the kitchen cabinets? Mack could hardly contain her curiosity.

  “Auntie Mack, I’m home!” Lucas ran into the kitchen.

  Mack tried to calm herself. Her heart was beating like a freight train with excitement at what she’d found. She certainly didn’t want Lucas getting wind of what she had; otherwise he would be searching high and low for it, to read himself.

  Thomas walked into the kitchen, took one look at her, noticed the book in her hand, and looked shocked, as if he recognized the object in her hands.

  “Do you know anything about this book, Thomas? It says ‘this is the diary of a Rose’, and it’s dated 1947.” Mack waited for his response. “Thomas, are you
feeling all right?” she asked, going over to him.

  “Yes, yes, fine. I need to get home.” He started to move towards the door.

  “But isn’t this yours? After all, it’s your family’s cottage.”

  Thomas turned back around to look at her. “It’s okay, you found it, so read it first, and then pass it on to me to read. Have a good evening.”

  Thomas was gone, just like that.

  <><><>

  Later, after she checked on Lucas to make sure he was asleep, Mack headed downstairs to make a cup of hot chocolate, having already showered and changed into her pajamas.

  After an exhausting dinner, and an amusing evening spent entertaining Lucas, all she wanted to do was climb into bed and read the diary she’d found.

  Sipping the hot chocolate, she headed back upstairs to the bedroom, and switched on the lamp. She kept her door open slightly to listen for Lucas and then picked up the diary before settling down into bed, turning it to the first page.

  Chapter 3

  This is the diary of a Rose!

  March 4, 1947

  My name is Rose and I am 19 years old.

  This is my first diary. After the events of yesterday, I have decided I must keep one.

  Yesterday was a very exciting day in Cape Elizabeth and in my life, because I met the most handsome man….

  I worked in the town library, and today I was in the history section dusting the shelves and the books of all things. It really was the worst job Mr. Young, my boss, could give anyone, and for some reason he seemed to like giving it to me.

  At the nine mark, my brother JT nearly knocked me off my ladder, as he came running around the corner. He was so out of breath that I started to panic. “JT, what is it? Is everyone all right?” I asked.

  “Sis, will you take me to watch the rescue at sea?”

  “What on earth are you talking about?” JT had been known to spin a yarn now and again.

  “Walt said a collier ship has gone aground just past the Cape because of the storm. Please, will you take me?”

  I would tell Mr. Young a little white lie, it wasn’t as though I was busy, and the dust would still be there tomorrow. That decided, I took JT by the hand and briefly left him with Emma while I went in search of Mr. Young to tell him I was sick with a ‘female’ problem.

  Not long after, I walked out of his office and couldn’t help but smile as he reacted as I thought he would. He turned bright red and plopped down onto his chair. He probably hoped I wasn’t about to divulge any further detail.

  We walked alongside each other as we, like most of the town, headed toward the cliffs.

  As we approached, we could hear everyone cheering. It sounded more like a party rather than a rescue.

  Sarah was standing not too far away with her older sister, so we walked over to them, which was getting rather difficult with JT trying to pull me in a different direction.

  “Sis, I want to go over there to Walt and Levi,” JT said, tugging on my hand for the umpteenth time.

  “Let me go and talk to Sarah first to find out what’s going on. Then I’ll take you over there, okay?”

  I ignored JT while he moaned and grumbled about why he always had to do what the grownups told him to do.

  “Sarah, what’s happening here?” I asked after we finished hugging. Sarah was the friendliest of people and always ‘hugged’. She used to make me feel uncomfortable, but after a while I enjoyed the familiarity.

  “They’re rescuing crew members at the moment, and whenever they bring them safely to shore, everyone cheers.”

  “I wonder if they need help with anything,” I said, only to have Sarah’s sister scowl at me. Miss prim-and-proper Matilda.

  Finally, after about ten minutes of making polite conversation, I let JT steer me towards Levi and Walt, his two best friends, and on more than one occasion, partners in crime.

  There was still a bit of a chill in the air, so I kept moving around to keep the chill at bay while trying to keep my eye on JT. There was enough commotion, without JT and his friends causing any more trouble.

  When I looked around, not too far away, in the distance, was a really tall handsome man, who was looking straight at me. I couldn’t move, he had me hypnotized. Wow! I had never felt anything like that before. I was frozen to the spot. When he started to walk towards me, my heart started to flutter madly in my chest.

  As he stood before me, all tall, dark and mysterious, he reminded me of the actor Gregory Peck, but had a more muscular build, I thought.

  “Hello. I haven’t seen you before,” he said to me.

  I was still trying to get my mouth to work and just about managed to croak out, “I’ve been sick.” What an idiot. I had the most handsome man I’d ever seen standing in front of me and all that came out of my mouth was ‘I’ve been sick’!

  I came back to my senses, and held my hand out to him. “I’m Rose.”

  He took hold of my hand, I felt as though I’d been hit by lightning and if the widening of his eyes was anything to go by, he’d felt it too.

  He cleared his throat. “Jacob Evans. I only moved to Cape Elizabeth about a month ago. Do you live around here?” he asked, his eyes not leaving mine.

  “Not too far away, near the beach. I work in town at the library.”

  He was still holding my hand when JT came running over. “Sis?” He looked between the two of us. “What’s going on? Why are you talking to him?” he asked, pointing at Jacob. “You’re supposed to be marrying Richard, you can’t talk to him.”

  I blushed at JT’s impetuous remark. He was fourteen, and I really wished I could shut him up. I really hated him right now, especially mentioning Richard. Ugh.

  I quickly looked up at Jacob. He looked sad as he released my hand and took a step back from me.

  “Rose, come on,” JT said, whose impatience was really starting to irritate me.

  “I better go with him. I hope to see you again,” I said, as JT finally succeeded in dragging me away.

  “I hope so.” The last words he spoke to me at the time would come true. I was a very determined young woman, so I would make sure to see him again.

  Before I lost sight of him completely, I glanced back to look at Jacob, only to find him watching me walk away from him. My heart had yet to stop its rapid beating. Such a feeling was entirely new to me.

  “Sis, you shouldn’t be talking to strange men when you’re marrying Richard.”

  “JT, I am not marrying Richard now, or ever, and one day Mother and Father will realize that.”

  After dinner, my best friend Jayne called around to the house. I dragged her around the side to sit in the garden. I didn’t want anyone overhearing what I had to tell her. But by the end of the evening, I wish I’d kept it to myself, as she told me I was being stupid. That no one could be infatuated with someone they had only just met!

  March 8, 1947

  Richard came calling today….

  It had been four days since I’d seen Jacob. Every time I walked through town, I found myself looking for him. Why didn’t I ask him where he worked? I told him I worked at the library, but perhaps he didn’t want to see me, which distressed me more than it ought.

  While I’d been spending my time dreaming about Jacob, my mother had been filling my mind with all things Richard. Richard was the only child of Bernard and Evelyn, who just so happened to own the local newspaper, a hotel in Boston, and a few other local businesses. So, of course he was a great catch. Mother didn’t seem to understand. I wanted to marry for love not money.

  Richard was a really good-looking man; tall, blonde hair with blue eyes, who had more interest in tinkering with cars than he did me, or anyone else for that matter. I actually found him boring. On the two dates I’d been on with him, I couldn’t wait to get back home. I’d only agreed to go on them to stop my parents from bothering me about him.

  I was lying in the hammock in the garden trying to hide. Mother had allergies for about everything you could get an
allergy for, so despite her love of the garden, she never actually went into it. She certainly wouldn’t risk going all blotchy. At least, I hoped she wouldn’t.

  “Rose, you in here?”

  “Richard.” He very nearly had me falling out of the hammock. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come to see you, isn’t it obvious?”

  Why did that reply make me feel nervous?

  He helped me out of the hammock and led me over to the bench inside the newly built gazebo.

  “How have you been, Rose?” he asked me rather nervously.

  “I’m fine now. Thank you for asking. How are you?” I really hated polite conversation.

  “Good, good.” He started to pace back and forth in front of me.

  “Richard. Please stop. You’re making me dizzy. Whatever is the matter?”

  He stopped pacing and said one word to me. “Marriage.”

  When I heard what he said, I shot up off the bench and stood in front of him. “Please do not ask me to marry you! We don’t even know each other,” I begged.

  “It’s what our parents want.” He moved away from me and was standing, looking out to sea, obviously deep in thought.

  “Richard, do you love me?” I stood to the side of him, awaiting his reply.

  He looked at me. “No.”

  I sighed in relief. “I don’t love you either, and when I marry, it will be for love, and not because of our parents. That’s what you should want as well. How do you expect to be happy if you’re not in love with your wife?”

  He took my hand and pulled me down beside him onto the bench. “Oh Rose, thank you for being so frank with me. I agree with you. I’m not interested in settling down in marriage just yet. In fact, perhaps its time I start leading my own life, rather than being dictated to all the time. I would dearly value your friendship though.”

  I smiled up at him. “Yes, that would be great.”

  Chapter 4