A look at how Rose is viewed by the women in her extended family.
Rose was a hurricane, legendary and feared for the chaos she brought with her. Janine had to admit that this, and so many other key parts of Rose's mentality, came from Abe. She got the cocky smile, the way of tilting her head that made what you said to her important to others, but it was her voice that Janine found most fascinating.
It was often said that Rose had layers, and that her voice reflected it. For the girls- women now, really, despite Jill and Angeline's youth- she considered her sisters it was as rich and comforting as a pot of hot chocolate, layered with whipped cream light banter. That was one of the reasons Rose was their unofficial counselor. The queen & princess, the Alchemist & the Keeper, the Belikovas & Mia- everyone of them would spend hours on the phone or couch with Rose, trying to work out the pandemonium that was the one true constant in their lives, laughing and smiling by the end of the night. Rose had the gift of bestowing strength and confidence with nothing more than a slight change in tone to give the most mundane words power. Janine had to squash jealousy every time she heard.
Christian and Eddie, in Janine's mind, were equally blessed. Rose was as rude and profane as she ever got with them. It sounded horrible when Janine first heard, but then she found the truth in that verbal abuse. The boys got Rose- unfiltered, impatient, and one hundred percent honest. They didn't know that Rose tugged at the ends of her hair when she was bullshitting someone because the boys never got her censored version. It made Janine's jaw clench, those in jokes that those (ungrateful) men would have with Rose, because if she said the same words to her daughter it would raise hell. They would argue, one claiming that implied she was incompetent while the other told her that she wasn't perfect and should be constantly learning and improving herself.
Comparing what she got from Rose to what she gave Dimitri was just an exercise in torture, bitterness, and regret. There was sheer warmth in Rose's voice that seemed to superheat any space she was in with him. It said with out words that Rose was happy in his presence, that his wellbeing was twined so thoroughly with hers that they were one and the same. What astounded Janine still further was that the normally stoic Russian would return that heat. Admittedly, with fewer words than her child, but his seemed to have a special context, in a language and history that was entirely theirs.
What Janine got were harsh verbs that were always accompanied by a bitter tone, one reminiscent of old medicine and poisonous berries in the woods. She supposed it was how Rose chose to punish her for how Janine brought her up. It was an old wound, true, but it still had yet to heal properly- or even at all.