Prologue

Rose watched in fascination as the water swiftly rushed over her feet as she dangled them in the stream. Because she was so small, the earthen ledge she sat on was a perfect seat for her. Of course, she tells her parents all the time that she's a big girl. They just laugh and her father picks her up and cuddles her, then kisses her on her cheek, saying "Of course you, darling."

"Rose, my darling, be careful. The water might wash away the bank where you are sitting." She heard her father call. Just as the words left his mouth, the ledge she was sitting on indeed crumbled into the water, swept away by the force and speed of it, and her with it.

Screaming, Rose tried her hardest to cling to the small bits of grass the still clung to the washed out ledge. Hearing her father yell at her. Rose continued to struggle to stay above the raging water. She was being carried farther and farther away from that spot. She also knew that the water this far down was over even her father's head.

Hearing a splash, she looked up to see her dad trying to swim to her. After struggling to get to her for several seconds, he finally grasped her small wrist and with his final bit of strength, he flung her body on the bank and he was carried away, after being drug under the water.

That was the last time Rose saw her father. She was three years old, and the hardships of her life began.