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Author: Bella Moondragon
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

Fresh air was a welcome greeting as Rome lifted his face to the sky and took in a few whiffs of the LA street. Fresh might’ve been an exaggeration, but at least the heavy floral perfume his mother wore and his father’s pungent cologne, along with the stifling weight of the conversation he’d just left, were behind him now. Bart hurried him toward the parking garage, neither of them speaking, which Rome thought was for the best since they had no idea if any of the people they were passing on the street were his father’s associates.

And there was

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    Headlights shown through the window. Ella leaped up off of the sofa and ran over to the window to watch a sedan come up the lane. It wasn’t Bart’s vehicle, but then, he’d mentioned on the phone they’d switched cars. She held her breath, hoping this was Rome returned home and not trouble brewing.When she saw her husband step out of the passenger side, a flood of relief washed over her. Bart got out, too, though he didn’t step away from the open door. Ella couldn’t contain herself anymore and went out to greet him, flying past the se

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Daylight

    Sleeping should’ve been easier since Rome had spoken to his parents and gotten a few things settled, but Ella had had a hard time of it and was up with the first rays of light pouring in through the bedroom window. A glance at her sleeping husband told her that she wouldn’t disturb him if she crept out of bed, so she did, stopping by the closet for a change of clothes on the way to the bathroom.Even the shower didn’t wake him. When she went back by a half hour later, he was still out cold. She smiled at how handsome he was, sleeping with one arm tuc

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Moving On

    Breakfast was delicious, as it always was when Lenore made it. Ella ate way too many blueberry pancakes, paired with the crispiest bacon she’d ever devoured, washing it down with fresh squeezed orange juice. By the time she dropped her fork, there was no way one more bite could’ve slipped past her lips. She leaned back in her chair, one hand on her stomach, watching Rome finish off the last few bites, the look on his face telling her he was just as stuffed as she was.“Man, now that was a good breakfast,” her husband declared, placing his fork

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Social Search

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  • Ashes and Rose Petals   No Answers

    The ocean waves wet her bare toes as Ella sat on the sand, staring out at the cresting waves as they broke apart twenty feet in front of her, spilling onto the shore and gently rolling up to greet her before slowly sliding away.Above her, seagulls called to one another, arching and swirling, their white wings offset against the vivid azure sky, fading into the puffy clouds aloft as they twisted and turned without care. Ella’s mind went back to the little bird that used to visit her window sill and how she had longed to have the sort of freedom wings could bring

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Locked Away

    Days of searching online and getting nowhere brought Ella right back to the place where the adventure had begun, the attic. Rome was on set, so she was in the house alone, save the security guards and Lenore who was in the kitchen humming as she prepared to drop a stew into the crockpot for dinner. Ella stood at the top of the ladder looking around at all of the paintings, trying to imagine F. Ward here painting. Why had she left these behind?She decided to do an inventory of the paintings here. Maybe that would give her some clues. Pulling out her cell phone, Ella m

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Fate

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    Getting Rome to agree to let her take the car the next day was no easy feat, especially when Ella hadn’t been exactly honest with him when he’d asked where she was going and why. “I just need to go see someone about a business proposition,” she’d explained. He’d arched an eyebrow and stared at her. “I don’t want to tell you all of the details at the moment because it’s nothing solid yet.” She’d shrugged like it didn’t matter, and he’d eventually agreed, even though he wasn’t thrilled about it.

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    Nervous energy bubbled throughout the theater. Dressed in probably the most amazing gown she’d ever seen in her life, including her wedding dress, Ella sat next to Rome holding his hand, and waiting for his award category to come up. The long red ball gown shimmered in the dim light, its full skirt moving and flowing when she walked like butterflies’ wings. If Rome’s category didn’t come up soon, she thought she might explode with anxiety. It already seemed like they’d been waiting for half a day, even though it had only been a few hours since they’d gotten into the limo and made their way to the famous theater in Hollywood where the biggest award show of the year was always held.

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Endings and Beginnings

    It was a gamble. Attending Henry’s funeral was a risk because there would be people there who knew her as Ella Sinders, and as Juliet stood on the periphery, watching the black clad mourners gather around the casket where the pastor was speaking, she spotted the one person she most needed to avoid in the whole world--her father.Of course he was there. Even though Henry’s father had disowned him after he stabbed Rome and then killed himself, refusing to even fly his son’s body back to his native France or attend the funeral himself, Lloyd Sinders had

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Awake

    The fuzzy feeling in his head radiated down his entire body as Rome tried to open his eyes and found it much more difficult to do so than he’d ever experienced in his life. The realization that his arms and legs were heavy, that there were tubes protruding from various body parts, and that there was a steady beeping sound in the darkened room reminded him of what had happened as his eyes finally opened a crack.“Oh, thank goodness!” His mother’s sobbing voice was not at all what he wanted to hear upon realizing he was still alive, that Henry ha

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Room to Wait

    Sitting in the hospital waiting room, Ella was doing her best to keep herself together, but she was struggling. The ambulance had arrived quickly to the scene at Capressies, where Rome lay in her arms, bleeding from the wound in his back near his lung. Henry had buried a six inch steak knife to the hilt. Whether or not it had collapsed Rome’s lung, she didn’t know. No one would tell her anything.The police had arrived a few minutes after the ambulance. While the EMTs worked to stabilize Rome, the officers had asked her a slew of questions about what had h

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Shocked

    Not seeing Henry had become nearly impossible. Juliet had absolutely no desire to see him whatsoever, but his constant calling and insisting that she go out with him was getting old. Now that he no longer had control of Rome’s contract, she decided it was time to rip off the band-aid. She’d already told Parker that they were just going to have to be friends, a realization he hadn’t taken well, but she thought he’d get over. She wasn’t sure how Henry would react.She walked into Capressies knowing he was there already. She was purposely tw

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Changes

    Rome walked into the sound stage building, dreading every step he took closer to another day of pretending to chase around unicorns and annihilate them. Drew’s acting was almost as atrocious as the script. The little girl wasn’t bad to work with, but she could only be there for a few hours each day. He spent most of his time listening to Guy argue with the set construction team, hating his life, and praying that the lawyers would hurry up and process the sale of his contract from Henry to Lloyd. It had been two weeks since the Montage show, and so far, nothing had changed, even though he’d only given Lloyd one week to get it done initially. Every day, he walked past the Vinune, wrapped and stored in his living room so that if and when the sale went through, he

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Confessions

    “Well, tell me all about it!” Fae insisted as Ella came into her room at the nursing home and settled onto the couch. She had two cups of tea ready on a silver server. Ella wondered how she’d managed that without a kitchen but figured Fae had her ways. The staff absolutely adored her, for good reason. “Did you have a nice time?”Ella smiled at her, slightly amused that she was most concerned about whether or not Ella had had a pleasant experience. She honestly couldn’t say that she had, but she’d choose her words carefully for

  • Ashes and Rose Petals   Solutions

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