"God! I'll never get this done!" Alex Cohen yelled as she threw her
notebook across the room. The frustrated writer furiously ruffled her lean
hands through her sunny red hair. Her snowy grape eyes sharpened with
annoyance as she glanced over to one of best friends that she lived with.
"Cute, I'd like to see you try to write something" Nina Embry laughed and
wrapped her long arms around Alex's thin frame and sighed. "You'll write
something amazing Lex, now come on, Rosemary is cooking risotto" A pretty
smile blossomed on Alex's lips. "Thank god for Rosie "
Meanwhile, things were less then fine, much less. Dennis Rafkin paced the floor in the place that was his eternal hell, and which was his purgatory on earth with murder in his baby blue eyes and a growl in his throat. "That was so fucking stupid" He nearly spat out. "Shut it off" The window that showed the 3 beautiful girls in a kitchen disappeared and Dennis turned to face the old man sitting in the corner of the white room. "Why are you sending them to Palmetto?" The man with the long black hair shrugged but anger slowly snuck into his near black. "The evil never sleeps Rafkin, you know that" Dennis did growl now. "You also know there's nothing I can do to stop it" The man rose and wrapped a long cloak around him. "You must go there to protect them"
The kitchen was a veritable mess of flour, rice, and sauces, but the smell was amazing. Rosemary stood over a variety of pots and pans when Nina and Alex walked in. Rosemary's long hair was slightly curled in the steam rising from the garlic and butter she was stirring patiently. Nina slid next to her and lifted the lid of a large metal pot that held simmering red sauce. She was about to dip a spoon into it before Rosemary whacked her wrist. "Ow" Nina whined and went back to Alex who at the moment was less abusive then Rosemary. "She hit me," Nina murmured to Alex. Before Alex could respond, Rosemary spoke "You shouldn't be interfering with my food then, now shoo, I'll call ya'll when it's done" Nina and Alex obediently left.
After they left the kitchen, they heard the faint strains of Mozart's Turkish March that Rosemary insisted on cooking to. Nina draped herself over a large couch and made a sound like a tiger purring. Her short sunshine blonde hair was fanned out and looked wonderful with her dappled gray eyes. Alex was back at her writing table and had her hands gripped around her silver pen. "I hate it, I swear to fucking god I hate writing," She growled and was saved from any other frustration when the scent of risotto came through the open door. Rosemary braided her coffee brown hair back to keep it out of her frosted sapphire eyes while she cooked. "Dinner," She said with a vocal flourish "Is severed" A faint peachy blush rode on Rosemary's high alabaster color cheekbones giving her the look of a tattered angel. Unlike Nina's honeyed skin and Alex's soft gold skin, Rosemary's skin was delicate and the color of ivory.
The plates were set out and the 3 girls helped themselves to the Italian rice and talked about the events of the day. Alex was in mid-sentence as she told about the evil of writing, the phone rang and she rose to answer it. "Cohen Embry and Giovanni residence" She said insanely sweetly. There was a long pause until Alex said anything, but her smile fell and Nina and Rosemary stopped talking about whether or not they should adopt a puppy and focused their eyes on Alex. She slowly took the phone from her ear and held it out to Rosemary; her face was suddenly pale and grim. Juliet took the phone and held it to her ear for what seemed for an eternity before she said. "Hello?" A relieved sigh escaped her iced cherry lips. "Hi Mom" She sent an evil look over her shoulder to the laughing Alex and Nina. "Yeah that was Lexie, I'll tell her. Yeah Mom I've been watering the garden. Yes I still like Eminem. Okay. Yes Mom. Bye, I love you too"
Rosemary sat down at the table and sipped her white wine delicately. Alex dug into her food and Nina rummaged through the refrigerator for something to drink. The phone rang again and Nina reached for it. "What ya want?" "Is this Nina Embry?" Nina's slim eyebrows went up "Yes. Who is this?" There was a long enough pause for Nina to ask again and finally the man answered. "You'll know if you accept our offer" She sighed and ran her lean fingers through her hair. "What is the offer?" "You and your friends will be flown over to Tuscany for 1 year, at the end of this year, you each will get 2 million dollars" Nina's mouth dropped open and she said. "Excuse me," Then she turned to Alex and Rosemary. "What are ya'll doing for a year that's worth more then 2 million dollars" When they both said 'not a whole damn lot', Nina turned back to the phone. "Done" "Good. Be at the airport tomorrow at 8 am, everything will be settled before you arrive" The man said and the phone line went dead.
Nina took Rosemary's wine glass and drank the rest of the wine in it like water. "Hey Rosie," Nina said slowly. "You're Italian, what's in Tuscany?" Rosemary shrugged a slim shoulder. "Nothing but a lot of farm land and old castles" Nina sighed and sat back down. "We all have to pack quickly. We have to be at the airport at 8" Alex swore softly but hotly and Juliet just closed her eyes. "Okay" She said softly as she stood up. "Alright. The weather in Tuscany is usually a little chilly this time of year, so either we wear layers of tank tops or go shopping there" Alex nodded and rose to clear her plate. "What's the shopping like there?" Rosemary threw a quick smile over her shoulder to Alex. "Obviously you've never been to Rome have you?" Alex rolled her eyes. "You know I haven't Rosie" Rosemary's smile turned silky and she reached for her keys and her favored beaten in black leather jacket. "Don't worry about it," She said as she began to walk out of the door. "Where are you going?" "I'm just gonna drive around a little" Nina and Alex nodded. They learned over the years not to question what Rosemary did anymore.
They all slept fitfully that night and were all cranky when the alarm clocks went off at 5 in the morning. Nina and Alex trudged into the kitchen and saw Rosemary sipping steaming sweet coffee in a stone mug. "How long have you been up?" Alex asked as she chose a mug off the shelf and filled it with coffee. "Since 4, are ya'll packed?" They both nodded and sat at the table. "Are you alright Rosie?" Nina asked as she pulled her hair into a bun. Rosemary shrugged a delicate shoulder. "I dunno, it's been so long since I've been to Italy" Nina smiled and sighed. "Is that it? It'll be fine" Later Nina threw some bacon into a pan and they ate quickly while they argued mildly about who's car was going to be at the airport for a year. Nina's rosy colored Mustang, Alex's silvery blue Explorer or Rosemary's amethyst Thunderbird, in the end, Rosemary lost and they took her precious car.
They checked in their bags and went to the only gate that had a flight from Detroit to Italy. There was only a young blonde mother with a crying baby on her knee and an old man who was obviously going home. His hair was snow white and his eyes were shrunken and shrewd blue. When the flight was called, Nina was running on her third cup of Starbucks coffee on the corner. "So can we go shopping as soon as we get there? Can we? Can we?" Rosemary rolled her eyes. "No, first we need to find out where we are staying, get a car and unpack, then we'll go shopping" Nina's mouth that she painted in a summery pink gloss turned into a little pout. "You're no fun," She complained. They boarded the flight and Alex wedged herself by the window seat.
The 9-hour flight definitely took a toll on the three of them, but as soon as they landed at the small airport in Tuscany, everything came flooding back to Rosemary. When they got off the plane, they saw a tall thick man dressed in all black holding a big sign that said 'Giovanni, Embry and Cohen' scribbled in dark blue letters across it. "I guess that's us," Alex said more to herself then the others. "Gee ya think?" Nina said miserably, bitter that the soft womb of coffee bliss had faded away. Rosemary, a little cranky but the only one who spoke Italian took charge. During the quick conversation, Nina made out the word 'Palmetto' and waited until Rosemary fell back to their side as they followed the man to the baggage claim.
They settled in the back of a black stretch limo and were finally allowed to rest their feet, Nina slid next to Rosemary's side as she twisted her hair into a French braid. "So, uh, Rosie, where'd Macho say we're going?" Rosemary expertly smudged the corners of her eyes with a soft brown grease pencil and turned to Nina smiling "Palmetto Castle, it's that amazing?" A little voice was nagging in the back of Nina's mind, but she forced it out and closed her pretty eyes as she tried to enjoy the smooth ride. The scenery changed from city to water to finally countryside. Soon Nina and Rosemary fell asleep, but Alex was wide-awake and raptly staring out the window. She was mentally making a note of every little detail about the land. When the car jolted to a stop, it shook Rosemary and Nina from their naps and into reality.
They stepped out on a meadow that, as far as any of them could see, was covered in olive green grass that was just lightly tipped with frost. "Oh this is beautiful" Alex gushed as she turned in a slow circle to see the castle. It was huge, about 5 stories and looked like it had single handily been taped out of the finest silver marble. "I can't we're going to live here". Nina, who had been feeling edgy about it, had finally relaxed enough to expel her breath in a long lazy puff and watch it appear in a light gray cloud against the winter blue sky. Rosemary had relatively been silent since they arrived, but she could see a man out of the corner of her eyes. Even from far away she could tell he was handsome, but the expression on his face when he started walking towards them worried her.
On the spot, Dennis decided that it was very different seeing the girls through a portal then actually seeing them. They could never pass as sisters; one was at supermodel height, her sunshine blonde hair pulled back into a braid and pinned with baby rosebuds. Another girl had let her long dark hair down; it glinted and caught shades of red in the light. Then there was the last girl, short and willow slim, her coppery hair pulled into a bun and her eyes were wide with excitement. He decided she would be his first position. "Hi" He said in a happy voice. She looked over at him and immediately approved. His hair was a dark red and had beautiful baby blue eyes. "Hi, are you the care taker?" His lips curved into a smile he knew was charming. "You could say that" He took the hand she offered and kissed the back of it. She giggled. "I'm Alex Cohen" "Dennis Rafkin" She smiled and turned back to the castle. "It's something isn't it?" He examined her before he turned to the castle as well. "Yeah, definitely"
The girl with the long hair, so sparkling it looked like she had diamonds hidden in it was next. She looked like a delicate one, but there was a defiant light inside her. He didn't quite know how to approach her, but he decided that he would let Alex do the introducing. "Who's she?" Alex looked a little dazed before she recognized Rosemary running her fingers over a candy cane red rose. "Oh, that's Rosemary Giovanni, but we call her Rosie, you should probably meet her since she's the only one who speaks Italian" Dennis nodded and let Alex take him over.
When she heard footsteps, Rosemary looked up and recognized Dennis as the man she saw earlier. "It's certainly odd," She murmured. "What?" Alex asked. "That the roses would be blooming in winter" She aimed her glance at Dennis with a raised haughty eyebrow. "Well, Ms.Giovanni, you'll discover that things aren't always what they seem" When Rosemary looked a little puzzled, Alex filled in "This is the caretaker, Dennis Rafkin" Rosemary's mind clicked. Hadn't she read a news article about a man named Dennis Rafkin? Oh well. She nodded slowly. "Alright Mr.Rafkin, as soon as Nina rejoins us, why don't you show us the castle?"
Secretly Dennis was wishing that Nina never rejoined them, he didn't want to go into Palmetto when it was really necessary. But as soon as he finished his wish, a stunningly beautiful girl about 24, long eternal legs, sunny hair and clear lilac eyes appeared at their side. Against his will, he led Nina, Rosemary and Alex inside.
Meanwhile, things were less then fine, much less. Dennis Rafkin paced the floor in the place that was his eternal hell, and which was his purgatory on earth with murder in his baby blue eyes and a growl in his throat. "That was so fucking stupid" He nearly spat out. "Shut it off" The window that showed the 3 beautiful girls in a kitchen disappeared and Dennis turned to face the old man sitting in the corner of the white room. "Why are you sending them to Palmetto?" The man with the long black hair shrugged but anger slowly snuck into his near black. "The evil never sleeps Rafkin, you know that" Dennis did growl now. "You also know there's nothing I can do to stop it" The man rose and wrapped a long cloak around him. "You must go there to protect them"
The kitchen was a veritable mess of flour, rice, and sauces, but the smell was amazing. Rosemary stood over a variety of pots and pans when Nina and Alex walked in. Rosemary's long hair was slightly curled in the steam rising from the garlic and butter she was stirring patiently. Nina slid next to her and lifted the lid of a large metal pot that held simmering red sauce. She was about to dip a spoon into it before Rosemary whacked her wrist. "Ow" Nina whined and went back to Alex who at the moment was less abusive then Rosemary. "She hit me," Nina murmured to Alex. Before Alex could respond, Rosemary spoke "You shouldn't be interfering with my food then, now shoo, I'll call ya'll when it's done" Nina and Alex obediently left.
After they left the kitchen, they heard the faint strains of Mozart's Turkish March that Rosemary insisted on cooking to. Nina draped herself over a large couch and made a sound like a tiger purring. Her short sunshine blonde hair was fanned out and looked wonderful with her dappled gray eyes. Alex was back at her writing table and had her hands gripped around her silver pen. "I hate it, I swear to fucking god I hate writing," She growled and was saved from any other frustration when the scent of risotto came through the open door. Rosemary braided her coffee brown hair back to keep it out of her frosted sapphire eyes while she cooked. "Dinner," She said with a vocal flourish "Is severed" A faint peachy blush rode on Rosemary's high alabaster color cheekbones giving her the look of a tattered angel. Unlike Nina's honeyed skin and Alex's soft gold skin, Rosemary's skin was delicate and the color of ivory.
The plates were set out and the 3 girls helped themselves to the Italian rice and talked about the events of the day. Alex was in mid-sentence as she told about the evil of writing, the phone rang and she rose to answer it. "Cohen Embry and Giovanni residence" She said insanely sweetly. There was a long pause until Alex said anything, but her smile fell and Nina and Rosemary stopped talking about whether or not they should adopt a puppy and focused their eyes on Alex. She slowly took the phone from her ear and held it out to Rosemary; her face was suddenly pale and grim. Juliet took the phone and held it to her ear for what seemed for an eternity before she said. "Hello?" A relieved sigh escaped her iced cherry lips. "Hi Mom" She sent an evil look over her shoulder to the laughing Alex and Nina. "Yeah that was Lexie, I'll tell her. Yeah Mom I've been watering the garden. Yes I still like Eminem. Okay. Yes Mom. Bye, I love you too"
Rosemary sat down at the table and sipped her white wine delicately. Alex dug into her food and Nina rummaged through the refrigerator for something to drink. The phone rang again and Nina reached for it. "What ya want?" "Is this Nina Embry?" Nina's slim eyebrows went up "Yes. Who is this?" There was a long enough pause for Nina to ask again and finally the man answered. "You'll know if you accept our offer" She sighed and ran her lean fingers through her hair. "What is the offer?" "You and your friends will be flown over to Tuscany for 1 year, at the end of this year, you each will get 2 million dollars" Nina's mouth dropped open and she said. "Excuse me," Then she turned to Alex and Rosemary. "What are ya'll doing for a year that's worth more then 2 million dollars" When they both said 'not a whole damn lot', Nina turned back to the phone. "Done" "Good. Be at the airport tomorrow at 8 am, everything will be settled before you arrive" The man said and the phone line went dead.
Nina took Rosemary's wine glass and drank the rest of the wine in it like water. "Hey Rosie," Nina said slowly. "You're Italian, what's in Tuscany?" Rosemary shrugged a slim shoulder. "Nothing but a lot of farm land and old castles" Nina sighed and sat back down. "We all have to pack quickly. We have to be at the airport at 8" Alex swore softly but hotly and Juliet just closed her eyes. "Okay" She said softly as she stood up. "Alright. The weather in Tuscany is usually a little chilly this time of year, so either we wear layers of tank tops or go shopping there" Alex nodded and rose to clear her plate. "What's the shopping like there?" Rosemary threw a quick smile over her shoulder to Alex. "Obviously you've never been to Rome have you?" Alex rolled her eyes. "You know I haven't Rosie" Rosemary's smile turned silky and she reached for her keys and her favored beaten in black leather jacket. "Don't worry about it," She said as she began to walk out of the door. "Where are you going?" "I'm just gonna drive around a little" Nina and Alex nodded. They learned over the years not to question what Rosemary did anymore.
They all slept fitfully that night and were all cranky when the alarm clocks went off at 5 in the morning. Nina and Alex trudged into the kitchen and saw Rosemary sipping steaming sweet coffee in a stone mug. "How long have you been up?" Alex asked as she chose a mug off the shelf and filled it with coffee. "Since 4, are ya'll packed?" They both nodded and sat at the table. "Are you alright Rosie?" Nina asked as she pulled her hair into a bun. Rosemary shrugged a delicate shoulder. "I dunno, it's been so long since I've been to Italy" Nina smiled and sighed. "Is that it? It'll be fine" Later Nina threw some bacon into a pan and they ate quickly while they argued mildly about who's car was going to be at the airport for a year. Nina's rosy colored Mustang, Alex's silvery blue Explorer or Rosemary's amethyst Thunderbird, in the end, Rosemary lost and they took her precious car.
They checked in their bags and went to the only gate that had a flight from Detroit to Italy. There was only a young blonde mother with a crying baby on her knee and an old man who was obviously going home. His hair was snow white and his eyes were shrunken and shrewd blue. When the flight was called, Nina was running on her third cup of Starbucks coffee on the corner. "So can we go shopping as soon as we get there? Can we? Can we?" Rosemary rolled her eyes. "No, first we need to find out where we are staying, get a car and unpack, then we'll go shopping" Nina's mouth that she painted in a summery pink gloss turned into a little pout. "You're no fun," She complained. They boarded the flight and Alex wedged herself by the window seat.
The 9-hour flight definitely took a toll on the three of them, but as soon as they landed at the small airport in Tuscany, everything came flooding back to Rosemary. When they got off the plane, they saw a tall thick man dressed in all black holding a big sign that said 'Giovanni, Embry and Cohen' scribbled in dark blue letters across it. "I guess that's us," Alex said more to herself then the others. "Gee ya think?" Nina said miserably, bitter that the soft womb of coffee bliss had faded away. Rosemary, a little cranky but the only one who spoke Italian took charge. During the quick conversation, Nina made out the word 'Palmetto' and waited until Rosemary fell back to their side as they followed the man to the baggage claim.
They settled in the back of a black stretch limo and were finally allowed to rest their feet, Nina slid next to Rosemary's side as she twisted her hair into a French braid. "So, uh, Rosie, where'd Macho say we're going?" Rosemary expertly smudged the corners of her eyes with a soft brown grease pencil and turned to Nina smiling "Palmetto Castle, it's that amazing?" A little voice was nagging in the back of Nina's mind, but she forced it out and closed her pretty eyes as she tried to enjoy the smooth ride. The scenery changed from city to water to finally countryside. Soon Nina and Rosemary fell asleep, but Alex was wide-awake and raptly staring out the window. She was mentally making a note of every little detail about the land. When the car jolted to a stop, it shook Rosemary and Nina from their naps and into reality.
They stepped out on a meadow that, as far as any of them could see, was covered in olive green grass that was just lightly tipped with frost. "Oh this is beautiful" Alex gushed as she turned in a slow circle to see the castle. It was huge, about 5 stories and looked like it had single handily been taped out of the finest silver marble. "I can't we're going to live here". Nina, who had been feeling edgy about it, had finally relaxed enough to expel her breath in a long lazy puff and watch it appear in a light gray cloud against the winter blue sky. Rosemary had relatively been silent since they arrived, but she could see a man out of the corner of her eyes. Even from far away she could tell he was handsome, but the expression on his face when he started walking towards them worried her.
On the spot, Dennis decided that it was very different seeing the girls through a portal then actually seeing them. They could never pass as sisters; one was at supermodel height, her sunshine blonde hair pulled back into a braid and pinned with baby rosebuds. Another girl had let her long dark hair down; it glinted and caught shades of red in the light. Then there was the last girl, short and willow slim, her coppery hair pulled into a bun and her eyes were wide with excitement. He decided she would be his first position. "Hi" He said in a happy voice. She looked over at him and immediately approved. His hair was a dark red and had beautiful baby blue eyes. "Hi, are you the care taker?" His lips curved into a smile he knew was charming. "You could say that" He took the hand she offered and kissed the back of it. She giggled. "I'm Alex Cohen" "Dennis Rafkin" She smiled and turned back to the castle. "It's something isn't it?" He examined her before he turned to the castle as well. "Yeah, definitely"
The girl with the long hair, so sparkling it looked like she had diamonds hidden in it was next. She looked like a delicate one, but there was a defiant light inside her. He didn't quite know how to approach her, but he decided that he would let Alex do the introducing. "Who's she?" Alex looked a little dazed before she recognized Rosemary running her fingers over a candy cane red rose. "Oh, that's Rosemary Giovanni, but we call her Rosie, you should probably meet her since she's the only one who speaks Italian" Dennis nodded and let Alex take him over.
When she heard footsteps, Rosemary looked up and recognized Dennis as the man she saw earlier. "It's certainly odd," She murmured. "What?" Alex asked. "That the roses would be blooming in winter" She aimed her glance at Dennis with a raised haughty eyebrow. "Well, Ms.Giovanni, you'll discover that things aren't always what they seem" When Rosemary looked a little puzzled, Alex filled in "This is the caretaker, Dennis Rafkin" Rosemary's mind clicked. Hadn't she read a news article about a man named Dennis Rafkin? Oh well. She nodded slowly. "Alright Mr.Rafkin, as soon as Nina rejoins us, why don't you show us the castle?"
Secretly Dennis was wishing that Nina never rejoined them, he didn't want to go into Palmetto when it was really necessary. But as soon as he finished his wish, a stunningly beautiful girl about 24, long eternal legs, sunny hair and clear lilac eyes appeared at their side. Against his will, he led Nina, Rosemary and Alex inside.