Page 4 of A Cake of Cherries and Charm

“This is so kind. Thank you!” As she spoke, her eyes burned slightly yet again, and there was a lump in her throat. Seeming to sense her flood of emotion, the older woman pulled Rosie into a tight embrace.

“I wish you all the best,” she whispered into Rosie’s ear. Then she pulled back, keeping her hands on Rosie’s shoulders, a slight shadow coming into her eyes. “But if it’s too much, know that you always have a home with us.” Her gray eyes searched Rosie’s. “My husband spent time in the palace, and it… it’s not for the faint of heart.” She gave Rosie a wry smile.

“Thank you, Sonia.” Rosie touched the dear woman’s cheek. How many hours had she spent at her and her husband’s side, devouring all the knowledge the kind, city-educated couple could provide a poor country girl? “How I shall miss you,” she said, her voice suddenly thick again.

Before Sonia could respond, however, the crowd grew louder, and both women turned to see the large carriage slowly making its way down the street. A man with graying hair sat in the driver’s seat, but as soon as it stopped, a familiar figure opened the door and jumped out to run toward them. His light brown hair was the same color that his fur had been when he was a bear, and his eyes were the same pale blue, nearly matching those of his bride-to-be. Eyes that were solely for Snow.

Rosie grinned to herself as she watched her own sister’s cheeks turn pink when Prince Frederick dropped into a dashing bow before kissing Snow’s hand. If anyone deserved a happy ending, it was Snow. Rosie’s dear twin sister with a golden heart deserved every happy ending.

The sister who will no longer be yours alone, a voice in Rosie’s head whispered, but Rosie told that voice to kindly shut up. Snow was happy. And that was all that mattered.

“Thank you.” Rosie turned back to Sonia, giving her hand one last squeeze. “I’m truly grateful!” Not that she would ever take the woman up on her kind offer. There was no way she could leave her mother and sister. Especially not now, as they made their foray into court life. But still. The arms of those she knew best were the ones she loved most.

There were many tears shed and shouts of farewell as the prince and several guards lifted their few bags of belongings into the carriage. Then, with one final wave, Rosie took the prince’s proffered hand and stepped up into the carriage after her mother and sister. The sweet summer air suddenly tasted bittersweet, however, as she settled onto the cushioned bench.

But no, she chastised herself as she looked once again at Snow’s joyful smile. They were beginning a new life, one where her sister would need her. It was never said aloud, but the two girls had always needed each other. Where there was one sister, the other was never far off. It was how they’d survived their father’s death and the difficult years that had followed. And Rosie had determined in those days to never give her sister a reason to doubt that Rosie would be by her side.

“How did you get a carriage so quickly?” Rosie asked Frederick as they rolled away from the only home they’d ever known. She asked partly because she was truly curious, but also to direct the attention away from her mother’s delicate sniffles beside her.

Thankfully, Frederick was too polite to draw attention to her mother’s private tears. “I went to the main military outpost in the town north of here, where one of the officers recognized me. They immediately procured this carriage for me when I explained that I needed one in which to return to the palace.”

“How old were you when the troll turned you into a bear?” Snow asked.

Rosie was rather sure he had told them this at some point, but with all the fuss over her sister’s engagement and their hurry to pack their few belongings, she’d forgotten. Had it really only been two days since the prince’s curse had been broken?

It felt like a lifetime.

“I was fifteen,” he said, a shadow coming over his face. “My father had sent me on my first diplomatic mission to deliver a chest of gold to a neighboring kingdom for a piece of land he’d purchased.”

He snorted in disgust. “I was stupid and stopped at a stream, away from my guards, to wash my face and get a drink. The troll took me by surprise and demanded the gold. When I refused, he changed me into a bear, stole the gold from my horse, and left me to wander on my own.”

He paused and shook his head ruefully. “I tried going back to my guards to tell them what had happened, but all I got for my pains was an arrow in the shoulder. Not that I blame them. In their eyes, they were being pursued by a bear who only growled at them.”

“An arrow? In your shoulder?” Snow gasped and immediately began examining his clothed shoulder as though the arrow might still be sticking out of it.

He laughed gently. “Not to worry, love. I eventually got it out, and it healed. Well, mostly.” He shrugged. “It’s still sore now and then. Not that that signifies.” He smiled at his intended. “The loneliness was far more dangerous than any arrow to the arm. I had begun feeling that I might go mad and start raving like a real bear when I found your house in that snowstorm.”

“How did you know to knock at our door?” Rosie asked, pulling a skein of yarn out and measuring enough of it to begin knitting a scarf. “There were other houses all over the countryside. How did you know we wouldn’t try to attack you as your guards did?”

“I had been watching you,” he said with a guilty smile. “The afternoon before, you girls had been out playing in the stream, and I saw how kind you were to the little forest animals who scampered across your way. Then I followed you home and realized it was unlikely you had a man there. Especially when your mother was the one to greet you at the door. So I knocked as best I could to see if you would be so kind to me as you were to the forest creatures.”

“I’m glad you did,” Snow said shyly.

He caught her hand up to his lips and kissed it. “So am I.”

Rosie rolled her eyes, but she smiled in spite of herself as she began counting stitches in her head to cast on.

“My parents are going to be thrilled to meet you all!” he said, his voice suddenly rising with excitement. “Especially once I tell them how you helped save me from my enchantment. And my mother will love you once she learns that you offered me food and shelter in the cold!”

“Is there any… court etiquette we ought to know about when we first enter?” Rosie asked. “How long to curtsy or what to say?”

Frederick waved dismissively. “You saved my life and helped free me from an enchantment. I don’t think my mother would care if you were all purple with polka dots and wore nothing but feather dresses.”

Snow giggled, but Rosie couldn’t laugh. She wasn’t entirely sure the court would be so forgiving. Her family had done what anyone ought to have done for a prince enchanted to look like a bear for five years. And one glance at her mother’s pinched face told her that her mother harbored similar concerns. But Rosie wasn’t about to rain on Snow’s joy now.

They ate the contents of the food baskets after that, then Rosie took up her knitting again. When her hands grew tired, she watched the world pass by through the carriage window. She had never been this far from their woodland cottage before. Their little village was the only town she and Snow had ever known. Now, however, they rolled through meadows and woods and even crossed a river with a bridge so wide Rosie wouldn’t have been able to toss a stone from one side to the other.

Which was saying a lot, as Rosie had a strong arm.