Chapter 7

"The Lord is my Shepard. I shall not want…" Rosalina listened to the preacher recite the psalm intently. She repeated each word in thought several times. This was her only way to drift away from the world. Away from the sobs of Aunt Mary; away from the people dress in black around the casket as it was slowly placed at the bottom of its resting place. There was not a dry eye of the bystanders except her. She had cried when her parents were killed and when her brother left her, but now her despair had hit rock-bottom and she could cry no more for it.

"…Surely goodness and mercy shall not follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Nat walked down the hall to Rosalina's room. She had not left her room since they returned from her uncle's funeral. His mother had told him to give her some time and she'll come around, but he had never seen her so sad before. He knocked three times on the door then opened it.

Rosalina was lying down on her bed staring out the window. She made no notion that she had heard him come in so he knocked on the open door. "It's your home Nat, you don't have to knock," she muttered. "It's your room," he corrected as he walked over and sat next to her.

"I just came to check on you," Nat said, "I wanted to make sure you're okay." "I'm fine, thanks," she replied. He nodded, "Uh, Alex and I were going to watch a movie; would you like to join us?" She shook her head, "I just want to stay here." "Please," he said but her decision wouldn't budge. "Well I guess Alex, Dylan, Noah, and I won't have the pleasure of your presence tonight," he said with a sigh then he stood up. "I'll see you later," Nat said as he exited the room. Rosalina waited for him to come back in and ask a nonchalant question, but when he didn't she figured for once he had been serious.

"So what movie do you want to watch?" Mrs. Wolff asked her sons. "I want to watch 'The Fox and the Hound 2'," Alex announced. "Why you've seen it at least a million times," Nat said rolling his eyes. "Maybe so, but Dylan and Noah haven't seen it once," Alex replied. "That's a great idea Alex. I'm sure they'll love it," Mrs. Wolf appraised him. Alex excused himself to retrieve the DVD while Mrs. Wolff went to go get the babies.

Nat slumped down on the couch. His dad had left for work two hours ago and he wasn't due back until well past midnight. His parents' anniversary was coming up soon. He had heard his father on the phone talking about it, but Nat didn't think he had anything that special planned.

He heard Alex coming downstairs but didn't bother greeting him with another opinion of the movie they were watching. It wasn't that he didn't like the movie; it was just he had see it too much. He was half-surprised when instead of his little brother sitting down next to him it was Rosalina.

"You change your mind?" he asked. She shrugged, "I didn't want to change my mind but I had nothing better to do." That was enough for Nat. He told her how he and David planned to go out to the park the next day and invited her to come along. "I don't know if I should leave Dylan that-" "My mom will watch him," he promised. She seemed reluctant but she nodded, agreeing to go, as Mrs. Wolff reentered the room with a baby in each arm.

Rosalina took Dylan who cooed in endearment as she sat him in her lap. He was a little heavier since they first moved in which meant he must be growing well. Noah, however, didn't look any bigger than the day she first met him. He was always sleeping, which is why she rarely saw him, but she did hear him crying sometimes at night.

Alex returned to the room, in his hand was the DVD. "Alright people ready for some entertainment?" he asked. "Not really," Nat answered, just to get on his brother's nerves. It didn't work though because he ignored it. Alex placed the DVD into the player and pushed 'play'.

Rosalina felt someone shaking her and she opened her eyes. She was surprised to see Mr. Wolff. "Wake up; we need to talk," he said. She was about to ask about what, but before she knew what was happening Mr. Wolff led her out of her room, downstairs, and into the kitchen. There sitting at the table was Mrs. Wolff. She had worry written all over her face, but Mr. Wolff remained expressionless. She sat down next to Mrs. Wolff and Mr. Wolff took the seat next to Rosalina. There wasn't a clock in the room but she knew it must be really late at night or really early in the morning since Mr. Wolff was in. She knew there was always the chance he didn't have to go to work that day but she didn't know the probability of that being true.

"We need to talk," Mr. Wolff repeated, "about yours and your siblings' living arrangements since your Aunt Mary is no longer willing to take you in." Rosalina swallowed, "are we still going to be together?" "Well," he took a brief moment to test his words in thought before saying them, "yes you and Dylan but Josh is 19 so legally he's an adult and-" "I'll be 18 this summer," she intercepted. "Yes we know and took this into consideration," Mr. Wolff continued, "we are speaking more of your brother. He needs an adult to take care of him so we were thinking that your Uncle Stephen and Aunt Holly would raise him and you stay here until you go off to college next fall." Rosalina gasped. Even the thought of Dylan being brought up by those people was almost too much for her to bear; short memories from her last visit passed through her mind.

"No I don't want him to go there," she objected. "Keep your voice down," he said stiffly, "Noah and Dylan are asleep in our room." Then more calmly he added, "right now there are four children living in this apartment which only contains 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. If Noah has to live here we won't have room for two toddlers running around." "But maybe if I got a job and saved I can get enough for an apart-" "Out of the question!" Mr. Wolff scolded before she could finish the statement, "your main focus right now should be your studies, not taking care of a baby." "He's my baby brother; I owe it to my father." "You owe nothing of the sort!" he exclaimed, "Your father would want you to finish school, then marry, and start a family." "Well my father also wouldn't want Dylan to have to live with those horrid people!" She shouted as she got up and walked out of the room, the sound of a screaming child apparent some where in the house behind her.

"Well you are just a kid," David remarked. As they had planned David, Nat, and Rosalina had gone to the park early the next day. They had been talking on the swings when Rosalina had brought up the conversation between her and Mr. Wolff the previous night. "But I can't let him have to live with them," Rosalina said trying to go higher. "Well what's wrong with them?" David asked. "They're…they're….well they scare me," she muttered, allowing her swing to go slower and slower until it stopped. Nat and David did the same and she told them what happened.

Four years before, when Rosalina was just 13, she and her father had gone to visit her aunt and uncle for a week. They had stayed with them since Aunt Holly and Uncle Stephen had two extra guest rooms. Uncle Stephen was her dad's brother so they were really close and during the entire visit they spent hours and hours together. While they had gone to a store to look at fishing gear it happened. Aunt Holly and Uncle Stephen had a daughter named Mattie. She was 11 at the time. Rosalina had heard only half of the conversation between Aunt Holly and Mattie. Mattie had done something at school that had resulted in her being suspended. This made Aunt Holly furious and was continuously yelling things about how Mattie should think more of how these things could affect her future. Rosalina heard Mattie say, "I do care about my future, more than you ever did!"

Rosalina bit her lip and refused to continue the story.

Nat and Rosalina returned to the Wolff's apartment at 4:30. Nat had taken notice of how little Rosalina had spoken after talking about her aunt and uncle. This was worrisome for him. He wondered if something bad had happened to Mattie. He had hoped that she would bring up the subject again at the park but she hadn't instead her mood had become gloomier than it was yesterday.

Rosalina went up to her room and Nat followed her. He shut the door behind them as they entered the room and sat down on the bed with her. "Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded, "I just want to be alone right now." He knew that was her way of telling him to leave but he didn't want to. He had to know why she was so scared of her aunt and uncle. "Please tell me Rose, tell me what happened." He was very careful not to use the name 'Rosie', fore he feared that she would yell at him and kick him out at once.

She found comfort in his eyes so she did not shed a tear as she spoke. "She hit her," she croaked, "not like how someone would be hit on the head for saying something stupid or whatever. This hit was really hard and it hurt me from where I was sitting just as it hurt Mattie. When my dad and Uncle Stephen came back they saw the bruise on Mattie's face and she told everything." Nat hugged her, "I'm sorry," he said. She held him tightly, "and I don't think Uncle Stephen has ever forgiven her."

"You're not going there," Nat said as he let go of her, "I don't know how we'll do it but I'm not letting you go there. I want you and Dylan to stay here." "But your parents said I can't," Rosalina reminded him. "I don't care what my parents said, some how you're staying here."