A/N: Hi, all! Sorry it's been so long since I could update...it took me forever to think up some character names (that's always the hardest part for me...funny, ain't it?)
But here's the next chapter, and it's LOOOONG!!!!! Happy? Good! Now review! I'll respond to reviews at the end of this chapter!
Peace and love in the meantime!
~Jenny the chica~
Four
Before they met up with their family, however, many things happened. Henri, Marc, and Jacques left two months later. Henri's business soared from there, incredibly in the space of mere months. The family prospered tenfold, and then some. Business was richer than it ever had been. The trade expanded, and Henri hired many merchants under him, to control different regions he traded with. In fact, the business went so well that Henri, although he still controlled the business, was able to stay at home and control from afar. He did much more desk and account work, but he loved the time with his family.
Marc was given the especially large and prosperous region of Rahdomid to control trade in, and Jacques, and later Bernard, worked under him. About half a year after his aunt, uncle, grandmother, and cousins had left, Marc met Raquel, the daughter of the Earl of Cathar, one of Rahdomid's wealthiest citizens. They were engaged within another half of a year, and they married the next summer.
The wedding was nothing short of incredible. It is probably best seen through the eyes of Rose, who had only just turned seven at the time.
She was amazed when she arrived with her family. They arrived at Raquel's family manor a week and a half before the wedding, but decorations were already being put up, and even Rose knew that planning had begun in the past winter, when Marc had proposed.
Much was a blur to Rose, naturally. It had taken a long time for the reality that her brother was getting married to really sink in, and she had been very sad at first, because she thought, as many little sisters tend to do, that she was losing him. She wanted to give this "Raquel" person a piece of her opinionated, six-and-a-half-and-almost-seven year-old mind, until the day that the pair met.
When Marc told her that Raquel wanted to meet her, Rose stuck out her tongue at him, which was not at all like her, but, then again, she was six-and-a-half-and-almost-seven, so we can forgive her for the little things. Then Marc had the nerve to tell her that she was coming this way, so Rose did the most sensible thing she could think of. She dove behind her big brother, threw her arms around his waist, and buried her cherub-like face into the small of his back.
After much effort, Marc half-coaxed, half-pulled her around, she froze, her thing arms, free at last of the baby fat that she had so preciously held onto for the first five years of her life, still tightened around her brother's waist.
She was so...so...beautiful! Rose couldn't believe it. This couldn't possibly be the monster who was stealing her favorite biggest big brother in the whole world! She had blond hair nearly down to her waist, tied back in a simple braid, although her hair still shimmered in the sunlight, held back as it was. She had the prettiest blue eyes, eyes that reminded Rose of the ocean that she so loved, having grown up practically in it, yet they were clear, all one shade, without the strange flecks that some possessed. She had a slightly tanned complexion, but with rosy cheeks and lips.
Rose could barely hear marc say from above her, "Rose, this is Raquel. Raquel, this is my littlest sister, Rose."
Rose loosened her grip on Marc, and walked over to Raquel, who had bent down on her knees so as to be eye-level with her future sister-in-law. Rose still stared, then licked her lips and managed to whisper, "Are you an angel?"
Rose missed the sweet look that Raquel and Marc shared, for she listened to Raquel laugh, which she personally thought was the prettiest laugh that she had ever heard in her life.
Marc chuckled softly as he bent down to their low level, and whispered in Rose's ear, but loud enough so that Raquel could hear, "Well, Rose...she's my angel."
Rose nodded her head, and enclosed Raquel in her tiny arms, Raquel smiled at Marc again, this time around Rose's head, then asked Rose something about helping her plan the wedding. Rose took her hand as Raquel straightened to her normal height, and nodded eagerly. Raquel began to lead her towards the house, but Rose suddenly stopped and turned to Marc.
"But Marc! If she's your angel, what am I?" she said with a childlike earnest, as if the fate of the world depended on the correct answer to this question.
Marc pretended to be shocked. "Rose! You silly girl! You'll always be my littlest angel!"
Rose beamed back at him for his remembrance of his pet name for her, then let go of Raquel's hand and rushed at Marc. He swept her up in a huge hug, twirled her around a couple of times, then sent her on her way with his fiancée.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Rose had loved being a part of it all. Her whole family had embraced Raquel as wholeheartedly as she had. The strangest thing, although Rose never found out about it until much later, was that Marc had brought Raquel to see Rose first, even before they were officially engaged, although Rose had believed that they were. He knew, even then, that she had a strange sense about people. It was as if she could see inside them, know about them, who they really and truly were, deep down inside, by just looking at them and talking about the simplest things. Her approval of Raquel meant even more to him than it did to Raquel, even though she immediately stepped into the big sister role for Rose.
Raquel helped Rose overcome her childish shyness. She found Rose to be exceptionally friendly, and helped her out of the shell that family alone had previously been able to penetrate. Raquel took Rose everywhere when planning the wedding: to the tailor, baker, florist, and so on. Rose helped pick out food, flowers, and even had a large say-so on with dresses, not only for her own, as she was the only flower girl, but for the bridesmaids and even Raquel's dress!
The week and a half before the wedding went by extremely fast. Rose ended up being the little messenger between Marc and Raquel, since they were roomed in separate wings of the manor, and both families were so rigidly traditional that they could see none of each other until the wedding ceremony. So Rose took messages back and forth between the couple, much to her delight, and, most amazingly, never told a soul. At least not until some years later.
The wedding went smoothly, of course, although Rose wished that her aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandmother could be there. She truly missed them terribly. As everyone watched the carriage pulling the newlyweds to their honeymoon slowly drift out of sight, Rose squeezed her eyes shut, bunched her hands into fists, and wished with every ounce of energy and faith in her that she could see her family soon.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Rose did not get her wish, however, within that year, or even the next. Gabrielle was married to Eduard that autumn, quite suddenly, since they had met at Marc and Raquel's wedding, yet joyfully. After that, life settled into a normal pace. When Marc and Raquel returned from their honeymoon, they moved into a nice townhouse down the street from Marc's family, and Marc continued to manage trade with Rahdomid, which, to Raquel's chagrin, kept him away from home quite often.
Whenever he was gone, Raquel would come and live with her in-laws, who joyfully welcomed her whenever she came.
Gabrielle and Eduard moved to another town, where Eduard owned business. Everyone hated to see her go, but she promised to visit often.
Life was good and peaceful until about two years later. Marc, Jacques, and Bernard returned home from a trip much sooner than expected, and barged into their childhood home, while everyone, Raquel included, was eating supper. Henri and Raquel rushed to the door, and Rose tried, except Sylvie, now fifteen and in charge of most of the household, kept her back, pulling the nine year-old into her lap, for she was still quite small.
From her vantage point, Rose could see that their clothes were tattered and could hear the Bernard had a terrible cough. Raquel, usually very calm, was near hysterics with worry, but Marc insisted on talking with his father in the study. Raquel, although not invited, was allowed to come. Silence hung over the abandoned dinner table for what seemed like eternity. Sylvie and Rose were the only ones left there, and Rose squirmed in her sister's lap, stopping only to look pleadingly at her sister, silently entreating to know what was going on. Sylvie smiled and played with her hair, trying to distract her sister and get her own mind off it all. It didn't work very well.
~*~*~*~*~*~
In reality, it was only a few minutes later when the group emerged from the study, all silent, a mixture of shock, disbelief, and confusion on everyone's face.
Sylvie was silent, but Rose looked straight at Marc and demanded, "What has happened?"
Marc said nothing. Rose waited for his reply, but when none came, she asked again, "Marc! What has happened?"
Marc avoided her pointed gaze and slumped into a seat at the table. Raquel came behind him, wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned on him, looking down and studying the table with her husband.
Rose looked now to her other brothers, "Jacques? Bernard? Will you not tell me what has happened? Papa?"
Henri looked up and tried to smile at his youngest, but he could not even achieve that. The worried concern, however, that was painted across Rose's face broke him, and he looked up and began to speak. "Rose...I have lost everything."
Rose blinked in shock, certain that she had misunderstood him. "What?" she whispered.
He sighed deeply, as if the weight of the entire world was upon his shoulders. "I have lost everything. Your brothers were caught in a storm that destroyed half my ships, and even more were attacked and then burned by pirates. I have only two ships left, and I will have to sell these, along with everything we have, to repay for what was stolen, burned, and sunken."
Rose, still shocked, nodded to herself slightly as she understood it all.
Her father continued, "We have nowhere to go, Rosemarie."
In their sadness, everyone jerked up, for Henri had never referred to Rose by her full name. Half of them thought that he was talking to their dead mother, and the other half thought that he was just showing Rose the seriousness of the situation by calling her by her entire given name.
Whatever the reason, Rose hopped out of Sylvie's lap, since she had long since relinquished her grip, and ran over to Henri, who was moaning that they had nothing and no one and nowhere to go.
Rose threw her arms around him and cried, "But Papa! We still have hope! We have Grandmère and Uncle Alain and Aunt Colette and Robert and Geoffrey! I told you that we would see them again! Now we have no choice! We can go to the country, and I know that we'll find a way to fix everything there, Papa! I know we can!"
Henri gazed at his daughter in awe, as did everyone else. But her hope had, in a way, broken a spell of sorts. That is, a spell of sadness and depression. Now her hope spread around the table like wildfire, and the family was excitedly talking about seeing their grandmother, uncle, aunt, and cousins again.
~*~*~*~*~*
It is not to be assumed that the task of selling nearly everything the family owned and moving away from the only town that any of them, save Raquel, had lived in was at all easy. On the contrary, it was quite difficult, and even Rose shed tears more than once at this newfound predicament. But they prevailed, and were ready in a couple of months to make their move to the country.
Marc and Raquel decided to move to Rahdomid, where they could live with Raquel's family until Marc could establish a job. Everyone was sad to see them go, but understood that they were their own family now, and had to grow on their own. Gabrielle and !! came into town to help with the move, but they returned to their home after all was settled, with tearful goodbyes, naturally, since no one knew when they would be able to see each other again.
So, in the early days of spring, Henri, Jacques, Sylvie, Bernard, and Rose set off towards the country, in sadness, for they were leaving behind almost all that they had ever known, but in joy as well, for they were going to see family for the first time in four years.
A/N: Ok, guys...here goes...
Firebird ~ thank you!
fairyspirite ~ You crack me up!
MiniMichelle2 ~ I'm sorry u don't like how i wrote it. I agree that the 1st chappie is kinda funky...dang, even my MOTHER asked what was wrong with me...i was just in a weird mood when i wrote it...and just the way i'm writing this is lengthening the story...but it's getting better! I promise!
chava ~ wow...way to stand up for me! lol...sorry about the minor grammatical errors...
FairtySpirite ~ Good luck on your story!
Zel the Stampede ~ Actually i didn't mean to borrow the names from "Once Upon a Winter's Night!" I didn't read the book until a couple weeks after your review! They're just common French names! lol
OYC_Bambi@yahoo.com ~ I've added more now!
BG2 ~ Thankies!
etherealangel ~ First of all, i love your name! Thanks for the review!
There it is, folks! Now review again, and i'll update again! And I do have a couple more chappies written! Ha-HA!!! See ya real soon!
Peace and love in the meantime!
~Jenny the chica~
But here's the next chapter, and it's LOOOONG!!!!! Happy? Good! Now review! I'll respond to reviews at the end of this chapter!
Peace and love in the meantime!
~Jenny the chica~
Four
Before they met up with their family, however, many things happened. Henri, Marc, and Jacques left two months later. Henri's business soared from there, incredibly in the space of mere months. The family prospered tenfold, and then some. Business was richer than it ever had been. The trade expanded, and Henri hired many merchants under him, to control different regions he traded with. In fact, the business went so well that Henri, although he still controlled the business, was able to stay at home and control from afar. He did much more desk and account work, but he loved the time with his family.
Marc was given the especially large and prosperous region of Rahdomid to control trade in, and Jacques, and later Bernard, worked under him. About half a year after his aunt, uncle, grandmother, and cousins had left, Marc met Raquel, the daughter of the Earl of Cathar, one of Rahdomid's wealthiest citizens. They were engaged within another half of a year, and they married the next summer.
The wedding was nothing short of incredible. It is probably best seen through the eyes of Rose, who had only just turned seven at the time.
She was amazed when she arrived with her family. They arrived at Raquel's family manor a week and a half before the wedding, but decorations were already being put up, and even Rose knew that planning had begun in the past winter, when Marc had proposed.
Much was a blur to Rose, naturally. It had taken a long time for the reality that her brother was getting married to really sink in, and she had been very sad at first, because she thought, as many little sisters tend to do, that she was losing him. She wanted to give this "Raquel" person a piece of her opinionated, six-and-a-half-and-almost-seven year-old mind, until the day that the pair met.
When Marc told her that Raquel wanted to meet her, Rose stuck out her tongue at him, which was not at all like her, but, then again, she was six-and-a-half-and-almost-seven, so we can forgive her for the little things. Then Marc had the nerve to tell her that she was coming this way, so Rose did the most sensible thing she could think of. She dove behind her big brother, threw her arms around his waist, and buried her cherub-like face into the small of his back.
After much effort, Marc half-coaxed, half-pulled her around, she froze, her thing arms, free at last of the baby fat that she had so preciously held onto for the first five years of her life, still tightened around her brother's waist.
She was so...so...beautiful! Rose couldn't believe it. This couldn't possibly be the monster who was stealing her favorite biggest big brother in the whole world! She had blond hair nearly down to her waist, tied back in a simple braid, although her hair still shimmered in the sunlight, held back as it was. She had the prettiest blue eyes, eyes that reminded Rose of the ocean that she so loved, having grown up practically in it, yet they were clear, all one shade, without the strange flecks that some possessed. She had a slightly tanned complexion, but with rosy cheeks and lips.
Rose could barely hear marc say from above her, "Rose, this is Raquel. Raquel, this is my littlest sister, Rose."
Rose loosened her grip on Marc, and walked over to Raquel, who had bent down on her knees so as to be eye-level with her future sister-in-law. Rose still stared, then licked her lips and managed to whisper, "Are you an angel?"
Rose missed the sweet look that Raquel and Marc shared, for she listened to Raquel laugh, which she personally thought was the prettiest laugh that she had ever heard in her life.
Marc chuckled softly as he bent down to their low level, and whispered in Rose's ear, but loud enough so that Raquel could hear, "Well, Rose...she's my angel."
Rose nodded her head, and enclosed Raquel in her tiny arms, Raquel smiled at Marc again, this time around Rose's head, then asked Rose something about helping her plan the wedding. Rose took her hand as Raquel straightened to her normal height, and nodded eagerly. Raquel began to lead her towards the house, but Rose suddenly stopped and turned to Marc.
"But Marc! If she's your angel, what am I?" she said with a childlike earnest, as if the fate of the world depended on the correct answer to this question.
Marc pretended to be shocked. "Rose! You silly girl! You'll always be my littlest angel!"
Rose beamed back at him for his remembrance of his pet name for her, then let go of Raquel's hand and rushed at Marc. He swept her up in a huge hug, twirled her around a couple of times, then sent her on her way with his fiancée.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Rose had loved being a part of it all. Her whole family had embraced Raquel as wholeheartedly as she had. The strangest thing, although Rose never found out about it until much later, was that Marc had brought Raquel to see Rose first, even before they were officially engaged, although Rose had believed that they were. He knew, even then, that she had a strange sense about people. It was as if she could see inside them, know about them, who they really and truly were, deep down inside, by just looking at them and talking about the simplest things. Her approval of Raquel meant even more to him than it did to Raquel, even though she immediately stepped into the big sister role for Rose.
Raquel helped Rose overcome her childish shyness. She found Rose to be exceptionally friendly, and helped her out of the shell that family alone had previously been able to penetrate. Raquel took Rose everywhere when planning the wedding: to the tailor, baker, florist, and so on. Rose helped pick out food, flowers, and even had a large say-so on with dresses, not only for her own, as she was the only flower girl, but for the bridesmaids and even Raquel's dress!
The week and a half before the wedding went by extremely fast. Rose ended up being the little messenger between Marc and Raquel, since they were roomed in separate wings of the manor, and both families were so rigidly traditional that they could see none of each other until the wedding ceremony. So Rose took messages back and forth between the couple, much to her delight, and, most amazingly, never told a soul. At least not until some years later.
The wedding went smoothly, of course, although Rose wished that her aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandmother could be there. She truly missed them terribly. As everyone watched the carriage pulling the newlyweds to their honeymoon slowly drift out of sight, Rose squeezed her eyes shut, bunched her hands into fists, and wished with every ounce of energy and faith in her that she could see her family soon.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Rose did not get her wish, however, within that year, or even the next. Gabrielle was married to Eduard that autumn, quite suddenly, since they had met at Marc and Raquel's wedding, yet joyfully. After that, life settled into a normal pace. When Marc and Raquel returned from their honeymoon, they moved into a nice townhouse down the street from Marc's family, and Marc continued to manage trade with Rahdomid, which, to Raquel's chagrin, kept him away from home quite often.
Whenever he was gone, Raquel would come and live with her in-laws, who joyfully welcomed her whenever she came.
Gabrielle and Eduard moved to another town, where Eduard owned business. Everyone hated to see her go, but she promised to visit often.
Life was good and peaceful until about two years later. Marc, Jacques, and Bernard returned home from a trip much sooner than expected, and barged into their childhood home, while everyone, Raquel included, was eating supper. Henri and Raquel rushed to the door, and Rose tried, except Sylvie, now fifteen and in charge of most of the household, kept her back, pulling the nine year-old into her lap, for she was still quite small.
From her vantage point, Rose could see that their clothes were tattered and could hear the Bernard had a terrible cough. Raquel, usually very calm, was near hysterics with worry, but Marc insisted on talking with his father in the study. Raquel, although not invited, was allowed to come. Silence hung over the abandoned dinner table for what seemed like eternity. Sylvie and Rose were the only ones left there, and Rose squirmed in her sister's lap, stopping only to look pleadingly at her sister, silently entreating to know what was going on. Sylvie smiled and played with her hair, trying to distract her sister and get her own mind off it all. It didn't work very well.
~*~*~*~*~*~
In reality, it was only a few minutes later when the group emerged from the study, all silent, a mixture of shock, disbelief, and confusion on everyone's face.
Sylvie was silent, but Rose looked straight at Marc and demanded, "What has happened?"
Marc said nothing. Rose waited for his reply, but when none came, she asked again, "Marc! What has happened?"
Marc avoided her pointed gaze and slumped into a seat at the table. Raquel came behind him, wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned on him, looking down and studying the table with her husband.
Rose looked now to her other brothers, "Jacques? Bernard? Will you not tell me what has happened? Papa?"
Henri looked up and tried to smile at his youngest, but he could not even achieve that. The worried concern, however, that was painted across Rose's face broke him, and he looked up and began to speak. "Rose...I have lost everything."
Rose blinked in shock, certain that she had misunderstood him. "What?" she whispered.
He sighed deeply, as if the weight of the entire world was upon his shoulders. "I have lost everything. Your brothers were caught in a storm that destroyed half my ships, and even more were attacked and then burned by pirates. I have only two ships left, and I will have to sell these, along with everything we have, to repay for what was stolen, burned, and sunken."
Rose, still shocked, nodded to herself slightly as she understood it all.
Her father continued, "We have nowhere to go, Rosemarie."
In their sadness, everyone jerked up, for Henri had never referred to Rose by her full name. Half of them thought that he was talking to their dead mother, and the other half thought that he was just showing Rose the seriousness of the situation by calling her by her entire given name.
Whatever the reason, Rose hopped out of Sylvie's lap, since she had long since relinquished her grip, and ran over to Henri, who was moaning that they had nothing and no one and nowhere to go.
Rose threw her arms around him and cried, "But Papa! We still have hope! We have Grandmère and Uncle Alain and Aunt Colette and Robert and Geoffrey! I told you that we would see them again! Now we have no choice! We can go to the country, and I know that we'll find a way to fix everything there, Papa! I know we can!"
Henri gazed at his daughter in awe, as did everyone else. But her hope had, in a way, broken a spell of sorts. That is, a spell of sadness and depression. Now her hope spread around the table like wildfire, and the family was excitedly talking about seeing their grandmother, uncle, aunt, and cousins again.
~*~*~*~*~*
It is not to be assumed that the task of selling nearly everything the family owned and moving away from the only town that any of them, save Raquel, had lived in was at all easy. On the contrary, it was quite difficult, and even Rose shed tears more than once at this newfound predicament. But they prevailed, and were ready in a couple of months to make their move to the country.
Marc and Raquel decided to move to Rahdomid, where they could live with Raquel's family until Marc could establish a job. Everyone was sad to see them go, but understood that they were their own family now, and had to grow on their own. Gabrielle and !! came into town to help with the move, but they returned to their home after all was settled, with tearful goodbyes, naturally, since no one knew when they would be able to see each other again.
So, in the early days of spring, Henri, Jacques, Sylvie, Bernard, and Rose set off towards the country, in sadness, for they were leaving behind almost all that they had ever known, but in joy as well, for they were going to see family for the first time in four years.
A/N: Ok, guys...here goes...
Firebird ~ thank you!
fairyspirite ~ You crack me up!
MiniMichelle2 ~ I'm sorry u don't like how i wrote it. I agree that the 1st chappie is kinda funky...dang, even my MOTHER asked what was wrong with me...i was just in a weird mood when i wrote it...and just the way i'm writing this is lengthening the story...but it's getting better! I promise!
chava ~ wow...way to stand up for me! lol...sorry about the minor grammatical errors...
FairtySpirite ~ Good luck on your story!
Zel the Stampede ~ Actually i didn't mean to borrow the names from "Once Upon a Winter's Night!" I didn't read the book until a couple weeks after your review! They're just common French names! lol
OYC_Bambi@yahoo.com ~ I've added more now!
BG2 ~ Thankies!
etherealangel ~ First of all, i love your name! Thanks for the review!
There it is, folks! Now review again, and i'll update again! And I do have a couple more chappies written! Ha-HA!!! See ya real soon!
Peace and love in the meantime!
~Jenny the chica~
