My Name Is Rose (13 page)

Rose thought again how lucky she was to have had a father like Nicu, and pictured him sitting at the front of their wagon, alternately smoking his pipe and whist­ling gently. He was a giant of a man, her father, compared to Mr Luca, yet it was Mr Luca who was the real ogre – a chocolate-moustached ogre.

Rose was giggling to herself when there was a loud knock on her door. She began to get out of bed to answer it, but before she had the chance, the door flew open and Victoria barged in.

‘Have you got my bracelet?' the girl demanded.

Rose didn't have a clue what Victoria was talking about. She shook her head.

‘I left it on the hall table when we took the horses out, but it's not there now.' Victoria glared at Rose. ‘Don't tell me you didn't see it?'

Rose adamantly shook her head again. She could hear Mrs Luca calling from downstairs, telling Victoria not to go accusing her sister.

‘She's not my sister!' Victoria shouted. ‘She'll never be my sister.'

Mrs Luca began to climb the stairs. ‘It's probably fallen down somewhere, or you put it somewhere else and forgot.'

‘I'm not stupid!' Victoria hurled at her. ‘I know where I put it and it's not there now.'

‘That doesn't mean it had anything to do with Anna. Leave her alone, please, and let's have a proper look for it.'

Victoria slammed the bedroom door.

‘Why are you always protecting her?' Rose heard her say. ‘You don't know anything about her.'

‘If I don't protect her, who else will?' Mrs Luca countered.

Chapter 22

The bracelet didn't turn up. A few weeks later, another fish died. Rose was in the middle of a lesson with Mrs Conta, when they became aware of a furore outside. They went to the window, which overlooked the gardens. Mr Luca was standing with his hands behind his head as if in despair, but he was shouting. Goran was by the pond, holding a net and attempting to retrieve the dead fish from the water. Summoned by the disturbance, Mrs Luca left the house and made her way towards them. Mr Luca turned on her and blasted her with a venomous barrage of words, which were indecipherable through the closed window, but whose meaning was certainly not lost.

In that moment, Mr Luca caught sight of Rose in the window. He stared long and hard at her. Rose withered under the look of sheer animosity his pose suggested.

‘Come, Anna,' said Mrs Conta. ‘Back to work. There's nothing we can do to help.'

Rose found herself shaking. The teacher did her best to distract her with a comic picture book about a dog with an extreme sense of smell, but Rose couldn't concentrate. Mr Luca was blaming her for the death of his fish, she was sure of it.
Does he think I poisoned it? That I put a curse on it? Does he really believe I could do such a thing?
She wondered what else he might think to accuse her of.

‘Are you paying attention, Anna?' Mrs Conta asked.

Rose shook her head. She took a piece of paper and wrote painstakingly,
fish dead not me
.

‘Of course not!' exclaimed Mrs Conta as soon as she understood what Rose meant. ‘What on earth makes you think anyone is blaming you?'

Mr Luca not like me
, Rose wrote.

‘Mr Luca is a very difficult man,' Mrs Conta said quietly. ‘Very difficult. But I'm sure it's not you he's angry with. When you're a child, it's easy to think grown-ups are angry with you when in fact they're angry with everything but you.'

Rose wasn't convinced. She tried to concentrate on her lessons, but Mr and Mrs Luca's row moved indoors and she couldn't blot out the raised voices, which carried on for what seemed like hours. She was glad to be with Mrs Conta. She wasn't ready to be left on her own to cope with the fallout from the argument, and was sure the teacher would stick up for her should Mr Luca accuse her of any wrongdoing.

As soon as the last lesson was over and Mrs Conta had dismissed her with a friendly pat on the back, Rose went to her room. There were no further sounds from below, but once again she dared not go downstairs straight away. After a while, she tentatively opened her bedroom door, checked that the coast was clear and made her way to the playroom.

Her doll's house had been left untouched since her birthday. Mrs Luca hadn't at any time suggested that they might continue building it together. Rose saw no reason not to play with it.
It's my present after all, so why shouldn't I carry on with it on my own?
She couldn't help being astonished and excited all over again when she saw the sheer scale and exquisite details of the model. She resolved to make this her very own venture. It would be her first ever house!

The roof was the next thing that needed to be constructed. Rose dug out all the pieces from one of the boxes and began fitting them together. There was a plan showing the different stages, but Rose found it difficult to follow with her scant knowledge of English. She laid the pieces out on the floor and tried to marry them up with the pictures on the plan. Slowly but surely, she sorted out what went where and the roof began to take shape. Rose picked up one large section and held it above the house to check that it was correct before fixing it to the top of the wall. Just as she did so, Mrs Luca came in.

‘Ah, there you are, Anna,' Mrs Luca said. Her face was unsmiling.

Rose sprang to her feet.

‘I'm afraid that Mr Luca and I have decided to dispense with Mrs Conta's services. She will no longer be taking you for lessons. I shall teach you myself, when I have the time.'

Rose couldn't help but show her alarm and disappointment.

‘You must realise that your lessons have been very costly for us. Mr Luca's business has run into a few problems – nothing to worry about – and we may be able to bring in a new teacher in the future. For the moment, though, it's necessary for us to reduce our expenditure. Do you understand me, Anna?'

Rose nodded her head sadly.

‘I'm glad to see you're getting on with your house. We can't have it just sitting there, can we?' Mrs Luca smiled briefly.

Rose shook her head. She was only too pleased to have Mrs Luca's approval to complete the house, especially now that it seemed as if she was going to have little else to do.

‘There's one more thing, Anna.'

Rose waited, anxious once more that Mrs Luca was going to mention the dead fish and the missing bracelet.

‘The stable boy is no longer in our employ, either. We've agreed that you should earn your keep by taking over from him.'

Rose gasped. She hadn't expected that.
Does it mean that the stable boy had something to do with the bracelet and the fish?
she wondered. Secretly, she couldn't help feeling cheered, because she didn't think she'd mind mucking out the horses.

Mrs Luca misinterpreted her gasp as being one of dismay. ‘You should think yourself lucky,' she said shortly. ‘Many young girls would do anything to be allowed to look after horses. You'll start tomorrow, after you've walked the dog, and I shall expect you to do a good job.'

She didn't wait for Rose to respond, but parted briskly.

Rose was left to struggle with her emotions. She was devastated at the news of Mrs Conta's departure. Mrs Conta had been her friend as well as her teacher, yet Rose hadn't even been allowed to say goodbye to her.

She was worried about having lessons with Mrs Luca. Theirs was a different relationship. She would never have counted Mrs Luca as a friend however much she had been showered with presents and finery by her. She was terrified too about how Mrs Luca would react when she found out about her lack of reading and writing skills, even though she had now mastered some of the basics. Mrs Conta had been pleased with her and said she was a very quick learner, but Rose doubted she had been quick enough to impress Mrs Luca. Rarely had Rose felt close to this woman who liked to speak of her as her daughter. Rose certainly didn't think of Mrs Luca as her mother, but now their relationship seemed to have undergone an inexplicable change. Mrs Luca had been abrupt with her and had treated her more like a servant than a daughter.
Was this what I was warned about
, Rose wondered,
when Marina and Goran told me to beware of upsetting my guardian? Have I upset her somehow?

Rose was plagued again by fears that she was being held accountable for the mysterious dead fish and the missing bracelet. She wanted to find some way to plead her innocence, but how could she? In any case, she was certain that even if she were able to raise the issue she would just draw more suspicion to herself. She would have to keep her head held high, do as she was told and hope that nothing else would happen to cause more trouble.

Chapter 23

Mornings in the stables became the best part of the day for Rose, even when the weather grew colder and it rained frequently. Goran couldn't spoil them for her, either, though he tried. She did her utmost not to allow herself to be brought down by his snide comments and accusations, nor by his muttered warnings.

‘You won't last here,' he said more than once. ‘You don't have a cat in hell's chance. Not when her ladyship puts two and two together and comes up with the right answer. You'll be out of the door faster than I can say “good riddance”.'

For a while, Rose wondered about Goran's hostility towards her, which was less understandable than Mr Luca's. In the end, all she could think of was that he didn't like her because she was a Roma, or he didn't want to share Mrs Luca's attentions.

Luckily, there was plenty to keep him occupied. It was a busy time of year in the garden, with leaves to be cleared, some vegetables to be cropped and others sown, flowers to be deadheaded and shrubs to be pruned. Mrs Luca regularly visited him to issue instructions, though it was clear Goran knew what he was doing. Rose guessed that he wouldn't want to ruin his employer's high regard for him by being seen hanging around the stables too often when he was supposed to be working. She overheard them discussing things sometimes – Goran smooth-talking and charming, Mrs Luca full of compliments and flattered by his attentions. Knowing how nasty he could be, it filled Rose with disgust to see how gullible Mrs Luca was in his company.

Rose threw herself into the tasks she had been set in the stables. She loved and understood horses, and they whinnied happily as she worked around them. It gave her a sense of triumph to be able to form a bond with Griffin and Victoria's other horse, Snooty, and she made doubly sure there was never any reason for the girl to complain about her work. Rose was grateful that Victoria was normally still in bed while she raked out the soiled bedding, washed down the concrete underneath, then piled in fresh straw.

Mrs Luca seemed in no rush to begin lessons with her. ‘I'll see if I can find time tomorrow,' she said. Or, ‘There's just so much to do at the moment, but I'm sure next week will be clearer.'

Rose didn't mind. Nor did she mind the fact that she was left to her own devices so often. Mrs Luca no longer expected her company on shopping trips, and seemed more intent on buying Victoria's affections. Rose regularly overheard Mrs Luca offering her inducements like new items of clothing, the latest gadgets, facials and expensive lunches. Mother and daughter increasingly disappeared out of the house, arm in arm, laughing loudly, and stayed away for several hours.

During their absence, and with Marina's acquiescence, Rose slipped into the piano room to play the violin. Rose liked Marina. The housekeeper had told her that she had come to work for the Luca family when her husband became unreasonable and kicked her out. ‘My husband was English and I moved over here to be with him, but he didn't treat me well. Mrs Luca heard about it at the church and took me in. At first, I lived as part of the family and ate meals with them. Then their housekeeper left and they said I should work for them to pay them back for their kindness. It was fair, but Mr Luca isn't very nice to me, and I was never a servant back in Romania.'

‘Be very careful,' Marina warned Rose regularly about using the piano room. ‘There'll be an almighty row if anyone finds you in there, and I wouldn't want to see you get into trouble.'

But as time went by, Rose became bolder, stealing moments even when she knew there was a chance Mr Luca might come back from work early, or when it was close to the hour Mrs Luca had envisaged for their return. It was only while Rose was playing that she could rediscover the person she had once been. She was delighted to find she was improving with all the practice. The bow moved more deftly from high to low, the notes were cleaner, the transitions smoother.

Nicu would have been so proud of her! It was what he had always wanted – for her to make the most of her ability. ‘You're lucky to be born with a budding talent,' he used to say, ‘but talent is nothing without hard work and dedication. You must strive to help that talent blossom into a beautiful flower, whose colourful petals and delightful scent will bring joy to the world.'

‘Your father is such a romantic,' Esme would laugh, ‘but he's right – talent should never be wasted.'

If only I'd practised harder when Papa wanted me to
,
Rose lamented,
but at least I'm making up for it.
What she had been lacking before was passion. She had found passion through adversity and now could feel what her father had felt when he picked up his violin and lost himself in his music.