Chapter 1 #2
“How much do I owe you?” their mother asked, opening her reticule. There weren’t many coins inside, Rosie knew, but then again, they were going to live at the palace under the care and protection of the prince–Snow’s husband-to-be. They wouldn’t need to count coins for everything after this.
After all, you did save my life. He had grinned. The least the crown can do is make you comfortable for the rest of yours!
But Mayra just held up a hand and shook her head. “You’re not to pay a single copper.”
“Really, Mayra,” their mother began. “You’re surely not expecting me to let you make us gowns for free–”
“I’m doing no such thing. The village has gifted these gowns to you ladies as farewell gifts.
Besides, I’d already had them mostly made up for another customer who never paid.
All they needed were a few alterations.” Mayra’s eyes twinkled.
“And… they might have possibly been gifted with the hope that Snow won’t forget the village when she’s crowned princess, and new taxes are to be decided. ”
“That’s so very kind of them,” Snow said, blushing prettily. “Of you all!”
Rosie nearly pointed out that her sister was marrying the younger prince, not the crown prince, so it was unlikely that he would have much to do with writing the taxes, but she kept her mouth closed.
The village was proud to have a princess from one of their own number.
Nearly as proud as Rosie was. So she merely thanked the seamstress for the gown again before following her mother and sister back out to the street in their new finery.
As soon as they stepped onto the dirt road, however, Rosie realized with a shock that the entire village had apparently converged on the street while she was inside. And as soon as they were spotted, the three women were nearly trampled by their friends and neighbors in their excitement.
Most of them merely wanted to wish Snow well–which only made sense, as Snow was the one marrying a prince–but Rosie felt something pressed into her hands. She looked down to find the clergyman’s wife, Sonia, handing her a cloth-covered basket.
“Something to sustain you on your journey,” she called over the noise of the crowd.
Rosie peeked inside to see little round meat pies, slices of cheese, bread rolls, and plump, ripe berries. She grinned up at the woman.
“This is so kind. Thank you!” As she spoke, her eyes burned slightly yet again, and there was a lump in her throat. Seeming to sense her flood of emotion, the older woman pulled Rosie into a tight embrace.
“I wish you all the best,” she whispered into Rosie’s ear.
Then she pulled back, keeping her hands on Rosie’s shoulders, a slight shadow coming into her eyes.
“But if it’s too much, know that you always have a home with us.
” Her gray eyes searched Rosie’s. “My husband spent time in the palace, and it… it’s not for the faint of heart. ” She gave Rosie a wry smile.
“Thank you, Sonia.” Rosie touched the dear woman’s cheek. How many hours had she spent at her and her husband’s side, devouring all the knowledge the kind, city-educated couple could provide a poor country girl? “How I shall miss you,” she said, her voice suddenly thick again.
Before Sonia could respond, however, the crowd grew louder, and both women turned to see the large carriage slowly making its way down the street.
A man with graying hair sat in the driver’s seat, but as soon as it stopped, a familiar figure opened the door and jumped out to run toward them.
His light brown hair was the same color that his fur had been when he was a bear, and his eyes were the same pale blue, nearly matching those of his bride-to-be. Eyes that were solely for Snow.
Rosie grinned to herself as she watched her own sister’s cheeks turn pink when Prince Frederick dropped into a dashing bow before kissing Snow’s hand. If anyone deserved a happy ending, it was Snow. Rosie’s dear twin sister with a golden heart deserved every happy ending.
The sister who will no longer be yours alone, a voice in Rosie’s head whispered, but Rosie told that voice to kindly shut up. Snow was happy. And that was all that mattered.
“Thank you.” Rosie turned back to Sonia, giving her hand one last squeeze.
“I’m truly grateful!” Not that she would ever take the woman up on her kind offer.
There was no way she could leave her mother and sister.
Especially not now, as they made their foray into court life.
But still. The arms of those she knew best were the ones she loved most.
There were many tears shed and shouts of farewell as the prince and several guards lifted their few bags of belongings into the carriage.
Then, with one final wave, Rosie took the prince’s proffered hand and stepped up into the carriage after her mother and sister.
The sweet summer air suddenly tasted bittersweet, however, as she settled onto the cushioned bench.
But no, she chastised herself as she looked once again at Snow’s joyful smile.
They were beginning a new life, one where her sister would need her.
It was never said aloud, but the two girls had always needed each other.
Where there was one sister, the other was never far off.
It was how they’d survived their father’s death and the difficult years that had followed.
And Rosie had determined in those days to never give her sister a reason to doubt that Rosie would be by her side.
“How did you get a carriage so quickly?” Rosie asked Frederick as they rolled away from the only home they’d ever known. She asked partly because she was truly curious, but also to direct the attention away from her mother’s delicate sniffles beside her.
Thankfully, Frederick was too polite to draw attention to her mother’s private tears.
“I went to the main military outpost in the town north of here, where one of the officers recognized me. They immediately procured this carriage for me when I explained that I needed one in which to return to the palace.”
“How old were you when the troll turned you into a bear?” Snow asked.
Rosie was rather sure he had told them this at some point, but with all the fuss over her sister’s engagement and their hurry to pack their few belongings, she’d forgotten. Had it really only been two days since the prince’s curse had been broken?
It felt like a lifetime.
“I was fifteen,” he said, a shadow coming over his face. “My father had sent me on my first diplomatic mission to deliver a chest of gold to a neighboring kingdom for a piece of land he’d purchased.”
He snorted in disgust. “I was stupid and stopped at a stream, away from my guards, to wash my face and get a drink. The troll took me by surprise and demanded the gold. When I refused, he changed me into a bear, stole the gold from my horse, and left me to wander on my own.”
He paused and shook his head ruefully. “I tried going back to my guards to tell them what had happened, but all I got for my pains was an arrow in the shoulder. Not that I blame them. In their eyes, they were being pursued by a bear who only growled at them.”
“An arrow? In your shoulder?” Snow gasped and immediately began examining his clothed shoulder as though the arrow might still be sticking out of it.
He laughed gently. “Not to worry, love. I eventually got it out, and it healed. Well, mostly.” He shrugged.
“It’s still sore now and then. Not that that signifies.
” He smiled at his intended. “The loneliness was far more dangerous than any arrow to the arm. I had begun feeling that I might go mad and start raving like a real bear when I found your house in that snowstorm.”
“How did you know to knock at our door?” Rosie asked, pulling a skein of yarn out and measuring enough of it to begin knitting a scarf. “There were other houses all over the countryside. How did you know we wouldn’t try to attack you as your guards did?”
“I had been watching you,” he said with a guilty smile.
“The afternoon before, you girls had been out playing in the stream, and I saw how kind you were to the little forest animals who scampered across your way. Then I followed you home and realized it was unlikely you had a man there. Especially when your mother was the one to greet you at the door. So I knocked as best I could to see if you would be so kind to me as you were to the forest creatures.”
“I’m glad you did,” Snow said shyly.
He caught her hand up to his lips and kissed it. “So am I.”
Rosie rolled her eyes, but she smiled in spite of herself as she began counting stitches in her head to cast on.
“My parents are going to be thrilled to meet you all!” he said, his voice suddenly rising with excitement. “Especially once I tell them how you helped save me from my enchantment. And my mother will love you once she learns that you offered me food and shelter in the cold!”
“Is there any… court etiquette we ought to know about when we first enter?” Rosie asked. “How long to curtsy or what to say?”
Frederick waved dismissively. “You saved my life and helped free me from an enchantment. I don’t think my mother would care if you were all purple with polka dots and wore nothing but feather dresses.”
Snow giggled, but Rosie couldn’t laugh. She wasn’t entirely sure the court would be so forgiving.
Her family had done what anyone ought to have done for a prince enchanted to look like a bear for five years.
And one glance at her mother’s pinched face told her that her mother harbored similar concerns.
But Rosie wasn’t about to rain on Snow’s joy now.