My Name Is Rose (18 page)

Finally, Mrs Luca leant across the aisle. ‘Up you get, Anna,' she said. ‘Be sure not to lose us in the rush.'

If only I could
, Rose thought. Then, as she stepped out of the plane and on to Romanian soil, she made a silent vow:
This is my home. I will never leave again
.

Chapter 31

For the next three days, Rose and Mrs Luca went back and forth between their hotel and the theatre where they would be performing.

‘We need to get used to playing in a different venue,' said Mrs Luca. ‘It's one thing playing in the comfort of your own home, but another thing completely to play in a big auditorium. The more we rehearse here, the happier you'll feel.'

Rose was very unhappy when she saw how many seats there were in the theatre, especially as Mrs Luca told her that it was the smallest of the venues they'd booked, and one where she had been particularly well received during the early part of her career.

‘We'll start small to build up your confidence, and finish somewhere three times the size,' she said enthusiastically, with a distant look in her eyes.

Rose was appalled at the idea of performing in front of so many people. However much she wanted to follow in Nicu's footsteps, it wasn't supposed to be like this. She was appalled too to see posters outside the theatre, featuring a photograph of Mrs Luca as she was many years ago, seated at the piano, with an inset portrait of herself playing the violin, and another of herself and Mrs Luca together – a photograph from her birthday. She could read enough of the words to know that they said something about
mother and daughter
.

While they rehearsed, members of the theatre staff occasionally stopped work to listen and show their approval. Two older members recalled being present at a previous performance by Mrs Luca, and showered her with compliments, going on to say that her daughter had obviously inherited her talent. When they asked Rose direct questions about herself and she failed to respond, Mrs Luca explained that her daughter was very shy.

Victoria had been incredibly sulky since their arrival, and took every opportunity to have a dig at Rose, who had the misfortune to be sharing a room with her, much to the dismay of both girls. Rose had expected nothing else, but there was nowhere to escape to in the hotel, especially in the evenings after dinner, when Mr and Mrs Luca left them to it while they disappeared downstairs to the bar.

Mrs Luca had begun to talk about reintegrating Rose into the family and letting bygones be bygones.

‘If we're to perform together, then we must find a way to live together without all the problems that beset us before. I'm sure you'd prefer to live as one of the family and not as an outcast, Anna. Do you think when we get back home we can start over again?'

Rose nodded. She would have agreed to anything just to be left in peace to work out how she could be reunited with her family and friends. Mrs Luca gave her a big hug and promised she would try her best as well.

‘We'll all try our best. Won't we, Victoria?'

Looking past her, Rose saw the girl's face contort.

‘I think you might change your mind,' Victoria said coolly.

‘What makes you say that, darling?' Mrs Luca wanted to know.

‘You'll find out sooner or later, Mother.' Victoria said the word ‘Mother' so scornfully, even Mrs Luca looked taken aback.

 

 

On the morning of the first concert, Mrs Luca and Rose went to the theatre early for a final rehearsal, and to be on hand while lighting and sound checks were carried out. They returned to the hotel at lunchtime to meet up with Mr Luca, who had spent most of his mornings on business matters, and Victoria, who had spent most of hers in bed. Mr Luca was unaccountably cheerful, and announced that he was going to take them all to the best restaurant in town for lunch.

‘I've arranged for some very important people to come to our little concert,' he said, ‘including a recording company and a bucket-load of journalists. I want to raise a glass to our success.'

‘Shouldn't we do that afterwards?' Mrs Luca cautioned.

‘Oh, don't be such a wet blanket, Daphne,' scoffed her husband. ‘It'll be too late afterwards. The girls will be ready for bed.'

‘Not me, Daddy,' Victoria protested. ‘I'm not a baby.'

They set out for their lunch, Mr Luca and Victoria in front, arm in arm, Mrs Luca walking with Rose, talking non-stop. Rose realised she must be anxious about their performance later on. It was a beautiful late summer day. The route to the restaurant took them through a small park, where couples were lazing in the sunshine and where families were stretched out on the grass, enjoying picnics. Rose would much rather have joined them than go to an expensive restaurant where she'd be completely out of place, even after months of instruction from Mrs Luca. She cheered herself up by following the antics of a squirrel that was darting acrobatically along the branches of a tree, leaping down to the ground to pick up titbits, then scrambling up the trunk of another tree before repeating the whole process.

‘They're such pests, aren't they?' observed Mrs Luca. ‘The damage they do to the plants in our garden just doesn't bear thinking about.'

‘They're
vermin
, aren't they, Mummy?' Victoria said, turning round and casting a glance at Rose.

On reaching the restaurant, they were shown to a table by the window. Numerous knives, forks, spoons and glasses were laid out in front of them. Rose had no idea what she was supposed to do with them all. A waiter handed her a menu. She opened it, only to find that the list of dishes was too extensive and incomprehensible to her with her limited reading ability. She stared at it, hoping that some of the words would begin to make sense.

‘What are you going to have, Anna?' Victoria asked, her lip curling.

Rose shrugged as though undecided.

‘Well, I'm going to have my favourite,' said Mrs Luca.

‘How very unadventurous,' Mr Luca responded.

‘There's no point in choosing something different and being disappointed,' Mrs Luca replied. ‘I shall have the vegetable soup to start with, followed by fish cakes, and then I shall give the performance of a lifetime!'

‘Well, I'll have the breaded chicken and I'm going to start with dumpling soup,' said Victoria.

The waiter was hovering by the table, ready to take their orders. When it came to Rose's turn, she pointed at two random dishes on the menu, and hadn't a clue what food would be put before her. Mrs Luca gazed at her in surprise.

‘What's Anna having, Mummy?' Victoria asked.

‘Lambs' kidneys on toast to start with, followed by veal liver as a main,' Mrs Luca replied. ‘Are you sure, Anna?'

Rose nodded her head confidently, though she already knew she'd made a big mistake.

Victoria snorted. ‘What an offally good choice!'

‘Good joke, darling,' praised Mr Luca, who had plumped for a selection of cold meats to start with and the pork tenderloin. He picked up his glass, which the waiter had filled with champagne, and raised a toast: ‘Here's to a successful evening, a successful tour and a growing bank balance.'

‘Here's to a happy family.' Mrs Luca beamed.

Rose raised her water glass and clinked it against her guardians' glasses.

‘We'll never be a happy family,' said Victoria quietly, without raising her glass.

‘Not now, darling,' her father warned.

‘Why not now?' she asked.

‘It's not the time or the place,' Mr Luca said firmly.

‘It's never the time or the place. You never allow me to say what I think or feel.'

‘I think you get plenty of opportunities,' said Mrs Luca.

‘I'm not talking about you not being my mother,' Victoria persisted.

‘Quiet!' Mr Luca ordered.

Victoria put her hand in her pocket, took it back out and placed her closed fist down on the table.

‘Is this some sort of a game?' Mrs Luca asked.

‘But we don't play games,' said Victoria. ‘Or do we?'

She opened her fist. In it lay Mrs Luca's gold brooch.

‘What's going on?' demanded Mr Luca. ‘Where did that come from?'

Victoria stared hard at Rose. Mr and Mrs Luca followed her stare. Rose wanted to be sick.

‘I brought it with me,' Victoria announced triumphantly. ‘And this.' From her bag she produced the silver jug.

‘What on earth are you talking about?' snapped Mr Luca.

‘I was going to plant them among Anna's clothes, but I've got rather bored with that game, so I thought I'd surprise you all by bringing them to the table.' Victoria grinned at her parents while they took in what she had said.

‘You mean –'

‘Are you trying to tell us that you're the thie
f
?' Mr Luca blustered.

‘I wasn't really thieving, Daddy.' Victoria pouted. ‘I just moved them around a bit. My bracelet too, but I seem to have lost track of that.' She stared at Rose again.

‘But why?'

‘Why do you think? Because I'm fed up with not mattering. I'm fed up with Daphne and her projects. I'm fed up with being asked to share my life with any waifs and strays who drop into your lives. You married my mother and you were happy, but she got ill and died. I know it wasn't your fault she died, and you were devastated too. But then you married again. The trouble is, I've never been enough for Daphne and you're always too busy with your work.'

‘That's not fair,' protested Mrs Luca. ‘I've always tried my best to make you feel loved.'

‘But you haven't
loved
me,' said Victoria. ‘You haven't loved me because your love died with Anna, and it's stayed locked up in that shrine of yours for years.'

It took Rose a moment or two to realise what was being said, and then she understood that she shared not only her new birthday with Mrs Luca's daughter, but also her new name.

‘
I
love you, darling,' said Mr Luca hotly.

‘I know you do, Daddy, in your way, but work and business are always more important. And now this silly tour is more important. There's always something more important.'

Just then the waiter arrived with their food. When he put Rose's plate in front of her, she had a desperate urge to hurl it across the table at Victoria. All the pain the girl had caused her, all the terrible accusations she had made! Rose didn't feel sorry for her, not for one second. She didn't feel sorry for any of them. They deserved each other. They were destroying each other with a thousand cuts, and not one of them knew how to stop it.

‘I don't understand why you didn't just talk to us about how you felt, instead of trying to blame poor Anna for something she didn't do,' said Mrs Luca.

‘Poor Anna? Lucky Anna! She's plucked from some miserable Gypsy existence to be pampered rotten, and you call her poor!'

‘But you made us think she was a thie
f
!' Mrs Luca tried to put her hand on Rose's arm, but she pulled away. ‘What about the doll's house? Was that you too?' She hardly dared ask the question.

Victoria nodded. ‘All that time it took to put it together, yet it was so easy to knock it all down.'

‘Never mind the doll's house, what about the fish?' Mr Luca demanded.

‘That wasn't me!' Victoria flared. ‘I wouldn't do that. That probably was Anna. I've seen her sticking her fingers in the water.'

Rose didn't bother to deny it.
Let them think what they like. At least they've been proved wrong over the missing items
. She was tired of listening to them.

‘It was probably your precious Goran,' Mr Luca growled, turning on his wife. ‘I'll probably find they're
all
dead by the time we get home. Well, a fine celebration this turned out to be.'

None of them knew what to say any more. Their food sat in front of them, untouched, until Victoria began to tuck in.

Mrs Luca pushed hers away.

‘I can't eat,' she muttered. She took her brooch from the table and Rose looked on as she very deliberately put it in her handbag.

‘I told you it doesn't bring you any luck,' said her husband. ‘Let's hope it brings better luck this evening.'

Chapter 32

After everything that had happened, Rose was amazed they were going ahead with the concert. Mr Luca insisted, saying it would be wrong to let the public down and that too many other things were contingent upon its success. Mrs Luca scarcely spoke. Victoria was quiet too, though from the tilt of her chin Rose was convinced she felt no remorse over what she had done.

‘Don't expect me to say sorry to you,' she told Rose. ‘Because I won't. Ever.'