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Back The Winter Garden Save as PDF
Chapters (54)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. ALSO BY ALEXANDRA BELL
  4. DEDICATION
  5. Prologue
  6. Part One
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. Part Two
  15. CHAPTER EIGHT
  16. CHAPTER NINE
  17. CHAPTER TEN
  18. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  19. CHAPTER TWELVE
  20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. Part Three
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  47. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  53. Acknowledgements
  54. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Soon enough, though, November arrived. Snow came to Raven Hall and Rosa suffered from a severe bout of homesickness as she recalled the sleigh rides she used to take in Central Park when her family went to New York for Christmas. The Warren sleigh was always one of the grandest, with its polished runners and dark-blue paintwork. The liveried footmen sported matching shades in the piping of their furred collars and the tops of their shining boots. The horses were resplendent with their elegant feathered aigrettes unfolding from their glossy heads. Those had been happy days, full of sleigh bells and laughter, and Rosa longed for them hopelessly, wishing that she had never left America.

But then she gave birth to twin girls, and everything changed.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

November 1837

Esme was small and pretty, whilst Ada was ugly and angry, yet Rosa loved both of them fiercely. She didn’t know how she could ever have thought that she didn’t want them. Her plans for the carousel were put to one side, and the clockwork horses and polar bear were dismantled. Her previous hopes of changing the past filled her with guilt. For although she still loathed her husband, she no longer wanted to erase him from her life, even if such a thing were possible. Without him there could be no babies. And they were her entire world.

And yet …

Loving them was not the problem – she loved them both with her very soul. The problem was that they did not appear to love her. From the beginning Rosa had insisted on feeding and looking after the babies herself, earning all kinds of baffled looks from the servants.

‘This is quite ludicrous, Rosa,’ Eustace had said. ‘What do you know about caring for infants? It simply is not done, for a duchess. We shall be a laughing stock if word gets out. Servants gossip, you know.’

But Rosa did not care. She dismissed the wet nurse that Eustace had employed. She was almost euphoric to find that she was able to love her daughters after all. And love, surely, would be enough. She expected she would know instinctively what to do, how to meet their needs and make them happy. Yet it was all so much harder than she had ever imagined.