ROSE ON THE LAKE 18+

🌼CHAPTER ONE🌼

The course of true love never did run smooth
We loved with a love that was more than love

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Eva Garton had always prided herself on being a practical woman. She never troubled herself with adapting to the niceties society dictates had to say about how to dress or act like a lady. In her opinion emotions were overrated and a display of weakness.

Being the first child of a land gentry, while other girls her age were running around in pigtails and playing with dolls, she was busy learning how to use a hoe. Her father had always wanted a son with whom he could work on his vast farm lands, but he had no choice but to teach his daughter when she first showed an interest in his trade at a tender age of six.

Eva's mother died while having her third daughter. The loss of his wife took its toll on Robert Garton to the point where he became agoraphobic and refused to step outside for two years.

He left the care of his three daughters in the hands of the house keeper, Susan Bones. For months he refused to see his last daughter, Emily. Somehow he secretly blamed her for the death of his wife.

One afternoon he looked over the landscapes of his farms, reminiscing about the past when he saw his six year old daughter battling tooth and claw with his foreman, insisting he let her farm as well. Without a second thought, he ran out of the house.

Apparently, Eva had seen the state in which her father was and had made a decision that although he was in a bad state, she wasn't gonna see his lands, his dreams, her mother's dream go to waste. She was going to farm and ensure the smooth running of her father's business till he was strong enough to take on the reigns once more.

Witnessing how strong the little girl was, despite the loss of her mother, he developed a deep respect for his favorite daughter. She was stronger than him. In bad times when all seemed lost, she'd found a way to cope with her loss by being productive. He was ashamed of himself.

With this, Robert took it upon himself to fulfill his wife's dream of having a vineyard. But before getting into that project, he decided to try and salvage what they had.

And gradually his phobia for being outdoors was forgotten.

He made Eva a promise that day to teach her everything he knew about farming, and to pay more attention to his daughters. It was the first time he carried two-year old Emily without flinching.

Overtime, Robert came to respect his daughter for the strong woman she was, and took no pains in handing her the reigns of his legacy while on his death bed.

"I know you'll make me proud" were the last words he had whispered before he took his last breath.

And on that day, she vowed to follow in his footsteps, be the son he never had, never show her weakness and to always look after her younger sisters.

To prove just how strong she was, she didn't shed a tear on her father's grave. While her sisters; Eloise and Emily where weeping and killing themselves with tears, she stood firm and bid her father goodbye as he was lowered six feet below, like any strong man would do.

But of course she burst into tears later in her room where no eye could see.

The mourning period was over, and the day had come when Eva will officially, and literally step into her father's boots, taking charge as Landlord and gentry.

Standing in front of her floor length mirror, appraising how good she looked in her jeans, shirt and her father's oversized boots, the door to her room was flung open by a duo of misses claded in fine laces and taffeta.
They came to an abrupt halt when they saw her. To say they were shocked, was a sheer understatement.