Chapter 14 - The RoseAn employee passed through the lobby carrying a bucket of fresh roses for an event.
Sophie reached toward them.
The employee smiled and handed her one.
"Here."
Sophie looked delighted.
"For free?"
"For free."
She turned toward Lily.
"Want a rose?"
Lily stopped.
For one beautiful second, she was seven again.
She saw the flower.
The hotel.
The sunlight.
Victoria.
The ring.
The question.
The years of secrets.
The courtroom documents.
The anger.
The apologies.
The funerals.
The archive.
The daughters.
The granddaughter.
Everything seemed to exist inside that single flower.
Then Lily smiled.
"Sure."
She accepted it.
No ring flashed.
No secret surfaced.
No one froze.
No family scandal waited behind the gesture.
It was simply a flower being passed from one person to another.
And after everything the Rosewoods had turned roses into over generations—
inheritance,
status,
memory,
division,
May you like
proof—
Lily found the simplicity almost perfect.
Related Stories
