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Briar almost hummed to herself as she walked the last block to her home. It was almost dark and the sky had turned that pretty reddish-violet. She hugged the fabric she'd purchased tightly to her chest. Almost four hundred mofles... It was a steep price, but she'd been happy to pay it for so much lovely cloth. She'd ordered the majority of it to be sent to her home tomorrow. Her mother, Heather would be out making deliveries of her own and taking orders for next week. She could easily hide the fabric away and finally start on her own little projects that her mother would never let her do. It was a good thing she'd thought to bring her savings with her, she'd probably only have been able to buy a few reams at Odessa's, but she'd really lucked out by going to that little shop instead.
She hurried up the last few steps and once again found herself in the large entrance hall. She closed the door quietly behind her and crept up the stairs to her mother's sewing room.
"I got everything you asked for!" Briar Rose held out the package to her mother. "They didn't have a pale blue like I wanted, but this is a pretty nice light blue-green, don't you think?" She caressed the fabric with her cheek.
Her mother looked up from the stitching she had been hunched over, "Ah, yes, very nice Bri. I'm sure it'll be lovely. Pity though about the pale blue, it really would have been pretty."
"That's alright." Briar waved the comment off and set the fabric down on a nearby table. "Where're the boys? They're not upset that I didn't play with them, are they?"
"They're probably out in the backyard. Would you be a dear and call them in for me? I have to finish the hem on this dress for Countess Trivette before tomorrow morning and I'm almost finished."
Briar was already halfway out the door, "of course, it's no trouble."

"Oli!! Lark!! Come inside! It's almost dark!" Briar shouted out the door. She couldn't see the boys out there, but she knew they were hiding in one of their "secret forts" where no girls were allowed. She took a few steps outside and put her hands on her hips, "Oleander Ryan Morley! Larkspur Micheal Morley! Get in the house right now!"
There were a few groans from behind the bushes about 20 yards in front of her. She smiled and watched them trudge in slowly.
"You din't come play like you said!" Lark complained.
"Yeah! How come?" Oli demanded.
"Well," Rose began while reaching into her pockets, "I had to go run some errands in town for Mom, but..." She wrapped her hands around some sweets she'd picked up while she was at that little shop.
"in town? Didja bring us somfin'?!"
"ooh! ooh! ooh! What is it Bri?!"
Briar closed her fists and held them out before her, "Pick a hand."
The boys were used to this game and would almost always pick the one nearest them. Once they'd decided, she slowly opened her hands, revealing the small treasure to the young boys and emptying in into their waiting hands.
"oooh! thanks Bri!"
"yeah thanks!"
They ran into the house with reckless abandoned, clutching the sweets in their small fingers as if it were pirate's gold.

Briar Rose finally collapsed into her bed as she heard their old Grandfather clock strike eleven. Sugar after sundown was probably not the best idea. She'd spent the evening chasing the twins around the house, playing every game imaginable, then trying to get them both to take baths before getting into their pajamas and tucking them in. Her mother came in to check on them every once in a while, and made sure to pull their favorite story book from the shelf to tuck them in. Briar Rose leaned on the doorframe to the twin's room and watched as their mother read them the story, then kissed their sleepy heads before quietly leaving the room.
Briar made sure to give her mother a quick hug before walking down the hall to her own room, changing into her own pajamas, and slipping under the covers.

It was one of those perfect mornings you always hear about in fairytales, the birds were singing on key, the sun was shining happily into the glass windows, and the air was fresh and sweet. Briar swept off the blankets in a flash and padded down the soft, carpeted stairs. By the look of the kitchen, her mother had already come and gone. Lark and Oli were still at the dining table, mopping up syrup with what was left of their pancakes while kicking their short legs back and forth as they happily sat in their chairs.
"Mom already left," Oli stated matter-of-factly.
"She said if you weren't awake by the time we finished breffist, we we a'lowed ta do it." Lark reported with a mouthful of pancakes and syrup running down his chin.
Briar Rose mussed their hair before sitting down and drowning her own plate in stick syrup. "Well, then it's a good thing I woke up now. I don't think I'd be a very happy Bri this morning if I woke up with frogs in my bed..."
Oli shook his head, "Not frogs this time! We found some erfworms though. Me n' Lark are gonna go fishin'!"
Rose shook her head, "is that so? Make sure you wear some of your old clothes then, so it won't matter if they get dirty. Oh... and most of all, make sure you don't let Mom know!" she whispered the last line and passed a wink their way.
The boys laughed at their new inside joke and scooted away from the table, in a hurry to be the first one to catch a fish. Rose laughed as they left, then proceeded to soak her pancakes in the syrup before shoveling them into her mouth.

thunk. Thunk. THUNK. Briar jumped when she heard the door knocker. She wrapped her robe about her and hustled to answer the door. She opened it just a crack, then peered out into the sunshine.
It was that young man from the shop the other day. He was struggling under the weight of the box he carried. Briar swung the door open a little wider and let him in. "ah! I almost forgot you were coming!" She pointed up the stairs, "could you just carry it up to my room?" She felt a little bit bad asking him to do it, but it wasn't as if she could lift that heavy thing!
Christopher set the box down in the entrance hall with a loud THUNK, then dusted his hands off. He looked at the floor and mumbled, "sorry, I've got about five more hours worth of deliveries to make today. I really don't have the time---"
Briar pouted her lower lip, "no?"
"sorry."
Briar finally consented, "alright. Thanks anyway." She opened the door again to show him out. As soon as he was out of sight, she shut it again and set about exactly how she was going to drag the box up the stairs.
She couldn't lift it all at once, that much she found out right away. The only way to do it would be to make three or four trips from the hall to her room, then get rid of the box. She didn't want any evidence floating around.
Rose heaved a sigh and went about pulling a few reams from the crate. With about five of them in her arms, she started up the stairs, tripping only a few times. After about twenty minutes, she had a nice pile of fabric in her room and a large empty wooden box in her front room. She threw the box out back with the other trash and hurried back to her room.
It wasn't difficult for her to find room in her walk-in closet for all the new fabric and she was sure no one would look back there. This is going to be so much fun! I've always wanted to sew my own things!
Briar set about shuffling boxes here and there, making room for the large reams of fabric. Her throat tightened as she came upon one of the smallest boxes, set in the furthest corner of her closet. Dad... She pulled it carefully from the shelf and sat down on the floor to look through it. Dad's journal... Dad's pictures... I miss him so much...
I can't believe I tried to forget all this... What really happened to you Dad? You think I would have cared that you and Mom weren't my real parents? Why did you hide all this from us?
Now she remembered why she'd hidden all of it away. Dad's journal had been the most painful part. That day seemed so long ago now, when the soldiers came to our house. One of them had a letter, telling us Dad had been killed in an accident. We never knew any details, but I remember the solemn way they carried his body to the cemetary. There were so many people I'd never even seen before. It was almost like Dad had a completely different life outside our house. One he never told us about. They wouldn't tell us anything. Mom was the only one who seemed to know. Poor Lark and Oli were too young to remember I'm sure.
I ran home afterwards. I ran crying to Mom and Dad's room. It still smelled like him there. Like his leather boots and musty coat. I hid under the bed because I didn't want them to see me cry. All those strangers with their eyes on me, watching me... That was when I found Dad's journal. It was as if he had so many secrets and things he couldn't tell anyone, he just had to put them somewhere. I still don't understand most of it, but I understand enough to know that I'm not their child.
Dad's brother and his wife are my real parents. But I've never met them. I don't know what their favorite color is, or the sound of their voice. I don't know what my real Dad's favorite shirt is, the one he wears even though he knows it looks silly or old. I don't know the smell of my real Mom's perfume, the kind she likes because Dad told her it makes her smell like his Fairy Princess...
As far as Briar Rose was concerned, those people weren't her real parents. They were the ones that didn't want her. Whatever the reason, they gave her away. They hadn't perished in a horrible carraige accident, or tragic ogre massacre. They just gave her away. And that was a pain not easily forgotten.

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