Review: Lies of Omission
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 16, 2013
This was a great story and had me thinking these events could actually have happened. It was sad and happy all at the same time. There were parts in this story that made me want to cry.  It surrounds Bethanne Shelton and her Aunt Rosaline from the previous story Wall Flower that surrounded Bethanne's other cousins Tabitha Shelton and Josephine "Jo" Faulkner. Many questions I had at the end of Wall Flower were answered. Who was Finn? Why Bethanne really went too hid off in the country? Considering Bethanne was young I didn't believe a little girls pact made her stay there. Why Aunt Rosaline was flighty and unmarried?Bethanne Shelton is living in the country trying her best to take care of her Aunt Rosaline who is suffering from Alzheimer's. Her aunt's mood changes day to day and Bethanne never knows what will happen next. The story starts off with her aunt being M I A. No one knows where she has run off to so everyone in the house Bethanne and her close family of servants set off to find her. While looking for her aunt Bethanne runs into Lord Roman Sullivan who happens to be coming back from being in the military and is taking over his father's estate by being the steward. Bethanne is put off by his directness and intrusiveness into her family's life. Lord Roman only got involved because her aunt was suffering an episode and thought she was being abducted and didn't know who her neice Bethanne was. Bethanne tries to explain the matter by being really vague about the details and Lord Roman becomes suspicious. So he invites himself inside Bethanne's cottage for tea and Bethanne is really put off by him. Well everyone including the servants go back into the house for tea. Lord Roman unwittingly finds out a few things about Bethanne that Bethanne really wishes he wouldn't. While setting down for tea Bethanne tells him a few innocent details about Aunt Rosaline's mental issues. While she is talking to Lord Roman Finn runs into the room yelling "Mama" at first you can't tell who his mother is because the little boy (2years old) sets between a servant and Bethanne. Lord Roman has an idea that maybe the child is Bethanne's because he looks a bit like her. He's not fooled but keeps his comments to himself. Well Lord Roman seems satisfied with what Bethanne told him about her aunts ill health so he goes to leave and it upsets aunt Rosaline so Lord Roman decided that he will come for tea each day to check on aunt Rosaline. This idea doesn't set well with Bethanne she does want aunt Rosaline to accidentally tell Lord Roman anything while lucid or not. She is afraid that all her secrets will be revealed by accident and she will lose everything she holds dear. She can't let anyone into her life that will upset the balance that she has created over the last couple of years. She doesn't want her family to find out how ill Aunt Rosaline really is and the truth about Finn or the problems with the towns people or the secrets she is keeping for her sister Miranda.Lord Roman is back from the war (Waterloo) and has a few problems of his own that he's not sharing as well. He suffers from PTSD (Post Tramatic Stress Disorder) and suffers from nightmares that are so bad he wants to be living alone with no servants to tend him in a small house that sets on his father's estate. He even had the servants put locks on his bedroom door to keep people out while he sleeps because he doesn't want to hurt anyone. In his dreams he's still on the battlefield at Waterloo and is protecting a vial that he must get to Wellington. He is reenacting fighting with French soldiers while he's asleep and basically destroys his bedroom on a nightly basis. He doesn't sleep at night instead he waits till dawn then sleeps till around lunch. So he's sleep deprived, moody, and depressed and wants to be left alone. After meeting Bethanne he can't seem to fight an attraction to her. One day while in town he notices that Bethanne is alone with no driver or a maid to help her with her errands and he also notices that people are being mean to her out in the open. Lord Roman does let a shop owner get away with his rudeness he is showing Bethanne and calls him on it. Bethanne is upset and really doesn't want his help but is relieved to have it but won't let him know that. Bethanne actually returns his kindness by being mean to him. He doesn't care. He was a Major in the military and has fought with worse people than her and isn't deterred at all. He helps her home even though she doesn't want his help. He notices that there is no one taking care of her home and decides to help her even if she doesn't want it. He mends her fence that is broken. He takes tea with aunt Rosaline and even helps Bethanne with her aunt.Aunt Rosaline thinks she is a young lady again and is waiting for her beloved Christopher Jackson to return from war. We learn that Christopher died in a war that happened over 30 years ago and that he is never returning to her. Aunt Rosaline knows the truth in her mind somewhere but it's mostly lost to her. She sets out nearly everyday by the window dressed in a red gown because Christopher loved that color and waits for a soldier that never comes. He told her the last time she saw him that he will return when he can and he will marry her. He kissed her goodbye and that was the last time she would ever see him alive. Her heart knows he's dead and she has nightmares that the enemy soldiers are attacking her in her bedroom and wakes the house up. Bethanne doesn't know how to deal with her and the only thing she know to do is be truthful and let her aunt know that Christopher is never coming back which aunt Rosaline takes like a car wreck and is so distraught and inconsolable every time Bethanne tells her the news. Lord Roman on the other hand is kinder and gentler by telling aunt Rosaline that Christopher is held up and that he will be coming soon that he will let her know when he gets word. Lord Roman has heard enough stories about Lieutenant Jackson's bravery during the war even though he never met him before.  He knows enough information from past stories to act like he knew him and can make Rosaline believe the story's he's telling because he doesn't have the heart to tell her otherwise. It was so sad that Rosaline never married because her heart belonged to a man on the battlefield who died and would never be returning to her.