that bore the name that was bestowed upon it when the original main house had been built in the early 1700’s.
Angelica and Richard Lovett, Philip’s sister and brother-in-law, lived in Philip’s ancestral home, The Pines. The two couples, in addition to being related, had always been the closest of friends. When Angelica and Philip inherited their family estate, the couples decided that the Lovetts should purchase Philip’s share. In that way, both couples had wonderful homes close together.
Located across from Magnolia, The Pines included eighty-four acres of land, upon which stood a large number of pines, deciduous trees, Southern Live Oaks, and a fair amount of magnolias—but not as many as Magnolia had. The Pines also had a large portion of acreage in its natural state. The house had been designed by the same architect as the Magnolia house and was similar in size and character. The Pines also had a large greenhouse and adjoining indoor lap pool, but no studios and gallery. Instead, Richard’s office building, Lovett’s, an architectural firm was located in a separate building next to the main house.
Angelica, a writer of children’s books and novels for young adults, had a spacious office in the main house, but could often be seen writing at her laptop computer almost anywhere. She carried a small digital voice recorder everywhere she went, so as not to miss the opportunity to put her thoughts into words she could use later.
All enjoyed their happy, peaceful and productive lives together, as had their ancestors before them.
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When Diane arrived home with her parents in Rosemont, her grandparents had her bedroom ready. It was a large room which had been reserved for her since before her birth. Through the years Cybele and Philip had tried to make it as comfortable, functional, and beautiful as possible. Every few years they had updated the room to make it age appropriate for Diane. While Selene and Alan were getting settled in their room, Diane’s grandparents took her to see the changes they had made this time.
Cybele and Philip had written to Diane and asked for her choice of colors for the bedroom. Since Diane loved being outside, she had chosen colors that reminded her of the sun, sky, plants, water, and trees. Diane wanted mostly soft pastel hues—but also wanted some darker values of blue and blue-green for contrast.
Cybele and Philip had chosen all the fabrics and paint colors based on Diane’s color scheme choice. There was a definite Art Nouveau look to the room design, with curves and flourishes taking their inspiration from nature. Three of the walls were painted a light sage green and the fourth wall—behind the bed—was painted a darker sage green. The ceiling was painted flat eggshell white. The cherry trim had all been sanded and lightly stained with a mahogany finish.
When they walked into her bedroom, she was taken aback when she saw the luxurious furnishings. Even though the room had always been pleasant, it was now something of which Diane had only dreamed while lost in the pages of books, such as those by Tolkien. She stood in awe and wondered how Cybele and Philip had somehow managed to see inside her psyche and create this physical reality from her personal fantasy world. Diane’s admiration for her grandparents continued to grow each day as she discovered more and more about their multi-layered personalities and abilities.
Adding to her feelings of astonishment was the fact that Diane and her parents, out of necessity and a sense of responsibility, had been managing quite well with the bare necessities of life. They did not have much cargo to carry as they travelled from place-to-place around the world. They had to be able to fit their personal belongings into two suitcases apiece. So Diane did not bring much with her to Rosemont. This suited her just fine, since she had lived this way her entire life. But, the sumptuous room was still a welcome surprise to the young nomad.
Besides her clothing, Diane’s personal possessions consisted of a cell phone and a laptop computer, which were essential in doing her school work and in communicating with her parents and friends; plus two cameras—one digital SLR and one small digital point-and-shoot type. These she used to create artwork, for school assignments, and to take snapshots she uploaded to Facebook.
As Diane stood just inside the door, she was momentarily unable to put her feelings into words as she continued to stare at the room.
“What do you think of your new bed, Diane?” asked Cybele, breaking the silence. “Philip said it was time for you to graduate to a larger size.”
“I know you’ll want to have sleepovers as soon as you make friends with some nice girl, so now you’re all set,” beamed Philip, who had his arm around Diane’s shoulder.
Diane let out a little squeal of pleasure. “Cool! This bed is as big as yours, isn’t it? You’re going to spoil me for sure!” she exclaimed as she ran over and sprawled out on the bed. Cybele and Philip had updated the bedroom with a king-sized bed with a memory foam mattress. Diane felt as though she were lying on a cloud.
“This is the coolest bed ever! Thank you!” She jumped back up off the bed and gave each grandparent a hug and kiss. “The only problem is you may have trouble getting me out of bed in the mornings from now on.”
Diane walked around the room to look closely at other changes that had been made.
On the wall opposite the bed were two large windows with beautiful views of the gardens below. The windows had new off-white plantation shutters and drapes with Art Nouveau designs. Between the windows were a new computer desk and chair. On top of the desk was a new pc with a twenty-four inch flat screen monitor.
“This is amazing!” Diane exclaimed as she stood there with her mouth open looking at the new desk and computer. “But you didn’t need to get me these. I have a laptop.” She looked guilty for a few moments as she glanced back and forth at her grandparents.
Cybele and Philip looked at each other knowingly and smiled.
“But Diane, it will be good for you to have for your studies,” Cybele soothed. “Philip has already hooked the computer to the Internet, so you’ll be able to email your parents and friends right away. You’ll still use your laptop for portability. But give this computer a try dear—for us.”
“Nice! This feels just like Christmas!” Diane said in an excited voice as she hurried to the computer. She walked to the chair, sat down, and turned on the computer. “Wow! This monitor is absolutely ginormous! Just look at this picture!”
“Yes, isn’t it great? I have one in my office at the gallery,” said Philip. “I thought you would enjoy a monitor like this too. I’ve been trying to talk Cybele into getting one. She’s been using that old dinosaur of hers for years. It takes up too much space on top of her desk.” Looking at Cybele he added, “Just look how much room there is around the monitor. Really dear, we must continue to move with the times. What do you say, Cybele?”
“Yes, I like it fine,” Cybele agreed. “But right now I just want to make sure our little Munchkin is settled in and has a wonderful stay with us.”
The doting grandparents stood looking over Diane’s shoulder. She was a whiz on the computer and had already opened Google Chrome and was headed for Facebook. As quick as a wink she had her Facebook Wall on the screen. Diane’s Profile Photo was one she had taken of Selene, Alan, and herself in front of a rainforest waterfall, by using the timer setting on her digital SLR.
“Well, what will they think of next,” said Cybele. “Maybe you can teach us how to use this Facebook thing while you’re here.”
“No problem. It’s really easy, Grandma. Just let me know when you’re ready. But you’ll need to be careful what you post to your Wall, since everything on it is not only visible to your friends, but also to others if you decide to play any of the games. Don’t worry. I’ll explain all that to you later when we go through all the steps in getting you registered and everything set up that you’d like to do. Please feel free to use this computer any time you like,” Diane offered. Selfishness was the furthest thing from her mind.
With that Diane turned off the computer and was up exploring the room again. To the left of the windows was a new shelf syste
m, which held her most valued possessions—her treasures—photographs taken by Diane and her family, small paintings by Cybele, and small sculptures by Philip. She also saw some new books that Cybele and Philip had chosen for her, along with a few of her favorite dolls and wooden puzzles.
To the right of the windows were two new cozy chairs with ottomans, a small table between, and a new floor lamp. The chairs were a warm deep red with several throw pillows on each one, plus two cozy knitted throws in contrasting colors. It was the perfect place to curl up with a good book or a journal.
“Each of these chairs opens into a bed,” said Philip as he demonstrated how they worked. “You may want to have more than one girlfriend spend the night. If you do, you’ll need these. We still have all the sheet sets from your twin beds and they fit these mattresses just right. With your king-sized bed and these, we figured you could easily sleep five people, including yourself. And that is our absolute threshold for teenage girls anyway,” he teased. “You know how old people are around young ’uns.”
“Oh Grandpa! You and Grandma aren’t old!” exclaimed Diane.
Philip put his hand on his back, stooped over, and pretended to be crotchety. “Where’s my cane, I say? How’s an old man supposed to get around
Through the Rose Gate...Chapters One and Two Page 2