Murder To Excellence

10.

Christmas with the Cole family, part 2.

“Beverly, what are you doing?” Rose had just come out of the bathroom when Beverly used her aspergillum on Rose. 

“Your sins might be forgiven after this. Stand still.” Beverly ran after Rose. “Sex before marriage… What were you thinking?”

“Does it make you feel any better to spread lies about me?”

“Hm,” Beverly hummed, pretending she was in deep thought, “Yes.”

“Good for you.”

“Now everyone knows you’re not that innocent.”

When they entered the bedroom Rose was supposed to share with Raphael, he sat there on the edge of the bed, fully dressed. He looked up for a brief second, but didn’t really pay attention to the two. 

“Lord, please forgive our dear Rose,” Beverly started again and started sprinkling throughout the entire room. “She repents for her sins, please forgive her.”

On purpose, she splashed Raphael’s face so she could touch him. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry.” She kneeled right in front of him and wiped all the water from his face. “Forgive me, please.”

Rose went back downstairs without saying a word to either one of them. 

“Are you hungry, sweetie?” April asked Rose. She sat on the rim of the chair Rose sat on. 

“No.”

“Sweetie,” April patted Rose’s back, “you really need to eat something.”

“Mom, I really want to go home.”

“Home?” Mama asked in disbelief and sat on the other side of the chair. “You’re not going home.”

“This is by far the worst Christmas ever. Evan isn’t here and everyone probably thinks really different of me now.”

“You’re not going to let Beverly ruin it for you, are you? That’s exactly what she wants.”

“But, Mama,” Rose whined, “I’m not enjoying myself.”

“You know, no one believes her.”

“Dad does.”

“Your father believes everything he wants to believe,” April snorted. “Don’t be fed up, sweetie.”

“Why aren’t you mad at me, mom?”

“Why should I? You weren’t having sex, right?”

“No,” Rose said, but it felt as if she was lying. If Beverly would’ve entered about five minutes later, Rose was sure about the fact that she’d be having sex since she was damn close to giving Raphael her virginity. 

“Then there’s no need for me to be mad. You, my Rose, can make your own decisions. And I’m really proud of you that you’ve been waiting for so long and I can’t stop you if you feel like you’re ready. Besides, they can’t think differently of you. The majority of the people here have children and they didn’t get them the Mary way.”

“And I couldn’t have said that any better,” Mama added. 

“Now come,” April grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her off the couch. “Let me fix you something to eat.”

He sat upstairs all by himself, even after the breakfast April had fixed for him. Raphael just liked being alone. Not only that, he was also extremely frustrated. He was so close to having her and within seconds, it all went away.