Rose walked with the girls on the beach. They're in Moscow at their private beach house. Dmitri was at work, so Rose had the girls for the day.
They started the day off cooking breakfast together, they had their breakfast in the living room while watching the girls favorite tv show.
The girls wanted to go to the beach and swim in the beautiful water. So, Rose had them get ready for their day on the beach.
The girls took off running while she walked with her things in her arms. She made sure to bring a book, blanket and umbrella. She also had on a swimsuit just in case the girls wanted her to join them.
Motherhood looks beautiful on Rose, her skin glistened, and her smile was always bright. She's always been grateful to be able to raise the girls like she knows Tamara would've raised them.
While Tamara was pregnant she was scared that she wouldn't make it pass the birth. She told everything she knew to Rose, she wrote recipes, and came up with plans. Plans that Rose now follows.
She survived the birth of the girls just to die in a plane crash. Atleast, she died with the love of her life.
Now, Rose and Dmitri are following their godparents duties by taking care of the girls. They have to, for their best friends and for those girls that lost their parents.
So, Dmitri teaches them about the mafia and their family business. Rose teaches them how to be women and how to stay true to themselves.
Raising isn't as easy as it is in the books or tv shows. But, it's an experience that Rose is forever grateful for. She'll die for those girls as long as they grow up to be the amazing women she knows they will be.
"Mama Rose, can you come and play with us?"
She placed her book down on the blanket and stood up to run towards the girl.
Mid run she stopped and clutched her chest from the pain. She dropped to the ground clutching her chest and coughing up blood. Blackness clouded her brain and she passed out.
"Mama Rose!"
•••
(I don't believe I put what age the girls were when Rose died, but they were 13 going on 14 when she was diagnosed and 16 going on 17 when she died.)
"This wasn't supposed to happen. They said she was okay, and that she was in remission close to being cancer-free and now it's back. She's dying Alessia and we can't do anything about it."
After a year of fighting small cell lung cancer she was in remission. Now a couple of months later, the cancer has come back and it's worse than it has ever been. The doctors said she has a couple of months at most to live.
"Inanna, they told us she didn't have a fighting chance with this type of cancer. That's why we went on all of those trips and spent all of that time with her. She can't move on peacefully if we can't accept the fact that she's not going to be with us for long."
Rose knew she was dying and she wanted to spend whatever time she had left with her family. Inanna and Dmitri couldn't accept the fact that their loved one is going to take their last breath earlier than usual.
After her parents died, Alessia felt immune to death. She was older than Inanna by a couple of minutes and she felt like she had to always protect her sister. They became extremely close after Ivan and Tamara's death and they couldn't function without each other.
Now, they have to experience the death of another parent. Seeing Rose go through all of the surgeries and chemotherapy. The different clinical trials, just so she can live just for a little longer.
But, it's not the first time this has happened. Rose was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at only 16. Cancer of all types runs in her family, her mother and father died of cancer in the late 50s. Her mother died of breast cancer and her father died of pancreatic cancer.
Rose experienced two years of treatments and surgeries before she became cancer free right before her 18 birthday. Now, she has lung cancer, and cancer that is so deadly that she won't make it to see her girls make it to 18.
She didn't like that they watched as she slowly died but she didn't want to miss the little bit of time she had with them.
She taught them as much as she could before she couldn't anymore. She spent her last moments with the loves of her life and she didn't regret it.
She died a couple of days before the girls 17 birthday.
Now, she dances in heaven with her best friend, watching over the girls that she got to raise for eight years.
