Boundless

2.0

Rose Whittmore became Rosie from the moment she was born. It was fitting when she was a baby, but by the time she reached middle school, she decided she needed to be perceived as more mature. However, it didn't stick, as people would always see her as Rosie.

Since being born, she received love from many people. She was raised by a whirlwind of people, friends and siblings of her parents that didn't have kids of their own until later. She never had a relationship with her grandparents, though. Growing up in New York, she didn't get the chance to meet her maternal grandfather, nor did he ever try to see her. Her paternal grandfather was also not keen on seeing her, but the grandmother smothered her with love despite reluctant parents.

It had been a particularly dreadful night for Nicole, as she swung baby Rosie in her arms and tried to make her go to sleep, when Kate came to the rescue. Andrew was out on a business trip and Nicole hadn't yet put her baby to sleep successfully.

"Please, Rosie, shut up," Nicole pleaded. She'd tried everything, from feeding her to changing her diaper, and was now singing lullabies for what felt like hours. "I'm not asking you for much. Just to sleep, okay? Mommy needs to sleep too, so stop crying, please."

The bell rang and Nicole could barely hear it above the screaming and screeching of her daughter, but the second time it rang, she heard it.

"What now?" she cried, heading to the door. "I can't do this."

"Good evening, darling!" her mother-in-law beamed once the door opened, and she almost fainted. She couldn't deal with both at the same time.

"It's not a good time," she said dryly, nodding her head towards the baby.

Despite that, Kate made her way in, shopping bags hanging off her arms, closed the door behind her and made her way into the living room. She made herself home easily, and Nicole wished Andrew was there to deal with her.

"Come on now, give me my granddaughter. You can go to sleep," she said after dropping the bags on the sofa. "No offence, but you look about to drop dead any minute."

"What? Excuse me, what did you come here for? Andrew is not here."

"I know that," she said, quite offended. "Do I need a reason to come visit my granddaughter, is it? For your information, missy, I was shopping with your new sister," Nicole scrunched her nose, knowing she meant Abigail, "when we saw the cutest bikini and bought matching ones for you and Rosie. Aren't they adorable?"

With that, she grabbed a pink bikini top dotted with yellow flowers from the bag and a smaller version.

"I know, beautiful," Kate kept going. "If you don't like me, you better say it right away, darling, because I'm going to be around a lot and you won't stop me from being part of my grandchildren's childhood."

Andrew was not keen on having Xander around, which was no issue, since he didn't plan to. Nicole assumed the same could be said for Kate, but she was wrong. She needed someone to rely on, someone to help and answer the stupidest questions, and Kate wanted to be that person. From that day on, they became closer and closer despite the past.

Rosie grew up very attached to her mother, which disappointed her already insecure father. During the pregnancy, Andrew spent many nights wide awake, staring at the ceiling, rethinking his life decisions.

"You're going to do great," Nicole told him all the time, snuggling closer to him.

"How? I don't know what a father is supposed to be. I don't even know what a normal childhood looks like."

"You know what it doesn't look like," she said. "I don't know what I'm doing either. But it's going to be okay. We're in this together."

It didn't reassure him, but he felt less worthless when their second daughter was born. They let Rosie pick the name, who wanted either Nina or Pocoyo. Nina was moody and liked screaming, different from Rosie in every aspect, but she always ran straight to dad.

Rosie never liked high school. The teachers were annoying, and she disliked waking up early. But by the time she was sixteen, she decided she needed a whole revamp. Suddenly, she seemed excited about going to school and to stand out. That was the year she met a boy.