Rose and the Thorn (Fallen Tales series)

Chapter 33

Chapter 33
Patrick
I couldn't be more than five feet from her. Throughout the day I would move to where she was cleaning. Claiming that the light was bothering me as I read my father's journal. Even if we weren't talking, I could still feel the moving connection between us.
From June to December, in the journal, was barely written in. A few parties had been noted, some meetings. Nothing about how he felt and what was going on in his family.
I shut the book and tapped the nail of my thumb on my teeth as I thought. If only I could ask him what had happened. Why was that part of my family's life so cloudy?
"Something wrong?" Rose asked coming down from the step ladler. I was amazed how determined she was about cleaning every little corner in this place.
I sighed, "Just another mystery unanswered about my family."
"Isn't mystery in every family?" She asked moving the step ladler to another corner.
"Not mine. Then they died and everything became an unanswered question."
As she stretched to reach the corner, she asked, "Like what, besides from the obvious?"
"For starters, why was my parents' marriage going down the drain between when I was born and when Adelaide was? Why were my mother's parents so hard on my father? Why did my father bury himself in paper work and what got him out of it? The list goes on."
"Well for the first question, everyone has marriage problems. Second, every in-law is hard on the son-in-law. And the third one, it's a big estate. He probably needed to bury himself in his work to keep this place running."
I paused before I spoke.
"That's doesn't help."
She groaned, "You're impossible."
"I just can't see why the guy I read about is different from the man from my childhood and the man I knew."
"What's the difference?" She asked.
"This one was completely in love with my mother. The man from my childhood was distant and separated. And the man I knew was a loving father that wanted the best for me."
"Then maybe you should ask the person that's been around through all those people."
I went quiet as I thought. The only one I knew who was with him throughout the time was Mother.
"Jenson," she said breaking my thoughts.
Realization hit me like a wave. Of course, why didn't I think of him. She laughed as if she knew what went through my thoughts. I held out my hand and she smiled. She stepped down the ladler and took it. I swung her so that she sat on me. Her head rolled and sat on my shoulder. We both sighed.
"You make me drained and hypo at the same time," she admitted.
I pulled her tight.
"How does that happen?"
"I don't know, another mystery I suppose," I told her.
"I don't want to be a mystery."
She lifted her head to look at me.
"I'm tired of living in mystery, hiding. That's why I came to England, to Pinecone Manner. I don't want it to be the reason that will make me run away."
I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Don't run away, Rose. Not when I know you don't want to leave."
I cupped my hands over her cheeks.
"I don't."
I brought her lips to mine feeling their softness. They were my drug that I couldn't, wouldn't get enough of. So soft and fitted my lips perfectly. What made it more perfect was that she wasn't afraid to show what she was feeling, what she was thinking. It was what I loved most about her.