From then on, Anna was fine in handling her baby, though she was hardly responsible for raising her. Anna still wished more than anything to return to her quality of life before she met Edward; flirtatious, wild, and alone. She only spent time with Rose when she felt keen to, which was not often. The clan themselves truly raised the child.
Rose grew up happily, regardless of never really having a single mother or father figure in her life, and her large family was charmed and delighted in raising her. She had the raven hair of her mother, and was consistently joyful, nor caused too much trouble. In fact, the biggest tragedy the gypsies felt toward the girl was the fact that she had not inherited her mother's striking violet eyes, but instead her father's nearly black ones. Another tragedy was that Rose had a crippling disability. She had what was known as night blindness. She couldn't see at all in times of total darkness or low light, which made it all the more vital that the gypsies keep her close by after sunset, lest they lose her forever.
The gypsies all were keen to teach her. Desiree took the most responsibility, teaching the girl the essentials of living. Some of the men would take her down to the docks to teach her how to fish and to make her more sociable, also coupling their lessons with charming vulnerable female customers. Some taught her to sew, weave, cook, forage, trade...but Anna reserved the right to teach her daughter English and how to read and write. Anna was one of two gypsies in the clan who could read and write both in French and English. "If she can read and speak English, she can get along anywhere," Anna said.
So lessons with Rose began when she was five. Rose found them unbelievably difficult to learn and retain, but they quickly became her favorite times of the day because she was eager to please her hard to please mother. For three years, these lessons persisted, and Rose was excelling rapidly, when one day, disaster struck.
A gunshot was fired inside Anna's tent, while Rose was down playing by the docks. Rose had heard the shot, but thought nothing of it and continued in her childlike bliss. It wasn't until hours later that someone from the clan came to fetch her, and led the worried child up to the bluff, where her family held silent vigil over the body of her dead mother.
A man had come to Anna's tent. He was a frequent customer, and had perused the gypsy life for a few weeks now. But that day, he entered the tent to make a statement. He shot Anna, and dragged her lifeless corpse out of the caravan and yelled to the gypsies that he was an official of the King's, and that all gypsies had to relocate from the country at once if they did not want to end up like their fallen comrade. He left before the men had returned from the docks, startled by the noise.
And that was it. Nothing noteworthy or dramatic. Anna was simply...gone. Rose had lost her mother without fully feeling the approval she so desperately desired.
Anna was buried on the bluff by the tree that she so loved and had shared with Edward. Her caravan was burned, which was perhaps the thing Rose was the most heartbroken over, as it seemed that everything that ever reminded her of her mother was inside that confinement, the warmth that she treasured so dear each night beside her.
The night they buried Anna, the chief elder and Anna's father, Loiza gave Rose a gift. A single, mother of pearl pendant. Anna never wore it, and had given it to the chief counsel to give to Rose when she was old enough. "A gift from your father," he had said. Rose pondered who that man might be. No one, not even Anna herself, had mentioned him but in passing. All she knew was that he was a pirate, and that for some reason, he never wanted to see her.
The gypsies argued for some time on how to respond to the threat the government had presented them with. Some said they should stay and fight, while others opted to obey and move south to Spain. The final consensus was to pack and move, lest more of their already small clan perish in the fighting.
They had not moved fast enough, however. For in two weeks time, French officials were waiting at the border to arrest the clan.
Gypsies are weak when separated. The French knew this, and split the group in half, taking them away in separate prison carts. Rose was, thankfully, in the group with Desiree, but as it was night when they attacked, she could not see anything and had no idea what was transpiring.
When Desiree found her, they clung to each other.
"What's happened?" Rose asked her.
She could tell her aunt was crying. "The bad men took them away...all of them."
"Who's left?"
"We are, ma cherie, we are."
They took one cart away into the mountains, while the cart Desiree and Rose were captive aboard stayed close to the coast. They arrived at a coast city Rose did not recognize, and were one by one filed out, standing before a jeering crowd on a wooden platform. They had separated the men in the gypsy from women, and this particular crowd consisted of buyers for merchant ships and housework. In this particular case, the buyers were at a women's auction and would be searching for house labor.
That was when Desiree and Rose were separated. An armed official pried their hands apart, shoving Rose to the left and leading Desiree to the right.
"Rose?" yelled Desiree. "ROSE! No! Unhand me!" she cried, her fighting to avail against the guard.
"Desiree!" Rose screamed, running back to her, but a man stepped in between them and forced the child to turn back, pushing her into a pen with about a dozen other girls her age, most crying, all frightened. Rose craned her neck around the man who had put her here, just in time to see her aunt's hand stretch out to her, then disappear in a crowd.
That was the last time Rose and Desiree ever saw each other.
As quickly as Rose had entered the enclosure, she left, for a burly, hairy man approached the cage and pointed to six girls, including Rose. Those girls were led out and tied together, heading towards the shoreline. Rose overheard the man say to an armed guard, "Aye, the sugar plantations in the Caribbean need small hands to do the work well!"
The Caribbean? But that was so far away! She would being separated by an ocean from her family. She knew it was hopeless to ever find them again. Rose began to sob bitterly, when the horrible man shoved her, commanding her to cease her noise.
The whimpering girls were led to the docks, where a great big merchant ship loomed before them. They were made to ascend the gangplank, and Rose noted that this was the first ship she had ever sailed on. She watched the commotion as man by man passed, rolling barrels, hoisting ropes, tying knots, and carrying crates passed by, all speaking a language she did not understand.
All of a sudden, her world was shrouded in darkness, as the girls were lead under the deck into the brig. Rose became completely blind, but could tell by the sound and stench that somewhere around fifteen other children were being held, not counting Rose and her party. Rose was pushed around side, not one crewman understanding that she could not see at all, and soon her wrists were bound to a chain, and she was a prisoner.
Rose struggled to sit to the floor and began to cry softly again. Twelve years old, and completely alone.
Now, do not despair, readers. While this was a very tragic time for Rose, I assure you, her life because of the strange coincidence I am about to relate to you becomes all the more rich because of the tragedy she has just endured.
