The Daughters of Ravensmere

In the book The China Garden Clare was the daughter, the female guardian of the benison. But, Dr. McKinnon said that the female guardians needed to be stronger than the men. I don't think that Clare fits this description. So I'm adding just one character to the mix, Clare's twin sister, Rosa. I'm officially stating that all other characters are owned by Liz Berry and Avon Books Inc. Enjoy my tale.

Chapter 1

"Calm down mom. She'll be here. Nothing's happened. You know that I wouldn't be so calm if anything bad had happened. She's probably out celebrating, wasn't her last exam today?" Rosa said for the fifth time since the clock struck four.

"I'm sorry," Frances replied also for the fifth time. "I just need to talk to both of you and I don't want to be late for work."

"Go start to get ready. I promise I'll come get you when Clare gets home."

She sighed, "Alright." She started up the stairs. "As soon as she gets here!" she called when she reached the top.

Rosa just rolled her eyes and sat back down on the couch. She knew that her mother was worried about something. She was more irritable than Clare had been in the last couple of weeks. Rosa was proud of her "little" sister. She laughed to herself at the thought. After all she was only a minute and a half older than Clare. Still she was proud of Clare's achievements. Clare was taking exams to continue on into university in the fall, where she planned on majoring in business and economics. Rosa didn't feel right about making such a major decision about what she would do with the rest of her life. Her mother often called her flighty. She had a lot of interests, but couldn't pick just one for a career. After finishing school she started to work at a mechanic shop fixing cars. She loved doing it, and was able to save up enough money from it to buy her own 1970 Barracuda. She had completely rebuilt the engine and had refurbished the interior. Rosa loved her car and was really proud of herself for how well it ran.

"Hello! I'm home!" Clare called as she walked in the door and tossed her book bag in the corner.

"Clare! Where have you been? You're late!" Frances said coming down the stairs in her nurse uniform with a handful of hair pins.

"We all went to McDonalds. We were celebrating."

"With Adrian I presume," Frances said with a sour look on her face.

"No, with Sara actually. We had our last exam today, that's why we were celebrating."

"How'd it go?" Rosa asked taking the pins from her mother's nervously shaking hand.

"Good, it was all stuff that I needed to revise."

"Good! Didn't you want to talk to us about something mom?" Rosa said cheerfully as she put the last pin in her mother's hair and adjusted her hat.

"Yes," she said taking a deep breath. "I've got another job."

"You're leaving St. Joseph's? I thought you loved it there. You said you were up for a Sister Tudor's job or something." Clare was startled.

"It's a private nursing job…residential…down in West Country."

"So, we're moving," Rosa said as a statement not a question.

"Stoke Raven, in Somerset"

"WE'RE LEAVING LONDON!" Clare said completely shocked. "Leaving all our friends, selling the house."

"No, at least not selling the house. Not just yet. I'm renting it to a bone specialist and his wife from America. They'll be here for a year, and will be arriving in two weeks."

"TWO WEEKS!" Clare yelled. "But what if I don't want to go?"

"Calm down Clare. She's not finished." Rosa looked at their mother knowing that there was something that she didn't want to tell them. "Well?"

"I've spoken to Sara's mother and she said if you are willing to share a room you can have their spare until you head off to school or find a place of your own."

"I'm coming with you," Rosa said stone-faced.

"I am too." Clare added, "I don't want to stay in London by myself."

"Rosa, Clare, I really don't have time to argue with the two of you right now. You will have Sara…and Adrian, Clare. And you have to work at the shop, you love it there Rosa."

"I'd rather come with you mom," Rosa said while Clare nodded in agreement. "Isn't there any room for us?"

"Well of course there is. It's just, Stoke Raven is a small town. It doesn't have a public library or a swimming pool. You'll both be bored."

"I'd still rather go with you."

"Don't you have to give notice or something?" Clare asked.

"I already have, and before you get into how I didn't talk it over with either of you know this, if I had said something to you Clare you would have been distracted from your exams. And Rosa, you saw the letter I know you read at least part if it."

"I'm not angry that you are going mom. I want you to go, but whether you like it or not I'm coming along."

Frances let out a sigh. "I have to go. We'll talk about this later."

The next morning they all gathered for breakfast. Rosa looked at their mother and saw slight bags under her eyes.

"So have you thought about taking us with you?" Clare asked.

"I don't know, Clare. I have to go back, I owe."

"What do you mean 'go back?" Clare asked

At the same time Rosa asked, "Owe what?"

"I was there three years ago, for your grandfather's funeral. I grew up there." She ignored Rosa's question for the moment as Clare was more excitable. "It was while you were on the trip to France."

"Why didn't you tell us about him? You know how much I wished we had family and you didn't tell us!" Clare turned to Rosa. "Why aren't you upset about this? You feel the same as I do about it."

"I knew," Rosa said simply and started to fiddle with the spoon in her oatmeal.

"Why didn't you tell me then? We tell each other everything!"

"I," she took a deep breath. "I didn't know he existed until he died. I randomly got a thought about telling mom to get her long sleeved black dress out of the basement because the funeral would be outside. When I told her she was holding the letter that said he had died."

Clare just looked at her. While it wasn't unusual for their mother to know things before they happened it was for either of the twins. At least not to that extent, they would just know minor things like having to study so they could pass a pop quiz.

Frances decided to answer Rosa's question. "I owe something that can't be sent through the mail. I don't want either of you to get involved."

"We already are. Just by being you daughters," Rosa said with a shiver.

"Something's wrong isn't it. You're not telling the whole truth."

"You've both got your lives ahead of you. I don't want you," she looked at Rosa, "either of you," she added looking at Clare, "to get involved in this. It's my debt, my problem."

"We are coming mom." Rosa lifted a hand when her mother tried to interrupt. "I can just get a map and drive us down myself if necessary."

Over the next two weeks they had that same argument over and over. Finally, Frances submitted.

"Fine, the two of you can come. But don't blame me if you spend the whole summer bored. I tried to warn you." She tried to say it lightly but their was an undercurrent of worry there.

"Good, I'll meet the two of you there in a couple weeks," Rosa said.

"Why a couple weeks?" Clare asked.

"Mom held out for so long that I decided not to give notice to my boss. He says at least two weeks before you are going to leave you need to let him know. Plus Barry needs a tune-up."

Her mother let out a sigh, "You mean you were about to give up?"

"I never said that! Just that I wasn't sure that you were. I'll stay with Jake and his wife for two weeks and then I'll head to Stoke Raven."

Just a note here, Barry is her car. Yeah that's not real original, but since I wanted to give it a name like it was her baby. Also Jake is the shop owner. I'm not going into it much but she would have told him something about it so he wouldn't be shocked about her wanting to leave, and why would he offer her a room otherwise.