Modern Fairy Tales Ch. 03

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Snow White & Rose Red; they meet their new neighbor.
9.5k words
4.52
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18

Part 1 of the 2 part series

Updated 09/22/2022
Created 03/11/2008
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Snow White and Rose Red

Once upon a time, in a beautiful Rose garden...

Rose sat back on her heels and looked over the acre and a half that was hers alone. It was a garden full of her namesake. The roses were in bloom and the fragrance that filled the air was sweet and heady. Many of these roses were her own hybrid variations that she had slaved over for the last several years. Her newest, Moonlight Kiss was a purple so deep it was almost black at the base and lightened slightly at the tip of each petal. Its color was a happy accident; she had been trying for the fragrance first. She buried her nose in its open petals: absolute perfection.

Camera in hand she backed up and began setting up the shot. It was the perfect time of day for photographing this section of roses. Hopefully this new rose could be in next year's catalog. She continued to shoot down the row until the sun had risen too high. Hot, sweaty and feeling a bit wilted she headed back up the field to the house that overlooked the garden. She took her basket with freshly cut flowers with her and detoured through her mother's cutting garden for a few others.

She had always loved the house. It was a big old fashioned farmhouse with high ceilings and a wrap around porch about ten feet deep. Flower beds with every variety imaginable surrounded the house. They had a mowed yard but not nearly as much as most houses in the area. Flowers of every variety surrounded the house growing over trellises, arbors and spilling out of containers of every variety. Their farm, Dahlquist Flowers, lived up to its name. For three seasons of the year they had pretty much non-stop blooms.

The interior of the house was much cooler than the exterior. It wasn't hot enough yet for the air conditioning to be turned on. "Ha ha," Rose thought, her mother had left fresh lemonade in the fridge and she poured herself a tall glass.

"Hey Rose, did you get those shots in?" asked Snow, plopping herself down at the table. She was still dressed in her work clothes, she worked part time at an accounting firm in town, when she wasn't keeping the farm in the black.

"Yup," she replied after a long drink, grinning at her twin. "I'll play with them later today and pick the best shots." Her slim, dirty fingers recut the stems of her flowers under the running tap. She popped them into the waiting vase.

"Good," said Snow, leaning to reach the counter, helping herself to a sip of her sister's lemonade. "Jerry Miller is coming on Friday to discuss the layouts for the catalog. We still have to pick out the cover picture," said Snow.

"Just remember that we won't have very many for the first two years or so", said Rose. "Hopefully my cuttings will over-winter better this year than last. I still can't believe that we lost so many."

"Yeah," replied Snow. She truly looked like her nickname today. Her raven black hair was cut into a bob at her chin and her creamy skin looked like it had never seen the sun.

Rose just sighed to herself. She wished for not the first time that she looked anything like her gorgeous sister. She was a full five inches taller, with brown hair and eyes, and freckles that multiplied with every bit of sun they encountered.

"We need to ask our new neighbor if the skanky real estate developer has hit him up yet."

Rose snorted, "Although he is acting like quite a recluse. I would be surprised it the slimy land baron has had any better luck finding him than the rest of us."

"True enough," said Snow. "I know that you and mom promised Gwen that you would 'look after him', but this is getting ridiculous. The man has gone out of his way to let us know that he doesn't want to be bothered. He even has his groceries delivered for Christ's sake."

That had been true enough. Rose often wondered about their new neighbor. Gwen had told them quite a bit before her unexpected death of a heart attack six months ago. His name was Daniel Stevens and he had been a Marine that had been badly hurt in combat. Gwen had invited him to stay with her when he was released from the hospital. He was a favorite great nephew, and one of the few of her many relatives that had kept in constant touch over the years.

Rose grimaced at the thought of the rest of Gwen's relatives. She had had five children, and about a million grandchildren, all living within several hours. And yet the only time Gwen had seen or heard from them was when they needed something, generally money.

A grin crossed her face. Gwen had surprised them all when her will was read and Daniel had inherited it all. Gwen had left her relatives a litany of reasons that Daniel had inherited and they had not. They had been furious, threatening to contest the will. Gwen had foreseen this however and her lawyer had carefully made sure that there was absolutely no way they could contest.

And so Daniel Stevens had inherited eighty acres, a beautiful house, car and an undisclosed amount of money. The only other person to inherit anything had been her mother, Lily Dahlquist. She and Gwen had been friends since she had moved in with Snow and Rose twenty years ago. Gwen had been surrogate mother and grandmother to the struggling family and remained close throughout the years. Gwen had left Lily an odd section of 10 acres that was on the boarder of their two properties. It was an incredible grove of peeling birch trees and meadows full of wild flowers. As a child, Rose had been convinced that fairies lived there. She had spent an inordinate amount of time in that area just looking for them, or just dreaming in general.

Daniel had moved in about three months ago. Only the lawyer had actually met with him. No one else had so much as seen him. She had gone over to the house twice. Both times she had phoned first to let him know she was coming over, she didn't want to be rude. The first timed had been to prune Gwen's roses in early spring, the second to check on them and make sure they were being watered.

Rose set the roses on the table and sat down after refilling her lemonade glass.

"Anyway," Snow continued, "Jerry, the catalog guy is going to be here Friday and I need those pictures."

"I'll have them tonight," said Rose, a little irritated that Snow felt it necessary to repeat herself.

"Oh, he was asking about you, too," she smiled.

"Who, Jerry?" Rose sighed, "I am not interested in going out with Jerry Miller."

"Why not!?" said an exasperated Snow. "He's nice looking, has a good job, nice personality; what's not to be interested in?"

"Because he is more interested in you that's why. The man can't keep his eyes off of you. No thank you."

"He is not. You're just too damn picky, if you ask me," said Snow. "You are the only twenty three year old virgin that I know."

"And you know what," replied Rose, "there is nothing wrong with that! So back off!"

Rose stomped back out of the door, ignoring her sister's protests behind her. She was so sick of her sister trying to foist off men on her. One thing she hadn't mentioned was the fact that she didn't want to date Jerry because Snow had already slept with him, shortly after meeting him. She truly loved her sister, but she was very tired of her going through men like they were flavors of ice cream. She only wanted one, THE one, and she was perfectly willing to wait for him.

She climbed into her pick-up truck and slammed the door behind her. She drove with no particular destination in mind, but wasn't surprised that she ended up at Gwen Stevenson's house. She had adored Gwen and treated her like a long lost grandmother from the time she was old enough to walk. Gwen's house was similar to theirs, if just a bit smaller.

There was an unfamiliar car in the drive and the newer Jeep that Gwen had driven was gone. Maybe he had a visitor, family maybe? Oh, well. She walked up the stairs of the wrap around porch and knocked on the door. No answer. From inside she heard a thump and a crash.

"Daniel?" she shouted, "Are you ok?"

There was no answer and worried she grabbed the spare key from its hidey hole and opened the door.

"Daniel?" Nothing in the house had changed much; the foyer was the same as it always was. It was a bit disconcerting; she expected to hear Gwen say her name any minute. Immediately to her right, through an arched doorway was her office/study/library. It looked like a tornado had hit it. There were papers everywhere, the drawers had been ripped from the desk and several shelves of Gwen's considerable library were scattered around the room.

"Holy Shit," she whispered. She pulled her cell phone from her back pocket and flipped it open, intending to call the police. She never got that far though. Hearing a noise behind her she half turned and was tackled to the floor, knocking the wind out of her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw an arm raised to strike her; and everything went black.

@@@@@

Daniel turned into the drive, glad to be home after a long day. Home had a great sound to it. For so long his only home was where the military had shipped him. It was nice to have his own place. He smiled at the memory of Gwen, going on and on in her letters about what plants she was planting and how well they were blooming. Occasionally a dried, pressed flower would be sent tucked in between the pages of her letters, scenting the pages with the faint scent of roses.

Pulling into the drive he noticed the beat up pickup truck parked in the drive. He recognized it; it belonged to that neighbor girl. He also noticed that the front door was wide open.

His lips compressed into a thin line. Being neighborly was one thing; going into his house when he wasn't there was another. Bristling with irritation he pulled his six foot four frame out of his almost new truck, and pulled his cane out after him. He had lost his left leg above the knee over a year ago and his prosthetic had taken some getting used to. Sitting in the truck for the hour drive home had stiffened him up. He was sore everywhere, his physical therapist had really worked him today.

Limping in through the open door his eyes took a minute to adjust from the bright sunshine outdoors to the quiet dusk of the house. Stepping forward he surveyed what he could see of the house. Nothing looked out of order in the foyer and he couldn't hear anything but the quiet of the house.

Another few steps in and he caught sight of a body sprawled across the floor, surrounded by the remains of a shattered crystal vase. His eyes scanned the room as he felt for a pulse. There was no one else in the room, the windows were unbroken. Maybe they had left through the front door after they had bashed his neighbor?

Her pulse was strong and her breathing steady. Brushing the broken glass off of her he lifted her carefully and crossed the three steps to the couch. She was lighter than he thought she would be and she was definitely the girl that had come over several times to look after Gwen's roses. If the few glimpses he had had of her had not been enough, Gwen had pictures of the Dahlquist family pretty much everywhere, from grade school to high school and beyond.

She was pretty, with curly brown hair held back in a simple pony, straight nose, curvy lips and freckles. It didn't look like she was wearing any make up and her lashes were long, curving gently on her cheeks. She smelled good, like sunshine, grass, and woman. He groaned quietly to himself. He had the sudden urge to lick along that sweet jawbone to her ear and nibble on the lobe. He mentally slapped himself upside the head. It had been far too long since he had had sex. That had been with his now ex-wife and seemed like a lifetime ago.

Rose, if that was the right name, had that 'girl next door' prettiness, absolutely nothing like his ex-wife, who could easily take over an hour 'getting herself together'. This girl looked about as naturally pretty as it was possible to be. He could also see the goose egg on the side of her head, just above the ear. He concentrated on adjusting her comfortably on the sofa. He grabbed an ice pack out of the freezer as he pulled out his cell phone and called the police.

It was pretty obvious that she had interrupted someone tossing the office and gotten bashed for her trouble. Hopefully she could identify whoever it was.

While he was talking on the phone he didn't notice her eyes open and close several times.

@@@@

Rose woke up slowly, with her head pounding. The light hurt her eyes. She could hear a soft baritone voice talking and she listened to the soft cadence without understanding more than a few words here and there. The voice stopped and she opened her eyes again.

"Hey there," said the man, hovering over her. "Are you with me?"

"What?" she replied, her head pounding with the rhythm of her heartbeat. "God my head hurts."

"I'm not surprised with the size of that goose egg above your ear," came the deep and calm voice. There was a hint of laughter in the voice and gentle fingers smoothed a strand of hair out of her face.

Rose closed her eyes again and when she came to her eyelids were pried open and a bright, piercing light was shone into them. She shouted something illegible and she lashed out hard with her arms.

"Rose dear," it was her mother's voice, "calm down. The paramedic was just checking for a concussion."

"What was his first clue? The fact that I was out of it or the lump on my head?" she rasped out. "Keep the damn light out of my eyes, it fricking hurts."

"I just need to check your pupils," replied a calm voice.

Rose put her hand up to her head, partially shielding her eyes. "You shine that light in my eyes and I will castrate you with my fingernails."

"Rose!"

A rumble of laughter in that deep baritone warmed her ears. "At least her wits appear to be intact," it laughed.

Very carefully Rose was helped to sit up. She recognized where she was now, Gwen's house, the study to be more specific.

"What the hell happened?"

"You don't remember?" A very handsome, very scarred face came into view as a huge bear of a man sat on the couch next to her. The left side of his face was laced with thin scars, one of which crossed his bottom lip. There was a nasty scar that looked like a burn scar that crossed his left eyebrow and continued up into his hairline. The most arresting feature however was a pair of pale green eyes looking out at her from a small collection of laugh lines.

Rose cocked her head slightly, trying to place him. "Daniel?" she finally asked.

"Pleased to meet you," he smiled at her.

"Pleased my ass," she replied, her thoughts going directly to her mouth without benefit of filtering through her brain. "You don't return phone calls for three months? Gwen wanted us to look in on you from time to time. You made that a little hard to do."

"I've been busy," he replied with a wry smile.

"Yeah, well you have missed out on three months of mom's cooking. And that is a tragedy," she replied, trying to take the sting out of her previous comment. What the hell was wrong with her, the shy girl was cussing people out and berating a man twice her size. She would have shaken her head at herself if it didn't hurt so much.

He chuckled, a deep, throaty chuckle that sent a shiver down her spine.

Her mother laughed as well. "I think we can remedy that easily enough."

"It is too bad that I couldn't have shown up until after you," she told Daniel, "I could have been the one calling the cops after you beat the shit out of your robber."

Daniel chuckled again and smiled at her with a lopsided grin that made her heart skip a beat. He had carried her out to the car and she had felt like a child in the big man's arms. He had limped badly but there was never a moment that she didn't feel safe. She was used to being the tall one and he made her feel positively little. He smelled like soap and aftershave and she liked the feeling of his arms around her. In her opinion it was far too short a trip to the car.

A quick trip to the hospital with her mother showed that it was just a concussion. Her mother got instructions to wake her regularly through the night and have a follow up visit with her doctor in the next couple of days. It was almost suppertime when they got back to the house. Exhausted, with her head aching Rose crawled into bed. Just the thought of supper made her nauseous. She was glad that Snow hadn't been home when they got there. She really didn't want to rehash everything at the moment. She drifted off to the memory of being carried in Daniel's arms.

@@@@

Two days later...

Rose had just finished the pictures for Snow when there was a light tap on the office door.

"Come in," she called absently as she printed out a copy of her favorite and saved it and several others to disk.

"Pretty," came a deep voice from behind her.

Rose jumped. She had been expecting her mother. "Hi Daniel," she smiled up at him. He was just as big as she remembered. He looked good in worn blue jeans and a sage t-shirt that brought out the green in his eyes. He was also a bit on the hairy side but the hair on his arms and the v of his tee shirt was very blonde and looked silky soft. He was using a cane today she noticed.

"You look like you are feeling a bit better," Daniel said with a grin. She did too. She wasn't the type of girl that he had usually been attracted to. She wore no make-up and a casual shirt and shorts that showed an athletic figure. Even without all of the 'accessories' she managed to look beautiful.

"Yeah, amazing what sleeping for two days and a lot of Tylenol will do for you," she replied. "Did you ever find out what our mystery break in man was after?" she asked.

Daniel sat down in the neighboring chair and she swiveled her desk chair to face him.

"No," he said shaking his head, "Nothing was missing. Most of the documents and stuff were Aunt Gwen's anyway. Most of my stuff is still being stored in the garage. What is left of it anyway."

His eyes had darkened with that remark, and his lips had quirked downward into a frown.

Rose arched an eyebrow at him, her expression curious.

"Just how much did Aunt Gwen tell you guys about me anyway?"

Rose grinned at him, her honey brown eyes sparkling. "Pretty much everything," she told him, laughing at his expression. "We were updated on pretty much everything that you did. She was really proud of you, you know. She was over the moon when you said that you would come and stay with her."

"I was looking forward to it," he confessed. "With all the shit that was going down, visiting Gwen sounded like heaven. I hadn't been here for over ten years."

Rose looked at him curiously.

"Divorce," he replied to her unspoken question. "A very nasty divorce."

"Oh," said Rose, "I'm sorry. Gwen never mentioned that you were divorcing."

Daniel leaned back, stretching out his legs a bit. "I didn't tell her about it, I didn't want to worry her. Believe me it was a surprise for me at the time. Diane couldn't handle it when I was injured. My face looked like so much ground up hamburger at the time. They thought they could save my leg for a while but the infection just got too bad." He shrugged. "She showed her selfish side and tried to take me for everything. Unfortunately for her she made more money than I did, so the judge was pretty fair."

"She divorced you while you were in the hospital?" asked Rose, rather disbelieving. The very thought of Daniel being abandoned and alone while so obviously in need upset her.

"Don't look so worried, little one," Daniel said. "It turned out for the best. The divorce was final right before Aunt Gwen died." He laughed, "The ex was pretty pissed that she missed out on a piece of a pretty sizable inheritance."

"I can't believe she would leave you while you were in the hospital," Rose said, still shaking her head.