I Never Told You I Love You - Complete

Chapter 30 - They Can't Stop Me

Abe didn't seem to appreciate why Rose was crying, which seemed odd to Dimitri. For her entire life, Rose had been living under the assumption she'd been an unwanted mistake, abandoned by both her parents. Finding that she'd been planned, and wanted, was monumental. She handed the photo back to Abe, asking with a shaking voice if he could arrange a copy for her.

"The first photo I have of myself is when I was at St. Vladimir's" Rose explained.

"I'll have a copy made," Abe promised. "I have quite a few others – of you by yourself as well as with your mother and I. Would you like copies of them all?"

Rose nodded, dabbing at her eyes again. "Please. Continue."

"After you were born, your mother and I continued to live together. Officially she was still my Guardian, but really it was Pavel. She spent her days talking with me, trying to cook and playing with you. I'd help with your bath, or cuddle you if you were being difficult. You slept in a cradle beside our bed. I loved spending time with you both. You were mine, and I loved you. In fact, I chose your name. I used to call your mother my Scottish Rose on account of her red hair. My mother passed away when I was ten, and her name was Meryem which is the Turkish version of Mary or Marie. Your mother wanted an English sounding name, so we combined the two to call you Rosemarie."

Rose nodded. "So why did she leave?"

"Just after your first birthday, your mother came to me saying she felt it was time for you both to move on. I'm sure you've been informed about the nature of my business interests. While most of the time gossip exaggerates that sort of thing, in my case I doubt it fully does it justice. At that time, in particular, while I was establishing my influence, I was crossing a lot of powerful people. Janine knew I was becoming more and more of a target and that it would be difficult for me to keep her and you safe. She also had fundamental moral objections to some of the ways I was making money. I told myself at the time money was just money - but in retrospect she was right. I was peddling in human misery, and with the benefit of hindsight, I regret it. We'd discussed her moving on at some stage in the future when one day I got home from a few days away, and you were both gone."

Abe waited as the waiter appeared with entrees for Dimitri and Rose.

"Please eat while I continue," he said. "I honestly wasn't prepared for how lost I felt after you and your mother left. I'm still not sure how to categorize what your mother and I had. Suffice to say that it wasn't until I'd lost you both that I appreciated how very special you had both become to me. The next thing I heard of your mother was some five years later when I heard by chance she was guarding Lord Szelzky. I assumed you grew up with her there. Last week Pavel heard through some contacts in Baia that Dimitri was due to visit his family and that he was bringing a Rose Hathaway with him. I immediately appreciated it was you, so I contacted Yeva and asked her to invite me to lunch so I could meet you. And now for a question from me. How did you pick me so fast?"

Rose paused from where she was spooning her soup into her mouth.

"It was the way you were quizzing Dimitri. You seemed to have some sort of interest, and you knew he'd been my mentor and that he was older than me. You'd done research, and I couldn't figure out why. Then I thought about the timeframe of when you knew Janine. You said you'd known her for twenty years. I'm eighteen in a few weeks, so once you factor in the length of a pregnancy that brought it close to when Mum fell pregnant with me. But finally, it was your hair. It's a lot like mine, and I had to get my great hair from someone," she smiled. "So do you have any other kids or a wife?"

"No other children. No wife. Your mother is the only person I've ever been in a long-term relationship with. I've seen other people, but it's never felt right. Not like the way it did with Janine. I guess what she and I had was more special than I realized at the time. So how did you end up coming to Russia?"