At the worst possible time, she heard the front door to the cabaret open and she heard Alastor's voice call:
"Rosie, are you here?"
Rosie panicked. She couldn't let Alastor see Husk or herself like this. He was too logical to adjust to these matters, at least not without proper preparation for it. If he saw them in their true forms right now, he'd probably have a mental breakdown. She had to hide Husk and re-disguise herself quick.
"One moment please!"
Using all her strength, Rosie took Husk by his arms and started dragging him across the floor toward the nearest broom closet.
"Oh God, he weighs a ton." She groaned. "I don't think even a whale could be this heavy!"
She lifted Husk's unconscious body up to his feet and then shoved him into the broom closet. Afterward, she quickly put her wig, fake ears, fake skin, and lipstick back on, straightened out her dress, and stepped out to greet Alastor.
"Hello Ally." She said with a nervous smile. "You're clocking in rather early this morning."
"Sorry for the unexpected, early arrival Rosie. But I need to talk to you about something." He said.
"Does it have to be at this exact moment?" She asked, not sure how long Husk would be unconscious.
"I'm afraid I must insist. It's about Beth."
"Oh? Is anything wrong with her?"
"No, it's just that, first of all I am very grateful to you for all that you've done for Beth. You've helped her with things I never could, you know with the whole being a girl thing. I also appreciate you looking after her when I ask you to. I know she can be a handful."
"She can be." Rosie agreed. "But it's all worth it just to have her company."
"Yes, you've become really fond of her, haven't you?"
"I have."
"How fond though?"
"What do you mean?"
"How do you feel about Beth?"
"How do I feel about her?" She replied with a slight chuckle. "You know how I feel. I like her very much Alastor. She's a delightful girl. Funny, smart, kind, considerate. You're not thinking that I don't like her, are you?"
"Not exactly."
"Then what's all this questioning for?"
"Rosie I want you to be honest with me." Alastor looked her dead in the eyes. "Do you love Beth?"
He saw something spark in her eyes. A mix of shock and uncertainty. She didn't expect his question and she didn't know what answer to give him. Which was what Alastor had suspected.
"You don't know, do you?"
"I...I...I don't understand why you're asking me this." Rosie said.
"Because I've seen how you behave around Beth, how you talk to her and how you treat her. It's exactly how my mother was with me. You even give her the same look."
Rosie couldn't speak. Probably because it wasn't until now that she realized that she had been treating Beth like her own child. Giving her guidance, taking her shopping for clothes, comforting her when she's sad, teaching her how to use make up, reading her a bedtime story, kissing her goodnight. These were typical things that a mother did for her daughter. Had she really become that close to Beth?
"Now I don't exactly have a problem with how you've been treating her. In some ways it's helped her a great deal. But the thing is, Beth and I can't stay here for good. When Summer is over we have to go back to New Orleans. I have a job there and she has school, it'll probably be a long time before we see each other again and for as long as I've known Beth, she's always wanted a real family. A real mother and a real father. She's never mentioned it mind you but I can tell. Growing up, whenever she'd see her classmates getting picked up by their parents or would see families together in the park and on holidays, she'd have such a sad look in her eye."
"I can't really blame her. I was the same when I was growing up."
"What do you mean?"
"My parents were very young when they had me. They weren't ready to be parents and they apparently didn't know how to use protection, so I was a surprise. And they spent most of my childhood focusing on their careers while I was brought up mostly by my grandmother and my great aunt. Oh I'd see my parents every day but they never taught me how to ride a bike, they were never choked up about my first day of school, they weren't there to comfort me when I would wake up scared by a nightmare or a storm. They weren't cruel or abusive to me but, I know that they believed having children was a mistake."
"I'm so sorry to hear that." Alastor said with a sympathetic tone. "Are you angry with your parents?"
"No. Not anymore. They were just kids themselves when they had me. In fact my mmother was only three years older than Beth."
Alastor looked horrified.
"She was only fourteen?"
"She and my father both. They had sneaked out to a party where there was a lot of alcohol. They drank too much, got locked in a closet, and well...Three months later my grandfather forced them to get married and six months later I was born. Then about a year later my brother came into the picture, and they were about sixteen about that time. No age to be a parent. At least not in this time period."
"Did they ever consider giving you two up for adoption?"
"No. They couldn't. They both came from a traditional families."
Actually they couldn't give Rosie or Valentino up for adoption because they were not human children. They were only half human, the other half was of a supernatural creature that the world was supposed to believe didn't exist anymore. If either one of them had been placed in foster care or another family, then it would have only been a matter of time before their true genes would be exposed and they would have most likely spent the rest of their lives locked up in a government facility, being dissected like frogs. Rosie's parents had no choice but to keep them, however because of how young they were, there was no obligation to love them. So their grandparents and their grandmother's sister loved them. And while their love was enough to help Rosie get over the negligence and understand the world and learn form her parents's mistakes. It wasn't enough for Valentino. Especially when their parents at the very least, took the time to praise Rosie for her magic and never praise him for anything.
"You know you never told me you had a brother." Alastor said.
"We're not close. Never have been. He's always resented me, because he thinks our parents favored me and actually gave me love. In truth, I was no more neglected by them than he was. Sure they'd say something nice about my talents but that's it. They never gave me advice, or helped me with my homework, or acted like parents. I tried to tell him that many times but he was just too angry and jealous to listen. But right now, I really don't want to talk about him. Would you mind telling me, what exactly is your point?"
"I don't want Beth to hope for a family she can't have. I don't want her to get the idea that you and her might someday be a family, when we both know that won't happen. So I'm asking you to put a little distance between you two. You can still see each other, you can still be friends, but I don't want her staying over with you anymore. At last not for the rest of the Summer. I really hope this doesn't upset you Rosie."
"It doesn't." She said. "I understand, and I apologize if I stepped over any boundaries. I guess maybe, for a moment or two, I wanted to pretend that she was the child I never had. I know it isn't right but I'm only human."
"Half human technically, but still." She thought.
"Tomorrow night, I'm taking Charlie out and I've asked Angel to watch Beth while I'm gone." Alastor said. "This isn't permanent, I just think you two need some time apart. Just until I know that Beth isn't getting any false hope. Understand?"
"I understand. You're only doing what's best for Beth and I respect that."
"Thank you."
"But Alastor."
"Yes?"
"If you don't mind me saying, you can't protect Beth from getting her heartbroken or her hopes crushed. No one can go through life without that happening, it's impossible. Families don't exist to make sure a child never faces hard times, they exist so that a child can make it through hard times and not feel so alone."
Alastor didn't say anything. He just smiled sadly, indicating that deep down he knew she was right, and then he exited the cabaret. Rosie watched him leave and then she looked upward toward the heavens.
"You raised him right Daisy." She said. "He's everything I expected a son of yours and Jameson's to be. Charming, good-looking, talented, a great cook, but an awful joke teller."
She chuckled on the last word.
"And too selfless for his own good, just like you two were." Rosie sighed. "Poor man, he probably doesn't even know that all you and Jameson ever wanted was for him to be happy. I'd tell him that if I knew he'd believe me. But he won't. How do I know? Because you didn't believe me when I told you that love would be more than enough to raise that boy."
She could still remember the day Daisy Lee told her that she was getting remarried. She knew her friend didn't love that man, and she knew that man didn't love her or her child. She tried to talk her out of it but Daisy was as stubborn as her children were.
"I know you always hated it when I said I told you so." Rosie continued to her old friend's spirit. "So I won't say it. But will say this, your son and your daughter need help and I want to help them but I don't know how. I know if you were here you'd know just what to do, so I'm asking you to give me some advice. What can I do?"
As you would expect, no voice from Heaven answered her in the verbal sense but Rosie knew that Daisy Lee could hear her, and she knew that she'd answer. Rosie just needed to wait and recognize the answer when it appeared.
"Hey! Why the hell am I in a closet?!" An angry voice shouted from the back.
"Oops! I forgot all about him!" Rosie gasped, hurrying to real ease him immediately.