Children of the House of Four Seasons: Rose Aubrey

by Atonia

Part 1

Rose was thankful Jacky had come back from the House of Four Seasons with her, she was virtually ignored for a couple of days. With Maxi gone to California and Jacky’s reunion with her mother she had time to gear herself up for the confrontation she knew was coming. She kept mostly to her room or out on the property somewhere, in the pool or riding a bike, taking long walks. She’d had a few looks from her Dad so she knew he’d told her mother.

Jacky hadn’t stayed as long as she would have liked, his father called him back to London to work. Two days went by and nothing had been said. But she knew her mother.

Toni went up to Rose’s room and opened the door, Rose was in the bath she could hear her singing to herself so she sat on the bed and looked around at the walls, one wall covered in life sized movie posters. She couldn’t’ for the life of her see what Rose saw in that Pirate in his eyeliner. Her dressing table held an autographed picture of the actor, she’d made a collage of small pictures of him and it was hanging on her wall next to a painting of her father’s ship, HMS Surprise. Toni wished Jack was there to help her with Rose but it had always been like this. Max had been aware she wasn’t his and although he had no problem with disciplining her when she was a young girl, he stepped back now and left it to Toni.

"Mummy…"

Rose had her bathrobe wrapped around her and her hair up in a towel. "Now then…Rose." Toni fixed her with a look.

"Yes Mum, I suppose you have come to punish me over Maxi."

"I’ve come to find out how such a thing could have happened in this house without me knowing about it. I want to know, Rose exactly what happened and when."

"You want the details?"

"Don’t get smart with me."

"I’m sorry. It started the year I was fifteen and Maxi was sixteen…"

"Started…how many times…?"

"We don’t do it anymore…"

"When did you stop?"

"Um maybe last year…longer."

"Rose Aubrey…four years!"

"Well I don’t know you know I don’t keep…it was my fault and Dad hit Maxi."

"I know he did, why was it your fault?"

"I knew what I was doing…I teased him…I make him crazy. I was fifteen."

Toni thought back to that summer, Rose had developed early and certainly had a woman’s body at fifteen. She remembered Max saying something about her needing a larger bathing suit.

"You paraded around in that bikini I told you to get rid of…"

"And you took me to the clinic for a checkup and I got birth control pills."

"You never told me that…"

"No…I didn’t," she bit her lip, "I knew I was ready for sex."

"You must have had a good laugh when I talked to you about protection…how old were you then sixteen?"

"I didn’t laugh, Mummy; you were doing your job as a mother."

"I’d left it too late…"

"No…no Maxi knew he always used something."

"But Rose he was your brother why did you…"

"He was my cousin…you know…we thought so anyway. I let him touch me and then well…you know I want to touch him too, Maxi is beautiful you know…"

"Where did this take place?"

"In his bedroom, I went there. Later we’d go to Chambord after Grandpa passed away…in his room there."

"He deserved to be hit…."

"No, no, Mummy…I used my…I flooded him."

"Rose…"

"At first I don’t know what it is that I’m feeling but I…did let it happen. The second time I did this. I feel this power…he explained to me what it felt like, as though he was being flooded, like water…waves."

Toni knew full well what it felt like to be flooded by water…Jack. "Did your Papa tell you about…flooding?"

"No, he told me I was water, my element was water. Maxi is air and he found his own element…we learn you know with each other."

"For four years you learned…"

"Well…we did, yes. He was mine I could do anything with him. I went away to school and he found girls and then we stoped."

Max called Toni to the phone; it was Terry…Jacky had been shot.

Rose dried her hair and dressed. She thought about Maxi and she didn’t regret him, like she said, they learned with each other. What they were capable of, what they could do to each other. She knew they loved each other a little but not in love, like she was with her pirate. She left her room to find out what had happened to Jacky.

Later on Toni told Max about Rose as she was finishing up dinner.

"No wonder he went around with a boner all summer, oh yes I noticed that, but most sixteen year old boys…well."

"You never thought to ask him if he had a girl?"

"I assumed he did…I know he did, he told me about a girl in Bonnieux; of course this might have been before Rose got hold of him. I never knew and you know Maxi…I thought he told me everything but never a hint about Rose. Did you ask her about Jacky?"

"No…surely she…but I will." Toni didn’t trust her not to have seduced her own blood brother. She caught up with Rose again after dinner while cleaning up the kitchen.

"I want to ask you something, did you seduce Jacky as well?"

"No, never with Jacky," she laughed a little, "Jacky told me to put some clothes on…Jacky was my brother."

"You tried?"

"No, Mum, I didn’t…I never did with Jacky…only Maxi."

"Did Jacky know about you and Maxi?"

"I didn’t tell him anything…I don’t know what he knew…Maxi don’t tell either."

"How do you feel about him now, Maxi?"

"I love him, Mummy I always will but he is my brother not my lover."

"I want to make sure of that…maybe you need some counseling of some kind, get over this obsession with Maxi."

"No, I’m not obsessed with him any longer. I found someone else."

"You have a boyfriend? Oh…is this the um Pirate?"

"He’s not just a pirate."

"Max told me you wanted a season at the House…with him?"

"Yes," her eyes brightened.

"That’s not going to happen, you’re too young and regardless of what age you are I would never let you go there with that intention."

Rose looked down at the pot she was drying, "Yes Mummy."

Toni looked over at her, "I mean that…I’ll tell your Papa."

"He knows…he said no too."

"You need to find something to do, Rose you’re entirely too into sex."

"Mummy…how can you be too into to it…look at you and Dad…"

"That’s none of your concern…what we do."

Rose hung up the dish towel, "But I am your daughter." She walked out of the kitchen.

Toni watched her leave, yes that was the problem wasn’t it…but she was her father’s daughter too and likely to do the unexpected, bold enough not to care…she needed to be kept busy…."

Part 2

Toni did a little research of the area and invited Rose to go into Bonnieux for lunch one day. After their meal they wandered around a little and then Toni set off down a narrow winding cobbled street.

"What is back here, we never go here?’ Rose asked.

"I’ve found you a summer job, Rose." She stopped in the doorway of a building.

"But…"

Toni smiled and opened the door. After greeting the woman at the front desk, "This is the girl I was telling you about, Rose this is Mme. Rondo."

Rose looked wide eyed from her mother to Mme Rondo, "Hello, I am pleased to meet you."

"Rose, I’ve volunteered your services for three weeks. You will be under Mme. Rondo’s supervision."

"What place is this?"

"It is a home for the elderly, I’m sure your bright beautiful face will be a welcome sight here." She smiled and kissed her daughter and left.

Rose was stunned. She narrowed her eyes and looked toward the door her mother had just disappeared behind. She was bustled off to find a uniform that would fit her small frame, all the while her mind was working on how she could get out of this. She could get sick, run a fever…her mother thought she was being clever…well she would see about that.

Three hours later and thoroughly disgusted, Rose stood outside the door of the home and waited for her mother to pick her up.

Toni never asked her a thing about her day. She could tell by the way Rose held herself she was upset and she wasn’t about to give her leave to vent.

Rose went straight to her room and scrubbed herself down in the bath. Dressed in shorts and a tee shirt she sat on her bed and started the DVD player. He would take her mind away…he would take her away.

"What did she have to say?" Max asked pouring Toni a glass of wine."

"Not a thing. I didn’t ask her anything because I don’t think I wanted to hear it."

"Will she stick do you think?"

"I’m not sure, Max. She bears watching…" Toni looked out over the garden.

"Actually, " he sat down at the table, "I think it’s a little harsh, perhaps a day care for children might have been more appropriate."

"She might have enjoyed that. I’m not happy with her…I love her to death but she has no remorse about Maxi. Not that I don’t hold him accountable too, but it was her…she flooded him. He could have after a time done something about it but by then he was hooked on her. She said he was hers she could do anything she wanted with him, he was a toy to her, Max."

"She was a shameless little hussy…like someone else I know." His eyes teased her.

"I was never like that…"

"You hooked me…and never let me go."

"But not against your will…Maxi…"

"A sixteen year old boy has no will against girls. He knew better Toni, but his blood supply wasn’t helping his brain at the time it was filling something else."

Toni sipped her wine, "Rose needs to marry early. I know that sounds crazy coming from me but…she does, Max and God help whoever she sets her sights on."

"No chance of that anytime soon, she’s in love with a cardboard cut out attached to her wall."

Toni smiled, "I know," she sighed, "we never should have let her go to Cannes, she hasn’t been the same since."

"She’ll be 21 next year, not much we can do about her then, like Maxi, she can take off whenever she likes. "

"I don’t guess you’ve heard anything from him…"

"No I believe he’s all right though, he’d let me know if he wasn’t. I know he would." Max finished his wine, "More?"

"Why not…looks like it’s just the two of us for awhile…Rose doesn’t like me right now."

Rose ran her hand over the signed photograph, he’d touched it and looked up at her when he handed it back. It was only her first year of college but when he’d asked her if she was an actress she’d said no she was an oceanographer. He’d tilted his head, impressed and smiled a little at her. He had her heart in that moment. She wanted his. It had only been a dream…but now it could come true, now she knew how it could come true. Her mother had done it and look what she had now, Max Skinner, Jack Aubrey, Terry Thorne and John Biebe. She frowned a little and rolled over on the bed…but who else would she have this would have to be thought out and planned…she only wanted the one. She really needed to know how this worked, remembering her uncle John’s description they each had married and that seemed a necessary thing. Oh but she wouldn’t want to marry anybody but him. Rose decided to question her parents about the House separately and very carefully because they both knew her interest there.

She found Max in his study later that night going over figures on John Biebe’s accounts, he turned and looked over his glasses at her, "Hi, Rose, lovey what’s up"

"I was just thinking about you and mum when you were at the House of Four Seasons, you loved her enough to marry her there."

"Yes I did."

"What kind of a marriage was it, you gave her a ring?"

"Oh yes I did, a circle of diamonds. I placed on her finger and asked her to be mine for eternity. I never wanted to be parted from her. She didn’t know it was coming it was actually our first anniversary we’d had four seasons together and she thought that made a year and so our anniversary. She planned a wonderful dinner, there was a large white tent on the lawn with music and food…we danced, drank champagne that was our wedding."

"It sounds beautiful and so romantic…" She sighed and sat on the side of his desk.

"Yes, it was…I even conjured up a heart shaped bed and we slept there under the tent by the ocean."

"You are a very romantic man, but then when you had to leave it must have been very hard."

"It was, it always was; I never wanted to leave her."

"Did you know she would marry Uncle Terry in the fall?"

"Yes I did…I’d set it off, he had to. We’d formed our circle you see, the four of us, that was the next step…that we would marry her."

"I can’t imagine she would marry someone else after you…"

Max smiled, "That’s the way it worked and at that time she loved us all equally."

"I think that would be very hard to do."

"That was the only way it could work for her, it began because she loved John and the only way she could have him was to have four seasons; she had to love them all the same or it wouldn’t have worked."

Rose hugged his neck, "You have been a good father to me, I love you."

"You’re a good daughter too, lovey." He hugged her back.

"Well I will go see if I can help Mummy…"

"Um…how’d it go at the old folk’s farm?"

"Oooh, you don’t want me to tell you about that." Her eyes flashed and she was out of his study.

Max chuckled.

 "Hello, Rose," Toni put her book down.

"Mummy, I was thinking about you when you were at the House of Four Seasons, how did you know who to choose next when you had to?"

"Hmm, and here I thought you were going to discuss your day…I didn’t always know and I didn’t always choose them myself." Toni looked at her closely.

"I wonder…they were all characters by the same actor so they are all the same man."

"I wouldn’t say that. They’re very different, their bodies may be the same in different sizes and their features are very similar but they are not the same personality, not in their minds. Can you see Max wielding a sword or holding a knife to someone’s throat and killing him?"

"Oh no…no I see what you mean. But you could have had anyone, you chose the same actor’s characters."

"That’s because I liked them and I liked the actor."

"Why didn’t you call the actor or could you not do that?"

"I suppose I could have, but that would have been very difficult had I taken him out. He would be who he is now, there can’t be two. That’s what happened with my Grandmother she did chose the actor and he was unable to spend very much time with her."

"I see….and he has a family already."

"Yes."

Rose tilted her head back, this was not going to be easy for her." You could have picked someone else’s character couldn’t you, it didn’t have to be the same actor."

"I suppose so, anyone really. Now do you want to tell me why this is on your mind tonight?"

"It just popped in," she smiled.

"Right. Rose, you will never know how many tears I cried in that house, what heart break I suffered. Yes I loved my seasons, all of them. When one left it always hurt. I never wanted a season to end. It was only the coming of the next that kept me going."

"It must have been horrible for you, Mummy, but look what you have now."

"Yes…look what I have. My heart is divided four ways. I love each and can only have one. Imagine making such a choice. Don’t think you can do it, Rose, it’s not worth the price you pay."

"They love you, my Papa…"

"I know they do and I love your Papa too. I could never have him, all of him. He was married and he had a life beyond the movie…you must read the books Rose now that you know about him and who he is. I have them in my bedroom."

"I will read them, I will begin tonight. Mummy, about the elder care place…do I have to…"

"Yes, you are committed for three weeks…you can do it. Do you want me to go up and get the books for you?"

"Yes, Mummy." Rose waited while her mother went upstairs…four seasons and she would have to choose wisely, somebody she could love…for a year.

Part 3

Maxi was back and Rose couldn’t be happier to see somebody. He was suntanned and she thought he looked good…but he was her brother now…like Jacky. He’d grown a beard…hmm.

"What have you been up to?" she asked when they got a chance without parents around.

Maxi looked at her, "Nothing you would be interested in. I hear you’re a caretaker now." He grinned a little.

"Ah not for long…twelve more days and I forget the hours. I told Mum and she knows it all now, knows what I did. This is my punishment so I take it you know."

"Sorry you got in trouble, I wanted to tell Dad at that House, but I couldn’t look at him and tell him. He says it’s over now and not to talk about it anymore."

"I’m surprised they leave us together…Mum doesn’t trust me, she even ask me about Jacky like that would happen."

"It didn’t did it?"

"No…you know it didn’t, there was only you. Maxi what do you think would happen if I disappeared for a year?"

"I think Uncle Terry would have the world torn upside down looking for you…why?"

"Well I think it might happen."

"What are you planning…you’re not still on about that House of Four Seasons?"

"I am yes."

"Forget it, Rose…I’d tell and they would all be over there bringing you home and your Papa…oooo."

"Why would you tell on me, I keep your secrets."

"My secrets aren’t worth keeping, besides the biggest one is out now you’ve got nothing on me…"

"I’ll find something…I need your help."

"Not for this…no Rose."

"I have to do it, Maxi but when I do it will be planned out, I will know for sure what I am doing."

"Why don’t you aim your um, weapons toward some guy at school…that Roger wasn’t it, you liked him. Or even Jean Paul’s friend the young one."

"They are babies I want a man…a man who can appreciate what I have and who I am. Oh you don’t know what it’s like to be in love."

"You’re right I don’t, not really, but at least I’d pick somebody real, somebody warm instead of a cardboard man."

"He would not be cardboard, he would be as real as you are. And you, Maxi are very real…I hate it that you’re my brother now."

Maxi looked off to the side, "Yeah…I know."

"Why is it wrong today and not yesterday?"

"Because it is, because we know, because you’re my half sister now just like Jacky. I love you, Rose and you’ll always be more than a sister to me, but don’t ever come into my room again."

"I won’t, you don’t have to worry about that you can sleep in peace. Well…what do you think about Jacky?"

"I can’t wait to hear the story from him, and he’s in love."

"I know," Rose smiled, "that is wonderful for him. Mum says his wound is not so bad, but to get shot, oh."

"Yeah…what a guy eh?"  Maxi smiled.

"I want to see you fall in love, she will be a lucky girl."

"I am too young for that, I’m not even looking for love."

"Sometimes you don’t have to look for it, it finds you. That’s what happened to me in Cannes. I looked into his eyes and I know if he knew me he would be mine. But there is no way for him to know me. I only ever loved two people you and him. I cannot have you, and what I feel for him is different. I am young too, but I know love."

"It’s different for guys they need to be older, especially older than twenty-one."

"I like your beard, it makes you look more mature more um, worldly."

"Yeah…you think so?" Maxi rubbed his chin, "I kinda like it too."

"You look like Dad."

"Oh… maybe I should shave."

"No leave it. It looks good on you. You’re a man, Maxi. "  She smiled at him and touched his beard and got up and went up to her room.

Maxi stretched his arms out and leaned his head back; his Mum was in the doorway to the patio. "Mum, how long have you been there?"

"I came up on Rose’s little speech on love, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I know the subject is closed, your father told me it was, Maxi and I’m not going into it again, but right now I don’t trust Rose and you shouldn’t either."

"Mum, Rose has this big love and nobody to give it to. Don’t worry about me I already told her tonight she’s not ever to come into my room again."

Toni sat down at the table where Rose had sat, "She has this fixation on an actor you know about it…there is nowhere for it to go. I worry about her and I wish she’d find somebody."

"Maybe she needs to find Johnny Depp; she might not like him so much if she knew him."

"You’re a lot of help, I’m trying to steer her away from that and…"

"Well," he shrugged, "she knows her own mind, she wants him."

Toni looked at him a minute, "Don’t help her get him…okay?"

"I won’t touch it, Mum, I promise. " he held his hands up.

Toni believed him for about that long.

Rose went up and lay across her bed with a pen and a notebook and began writing down names of characters.

           Will Turner

                 Roux

The problem was of course that Johnny had played some strange characters, she didn’t want Edward Scissorhands or Willy Wonka, she really wanted himself. He lived near St. Tropez…if she could get there, but Mum would never let her go alone…but with Maxi, if Maxi would go with her. She knew he had a vineyard and made wine…Rose sat up on her bed; Maxi would go…he would for that. She decided to try and if it came to nothing then she had the House of Four Seasons as a backup plan. While she was busy on her laptop looking up places to go, the town where Depp’s villa was located, she heard Maxi coming down the hall.

"Maxi, would you come here a moment?"

Maxi opened her door, "What, Rose?"

"Come in I have an idea."

Maxi left the door open and glanced down the hall before coming into her room.

"What do you think of a trip to St. Tropez?"

"I don’t think."

"Why not, it’s not that terribly far it would be fun, you know go see how the rich people live."

"We are the rich people, Rose. Where did this idea come from?"

"Well I was just thinking of something to do after my punishment is over."

"I’m not sure Mum will let you travel with me."

"OH…this is not good…I know you would like to go, there are vineyards…"

"In St. Tropez?"

"Close by, only an hour and a little away…please will you think about it?"

"Why do I get this feeling about right here?" He pointed to his belly.

"I don’t know, what you eat today." She looked up at him all innocence.

"I think you are going to get me in trouble again that’s what this feeling is."

"No, no, Maxi I would not get you in trouble."

"How many times have I heard that…eh?"

"I am being serious here I want to go there."

Maxi started out the door and stopped, "It wouldn’t be because a certain actor lives there would it?"

"He might."

"Then forget it, I’m not helping you to stalk the man."

"What would you help me do?"

Maxi looked at her for a moment and left her room.

Ah then he would help her do something…but what?

BACK                                                                                HOME                                                                                NEXT