Rose of Sharon |Courting Trouble BK 2|

CHAPTER 9 (Part 1)

"

If the rose puzzled its mind over the question how it grew, it would not have been the miracle that it is. " -

J. B. Yeats

Katrina walked into her room and kicked off her shoes. They were not that high but they had exhausted her nonetheless. She debated on first taking a bath or not but her curiosity prevailed and in the end, she ended up sitting down with the white envelope in her hands. As she propped her back against the chaise's white back rest, Katrina tore the blank envelope wide open. As expected several sheets of paper fell out and a heavy metal piece which on closer examination she found to be a key.

"An the mystery continues..." the woman mumbled, opening the folded bits of paper to read the contents that were within it.

Dearest Amanda,

Katrina frowned. That was not her name but was rather the same name that she had found on that title deed. However, she decided to read on. Maybe it would help answer her questions.

I know that you must have so many questions at this point, but worry not. As I had presumed Harper must have pushed you so much that you found yourself in this position. Either that or you are about to have your first child and have therefore have come of age.

"Harper?" Katrina scoffed. "Who on earth is that?" she mused remarking at how hard these people must have worked to do their research. How else could her situation be so similar to this girl Amanda.

Like I said, I know that you have many questions. One being your name... Amanda. That is what I liked to call you. What your mother would have liked to call if she had been here with us. Instead they settled for that Dienda... Whatever that means!

Katrina laughed. Truly, that was her middle name and even she had issues with it. Like the woman had suggested, she had always wondered what that meant but had never gotten round to finding the meaning to it. However and much like this person she never really grew to like it and therefore had just gone by her first name Katrina.

By now, you may have joined the dots,

And she had.

Which also means that you are quite clever just like your mother. She was a good soul that one. A happy one and so full of spirit that sometimes she bordered on being a terror. She was a great woman, her weakness though was in trying to find the best in everyone. Like your mother, I also fear for you. Fear that you will also fall prey to those same feelings or that your warmth will grow cold from growing up under Harper's influence. Meredith assures me otherwise and I pray that it never comes to that. If it does, let it not crush your spirit, but always know that you are resilient and that you can make the best of every situation.

I know you are wondering, who is this old woman who seems to know so much about me?

Katrina smiled. "Old lady indeed."

The key should answer your questions. As I am sure, Boris will tell you the rest. I am only sorry that I will not be around to do this myself. I want you to know that I love you, I always have even if it was from afar and I am proud of you and the woman you have become. Remember all that I have told you and the rest of the answers you seek will be found at the house.

It was not signed anything, but like she had said, Katrina had already joined the dots. She could not tell however the reasons that had made her stay away, but even that was not so hard to imagine. Knowing her father, he would probably scare away any living relative just to have a monotony on her own life.

Katrina folded away the letter and picked up the rest of the papers. They were lists. Lists of things she could not tell and the last of them was a bank statement from a trust fund all in this girl, Amanda Vicente's name. Was she to believe that she was the same girl? Was this the reason that her grandmother had sent her there? Had she know about all this all along or was it something that her own mother had made her to do.

So many questions yet so few answers. Slowly, Katrina stood up with the documents and put them in the envelope before placing them under her blankets. Her room had a safe but that was the least likely place that a person sent by her father would go to snoop. Her handbag however she placed in the safe together with the small pouch. As she knew, they would come and she hoped that they would. She hoped that they also thought her gullible and that the contents in her safe were the only things that she got out of the safe inside the bank.

Even though she was worried about being monitored, Katrina knew that there would be no cameras or sound. Her father would not have his own men infringe that much into her personal privacy, but the fact that this people had gone to so much lengths to keep the documents away from him, made her feel like she had something to worry about and that made her wonder. Slowly she stood up from the bed and walked to the bathroom. Her hands turned the faucet in order to ran a bath. They would come. She knew it and as she had decided, she would make sure to give them as much time to do what they needed so they would finally leave her alone. It was a long shot, but with that final thought, Katrina went back to the door and locked it taking her time to make sure that the lock was sturdy enough before sliding into the warm now bubble filled bath.