Past Loves

Part 11

Chapter 11

Rose glanced towards Peirce and let a small smile cross her face.  As soon as she did, he let out a deep groan and eased back into his chair.  She glanced at him with a confused expression before opening her mouth to ask what was wrong.

“Emily,” Cassie said, stopping whatever words Rose was attempting to say.

Emily glanced over at Cassie with a large, eager smile, and Rose let a smile spread across her own face as Cassie looked taken aback for a moment.  “Yes, Lady Ashmore?”

“Moore,” Cassie corrected.  “Lady Moore, but call me Cassandra, please.”

Emily nodded with the same amazing smile.  “Cassandra,” she echoed in a dazed voice.

Cassie shot a look towards Colin that clearly asked him to get her out of the situation.  He smiled at her, exchanging words without saying a thing.  Cassie sighed and leaned back in her chair with a glare.  Rose let out a tiny chuckle.  That was what she wanted.  She wanted a love like her cousins, one that needed to words.

“I would like for you to meet my mother, Ava, whom has decided to live with us for the time being.”

Cassie’s birth mother rolled her eyes at Cassie.  Even that small motion seemed to tire the woman.  “The only reason I agreed was the fact that you visited every day.  What was I to do when your husband told me that you were determined to travel even with your condition?”

Cassie copied her mother’s motion by rolling her eyes back at the woman.  A small smile crossed her face as she turned back towards Emily.  “This is my cousin, Ramsey.  He is a fine young man, and if you lead him astray, you will regret it.”

“Cassie,” Colin mumbled pulling her towards him.  “She is not going to do anything to him.”

Ramsey’s face turned a bright red color.  In these past months, Cassandra had become more of a mother to the man instead of an older cousin.  Rose knew that she took the blame for the wrong he had caused their family.  Colin still viewed the man as untrustworthy, but Cassie was to kindhearted for that.  She had given it a week before she brought him back into their lives with a smile and a tad bit of overprotectiveness.

“I would never do anything to harm your family,” Emily said with an innocent expression.

Rose’s eyes narrowed at the woman.  Was it a farce, or did the woman truly view the world in such an innocent manner? 

“Good,” Cassie said with a bright smile, “and this is my son, Cooper.”

Emily’s eyes widened on the boy as she opened her mouth to ask questions, but a sharp glance from Peirce caused her to slink back into her chair without a word.  Rose slipped her hand under the table and pinched his leg.

“What the-” he started before turning a glare towards her.

Rose raised an eyebrow.  Leaning close to him, she whispered in his ear, “She is not a child.  Let her make her own mistakes or she will never learn.”

Peirce inched closer to her, his lips brushed her ear.  “I do not care what mistakes she makes, but I do not want Cassie upset.”

“Well,” Rose breathed out, a shiver running down her spine, “Cassie is not as helpless as you believe.”

“And I believe that she is more helpless than she lets other see.”

Rose turned towards him, her lips brushing his momentarily before she leaned back slightly.  Her hand curled around his arm.  “She is my cousin.”