Rose for Rose: Book Two in the Angels' Mirror Series Read Online Free PDF Page B

cages,” she called over the storm.
    The chickens had quieted down, since the sun set, but the dogs were still upset, howling like mad.
    “Beat it, Buster,” she heard Leopold screech.
    With a chuckle, she opened his cage and urged him inside. Not for the first time, Clementine tried to follow.
    “Now, now… you have a cage of your own.” Eugenie walked to the far cage; opened it. After a few more minutes, she felt the wind underneath Clem’s wings as she landed on top of her cage. “In you go,” she urged.
    “What time is it, anyway,” Clementine asked as she gathered her wings up again, and went inside. “Huh, Grandma?”
    Exhausted, Eugenie went into the kitchen, washed her hands, and grabbed her lunch out of the refrigerator. Cary, Rhoda, and their puppies had continued to bark and yowl, and she heard them more loudly through the back wall of the café’s kitchen.
    After eating, she let Mancato the Hyacinth and his partner, Sunset the Catalina, out of their cages as the storm roiled on.
    With a weak sigh, she turned all the excess lights off and retained only the one in the main area of the restaurant. If something happens with that mirror , she thought, I want to at least see it.
    Then, she sat on a stool, put her elbow on the counter, and watched the hallway leading to the chicken coop and barn.
    Mancato swooped close in, and she shooed him away.
    Silly bird.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Three
    Gloucester, Massachusetts… August 11, 1930
     
    Rose stood frozen to the spot as she watched lightening fall over Gloucester Harbor, the boats rocking in no rhythm at all as the storm quickly continued to develop.
    She shuddered. Father was on one of those boats, and they looked like dice being rolled by the wind.
    Absentmindedly fingering the St. Peter’s medal on her necklace, she backed herself into the corner of the room, away from the windows, as Mother always taught her, God rest her soul. Now that it was only she, her siblings and their father, she did what she could about the house to help out. Quickly performing the sign of the cross as she thought of her poor mother, Rose felt tears pricking at her eyes, threatening to fall.
    “Rosie,” her little brother, Steven called from the living room. “I’m scared!”
    There was a round of “Me, too”s from Warren, Michael, and Peter. With effort, she turned around to go see what she could to do help alleviate their fears.
    Maybe , she thought, it will help me with mine, too.
    A sigh escaped her lips as she waited a moment more for her nerves to calm, then decided maybe they could be distracted by the gramophone. It worked for her, and its effectiveness with them had been hit and miss through the storms over the years.
    “Want to listen to some music,” she asked, walking toward it, passing the mirror on the way.
    She shivered.
    Settling in to music was their usual routine, but somehow, this moment felt different. This felt life-changing, and she hoped to God it was for the better; prayed to the Virgin Mother that all would be well.
    It was difficult to ignore the eerie feeling that came over her as thunder announced itself again. With a quick hand and thoughtful heart, she looked through their sparse musical collection.
    Cole Porter, she thought . No… maybe Cow Cow Davenport? Hmmm…no. Bing Crosby? Helen Kane? Cliff Edwards? No…Gertrude Lawrence… there we go. Someone to Watch over Me. That should help settle them. Or at least…
    She caught a glimpse of the mirror again, out of the side of her eye. What is it about that mirror that creeps me out so?
    It had always bothered her.
    It had been her mother’s, and before that, her grandfather’s. But who knew where it had been before that? It was certainly old when he’d bought it.
    After they’d traveled through the Champagne-Ardennes from Bazeilles, down the Chiers tributary of the Meuse River and over to Nantes, France, where