The Bloodiest Rose of All

Chapter 6

George sat down slowly in the chair by her bed. He looked at Harold and Sid both of whom had horrified astonished looks on their faces.

“I think, my dear, it may be time for you to tell us your entire story.” he said gravely.

And so Snow White told them everything. About her stepmother forcing her into exile and then trying to kill her and she awoke in the middle of a field and the man that carried her there. When she was finished no one spoke. There was complete and total silence. Everyone was still.

George, the eldest brother, looked at Snow White and then stood. He bowed and motioned his two brothers to do the same. Snow White watched as they kneeled and for the first time in many years she was given the respect her station deserved.

“Your Highness, we are at your bidding.” they all said.

Snow White sat up straight in her bed. “Please don’t, “she said. “You are as much my equals as any royal would be. You have saved my life. Please rise and do not treat me like a princess, treat me like a common girl…the servant I have been for the past ten years.”

Sid rose immediately and looked at her. Harold and George were slower but they were smiling when they straightened.

“I only have one question to ask…” Snow White began and was encouraged by a nodding by the three brothers. “What shall I call you?”

“Oh of course…well, I think you should call us by our given names.”

“Then I must insist on the same courtesy. None of this Your Highness nonsense and I must insist on doing my fair share in the house.”

This was protested at first but Snow White was unmovable. “I will cook and clean and keep house and do anything that is necessary. I shouldn’t stay here for nothing!”

It took all of two seconds to convince Sid that this was a good plan but George and Harold were more difficult to persuade. Snow White almost had to command them before they agreed.

The next week Snow spent in bed. It was not her choice but George and Harold insisted that she shouldn’t move until they were sure the fever had been completely eradicated from her body.

“You were very ill my dear. We don’t want to take a chance at you having a relapse…” George would say over and over again.

When she was finally allowed to get up and walk around the room an immediate problem appeared. Snow White had no clothes. When she heard that Harold had burnt her gown she wasn’t pleased.

“It was necessary!” he said pleadingly when he told her. “We didn’t know whether or not the fever was infectious and it was really in such a bad state. I don’t think you could have patched it…not that there was anything to patch anyway.”

“Then what shall I run about it? I am not going to walk around in this nightshirt for the rest of my time here.” Snow answered.

Harold blushed hotly and stammered out, “O-of c-c-course not… we'll think of something! Don’t you worry...”

Snow White did worry though. She didn’t have any spare cloth with which to sew a new dress and besides that what would she wear in the mean time? At this moment she was wearing an old borrowed nightshirt of Georges and she felt very uncomfortable walking around the house in it. She needn’t have worried. A few days later she was presented with a very interesting outfit. There were maroon trousers that fit a little better than Snow would have liked and a warm white flannel shirt over which she wore a close fitting leather vest that laced up in the back with leather ties. Between the trousers and the vest there was another wide soft piece of leather to lace in between that she used as a belt.