Chapter 10

A Christmas tree was set up. Lights were everywhere and the entire room was covered in presents. Some addressed to Mason, some to Lissa and Eddie. Some even addressed to Jill. But most were for me. I looked at a small box with a tiny note under a light blue ribbon. It was addressed to me.

Rosemarie,

I'm sorry I left. Sorry that I didn't stay long enough to greet you but I had to give you this. It's near and dear to my heart and it was given to me from my mother who received it from her mother who recieved it from her mother. It has been in our family for more that a hundred years. And it's about time a real Hathaway recieved it. Merry Christmas.

Love, Janine

I slowy opened the lid and saw a necklace. It looked like an eye. It was oval and blue and had a big white circle in the middle and a tiny black dot in the center. Around the neck part were tiny diamonds. It was beautiful. So beautiful I started to cry. My mother had been here. Suddenly dimitri was by my side. He rubbed my back and looked around the room. He too was shocked. I slowly turn around to face him through teary eyes.

" My — my mother had been here, she did this. My absent mother did all of this" I started to cry harder and he pulled me close to him. He started speaking in Russian and even though I couldnt understand what he was saying it ceased my tears. I turned around and gave him my necklace. Then I held up my hair. He seemed to get the hint and brought the necklace round my neck. It was cold and made me shiver. When he was done I touched it. It wasn't too long and it felt perfect on my neck. I turned and asked Dimitri how it looked. He looked at it then swung my hair over my shoulders to the front.

" There, now it looks—" he looked me in my eyes " Absolutely breath taking" I blushed and

Leaned a little closer to him.

" Are you sure it doesn't look a but, puffy and ugly."

He smiled and moved a but closer too.

" Not at all, it's perfect" he said reaching for a lock of my hair and placing in behind my hair. His finger tip traced down my cheekbones and over my lip than down to my chin.

" Thank you" I whispered. I leaned into him and my lip brushed against his before I heard someone walk inside then we jumped apart. Everyone suddenly stormed into the living room. Lissa immediately ran to my side

" Who— who did this... Your father?" I shook my head then walked over towards Eddie and Mason. I grabbed both of their hands and looked up at them.

" Mom, Mom was here. She did all of this." Eddie looked at me in disbelief but Mason walked over to our fire place. I hadn't noticed all of the new pictures. Some were taken unnoticed like when me and Lissa went school shopping and others were old. Like our last night up here five years ago. I was smiling up at my mom and Eddie and Mason were sneaking some of my moms wine not noticing that Abe was taking a picture. My mom was looking down at her wedding ring and my father was taking the picture. That was the day my father asked my mom to renew their vows. She of course said yes. But three weeks later she was gone. Then their was a picture of my mother with a lady I've never seen. It must have been new because Janine looked older. But time did her good. Her hair was no longer wild and curly but straight with a few strings of grey. She had no wrinkles which was no surprise. She's never smoked or drank unless it was a special day. And even then it was only one glass of wine. The lady she was with seemed my age. Maybe a bit older. She had pale and blonde hair. Her skin was fair and she had something on her face. It was gold and reflected in the sun. Maybe it was just some paint or something. She had light blue eyes that seemed cautious, like she knew ever ones secret and was always on guard. she had her arm thrown around Janine's waist and my mom had a arm slung around her shoulders. It was a pretty picture and it seemed as if they'd taken it here. The background looked like it was taken at the door.

" Well, these are a lot of presents we have here. Cant we open at least one before Christmas" I turned towards Eddie. But it wasn't him. At least not him now. It was a short kid with eddies features and a chubby face. I blinked and he was back to himself. I remember him asking the same question to Abe. Then he would look at Janine and Janine would agree. He was looking at dimitri though. Not Abe.

" Er... I don't know. Ask Rose" Eddie turned towards me and gave me his best puppy dog eyes. I rolled my eyes and nodded.

" Just one, then me and Dimitri will take them and hide them until Christmas eve. But first you have to go outside and get the rest of the presents so everyone can open one" Eddie nodded and rushed outside with Mason right on his tail. I rolled my eyes and asked Dimitri to help them. He agreed and I sat on the sofa. Kim came and sat by me.

" Are you okay Rose. You seem... Dark" I looked at her through narrowed eyes.

" What do you mean?"

" I'm a aura reader—" she laughed. " Your aura has been really dark since the... Er... Accident but it seemed to be- brighter the night you came back home. But now it's back to its regular color. It only changes when your around Dim—" she smiled but didn't finish. " Any ways, I could tell something made you upset, that's all" I frowned but before I could answer the guys had returned. What did she mean it only lit up when I was around dimitri? I made a note to ask her about it tomorrow.

" If it makes you any feel better, his lights up when he's around you too" she winked before getting up. It didn't. It only made me worry more. After dinner and everyone had opened their one present and gone to sleep. Me and Dimitri grabbed all of the presents and was now in the attic hiding them.

" It was, sweet if your mother to—"

" Not now Dimitri. Just, just not now" I said rubbing my eyes. I was tired and exhausted and I really didn't want to talk about my absent mother.

" Rose, it helps to talk about it. It helps you get over it"

Something in me snapped. I turned towards Dimitri an pushed him with surprised force. " And what would you know about getting over anything. Get over the fact that you fucked me dimitri. Get over the fact that you think your responsible for your wife's death. Get over the fact that you weren't on guard when your charge Ivan was killed. Build a bridge and get the fuck over it Dimi—" he aggressively grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him.

" You know nothing about any of those incidents. How did you even know about that?" I tried to snatch my wrist away from him but ended up hurting it worse.

" Ouch Dimitri, that hurts. Stop" he loosened his grip but didn't let me go.

" I asked you a question Rosemarie. How do you know that?" I tried to snatch my wrist away again but this time I did damage. I heard a snap.

" I looked it up. I did a background check on you. Dont you think I deserve to know about the person who would be in charge of Lissa if I don't get better?"

" You could have asked me" he hissed.

" You have a wall up Dimitri. The only way I'm able to get information out of you is by catching you off guard. Dimitri stop, I'm really hurting" I bit my lip to stop the tears that were threatening to slip from my eyes. He let go of me and I clutched my swollen wrist. I had deserved that but it still hurt like crazy. Suddenly I wasn't in the attic, I was in the kitchen washing dishes with Christian.

" You like fire?" I — Lissa asked. She laughed and shook her head

" Yea. I'm a big pyromaniac. I guess it's partly because my father used to tell me and Tasha secrets about the way fire moved. Always a different story for the different fires. When they died, I surrounded myself with fire. I set ant hills on fire, leaves, paper. It was so aggressive that I actually started setting trees and empty cars and even abandoned houses on fire. I got into some trouble with the police so I moved to Russia. Stayed there for eight years and now I'm back in America"

" Your parents died... So who is giving you money and such?"

" My aunt and uncle. I don't like them because they're involved with... Bad people. They give the money to Tasha to give to me"

" How did they die?" his blue eyes suddenly turned darker.

" Some men came in out house one night and killed them. They tried to kill me and Tasha too but Tasha grabbed my fathers shot gun and shot one of them. But not before he sliced her face. That's why she has that scar. I owe Tasha my life. Shes the only family I have"

" I understand. Rose is all I have. I don't know how I would have gotten through this without her." she said wiping her hand on her pants and sitting on the counter.

" Yea, what's with her and the cradle robber?" Christian asked. Lissa narrowed her eyes.

" I don't know what you mean"

" Obviously they have something going on. Did she not tell you?" oh shit. Lissa shook her head.

" No. I don't think so. Plus Rose tells me everything. I think they are just friends" she seemed so certain. I couldn't trace any doubts in her mind. That's good. Christian opened her legs and manuvered his way in between them.

" Well, they might not have something going on," he used his fingers to tip toe his way up her thigh. " But we sure do"

" Do we now?" Lissa said flipping her hair over her shoulders.

" Why of course princess Lissa" then he leaned into her. Oh no. Oh no no no no no. I did not like Christian like that. I tried my hardest to slip out of her mind. His lips touched my lips–her lips. Ugh... Just, just think of the attic with Dimitri. Suddenly I was pushed out and back into my own body. Dimitri was shaking me.

" Rose, are okay." I looked up at him.

" Yea, I was just with Lissa"

" What do you mean?" he asked giving me a funny look.

" I was pulled into her head. It happens every time she gets too excited, or upset"

" Well, what happened, is she okay?" I nodded my head. But I might not be. My wrist was killing me. I whimpered when I hit it on a stupid pink present. Wrapped by Lissa No doubt. He frowned at me and grabbed my wrist. Gently this time. He looked around it then touched it. When I whimpered again he rubbed his face with his free hand.

" I'm sorry Rose, I just... "

" Lost control" I finished. He slid to the floor and I followed him. " Its okay, it happens to the best of us. It only makes us work harder to control our anger. Lord knows I need to"

" What can I do to make it better?" I raised both of my eyes brows. I didn't answer him. I just slid into his lap and kissed him. He went stiff and didn't kiss me back. I grabbed his face and kissed him harder. He eventually gave in and kissed me back. I moaned and bit his bottom lip. He slid his tongue across my bottom lip. I opened my mouth and allowed his tongue access. Our tongues fought for dominance until I gave in and let him take over. I started to un button his green plaid shirt until he stopped me. He pulled away and rested his forehead against mines fighting to catch his breath.

" We can't Rose" I stood up and kicked a random box.

" Why not Dimitri... We've done it before—"

" That was a mistake Rose, I should have never allowed myself to lose control. I took advantage of you and I'm so sorry. It won't ever happen again"

" A mistake? Really Dimitri.. Well, then it was the greatest mistake I've ever experienced. I don't want you to never touch me again. Geez Dimitri, you have to let go sometimes. If you don't you'll miss out on things in life. You'll miss out on great things..." I turned to walk down the attic steps. " You'll miss out on me" I whispered. Then I left. I wasn't going to wait for Dimitri to realize that he was making a mistake. I walked down the dark hall and knocked on Adrain's door. If dimitri wasn't going to appreciate me, I knew who would. Adrain opened the door with only flannel pajamas on. He looked like he had been drinking.

" Little Rosie, nice to see you at my door. What do you want." I pushed my way inside of his surprisingly clean room and sat on his bed.

" You" I said. Adrain shut his door and smiled. Whether I was making a mistake or not didn't cross my mind. Nothing did.