Honeybee

Chapter Six~Rose Thorns

Chapter Six
Rose Thorns
Elizabeth Cullen
Tennessee. September, 1935.

"Liz, have you seen my Fred Astaire record Carlisle got me?" Rosalie called out to me from the living room as I cleaned the kitchen. "I could've sworn we were just playing it the other day."

"I think Edward borrowed it to play it in the parlor. He's been trying to learn it on the piano." I answered her.

"Of course he did." She muttered angrily. "I guess I'll just go hunting instead." She told me, gracing the doorway with her presence.

"Alright, just remember to keep away from the hiking trails." I smiled encouragingly at her.

"Got it." She smiled back before breezing out of the kitchen door.

I touched the faint scarring decorating my shoulder and smiled at the amount of progress Rosalie has made these short two years.

After Edward had managed to rip Rosalie off of me, Carlisle and I convinced her to calm down enough to explain what had happened to her. The trauma of her attack had taken a huge toll on her, she was full of rage, and I was happy to help her through the pain however she deemed fit.

Carlisle hadn't been happy that I was involved in so many murders, but he understood the need for justice and the peace it brought to Rosalie. Besides, he was mostly upset that I broke into the Hale household to steal Rosalie's wedding dress for her. I was quite proud when I found out why she wanted it. Wearing your wedding dress to murder your rapist ex-fiancé and his friends was the most theatrical thing I had ever heard of, it was brilliant.

Strangely, plotting murder together seemed to be our gateway into friendship. After everyone involved in the incident was deceased, Rosalie and I bonded even more by her love of makeup and clothing. I was her own personal Barbie doll as she loved to pick my outfits, style my hair in newer fashions, and even apply makeup to enhance already flawless features. I had never been one for such vanity, but in my eagerness to experience things with the daughter I never had I was fully-willing to humor Rosalie and let her have her fun.

She came around to Carlisle's fatherly aura gradually, as she was still a little guarded when it came to men's involvement in her life. She claimed she had had wonderful parents and didn't feel the need to replace them, which Carlisle and I respected entirely, but that still didn't stop him from showing her the same attention that he did Edward and myself. The first time that he had brought me home flowers when she was with us, she was entirely surprised when he handed her an arrangement of roses and babies breath.

"I...What is this for?" She had asked him, still a little stunned as I placed a vase with some water on the table beside her.

"He's always bringing me home flowers." I told her. "He knows I like having them in the house and the boys like the smell, as much as they won't admit it." I teased them, pinching Edwards cheek as I went to get a vase for mine.

"They looked like something you would like." Carlisle told her. "It didn't feel right to not bring both of my girls home something nice." He smiled, kissing me on the cheek in greeting before heading upstairs to change from his hospital wear.

"Rosalie? Are you okay?" Edward asked her, and I turned to find her looking both incredibly sad and touched at the same time.

"Yes." She nodded quickly. "They're perfect." She offered us a soft smile before going to take the flowers up to her room.

"You know, she's even prettier when she smiles." Edward laughed, just as surprised as I was by the genuinely soft emotions Rosalie exhibited.

Then, months later, I was shocked to see her curled up on the couch next to Carlisle, peering over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages of one of my old sketchbooks. The sight was so touching that I felt I could cry, and I would've if I actually was able to. For her to have struggled so much with letting us love her, and to finally have softened so much as to be so close and open with us, it was a fulfilling sight.