Keeping Up With The Cullens 6

“I’ll take one ticket please.”Rosalie told the old woman who was sitting behind a desk. She was at the Ronda Kelly museum trying to learn more information about the woman. So far she had learned that she died when Isabella was 13 but nothing she read made mention of her relationship with Isabella at all. There were reports about lawsuits filed by her four children over the will but even then Isabella wasn’t named. Rosalie thought she would have been but somehow her name was kept from the public. It seemed even Ronda’s family didn’t know about Isabella either. They just claimed an unknown person swindled their mother. Rosalie doubted their stories because not only did Isabella train under Ronda but Isabella was one of the wealthiest people in world at the time the woman died. Rosalie had also looked into Isabella’s grandmother and found out that Isabella had an extremely large extended family to include two aunts and two uncles that were still alive. Learning that brought all kinds of questions to Rosalie. One being why they didn’t know about Isabella and referred to the woman as Molly Harold. Nowhere was she ever referred to as Isabella Swan. The biggest question however was why did Tanya adopt Isabella if she had relatives who could. Relatives that sued Isabella as well over the will without her being named. Isabella being unknown to them as well. It seemed none of the women’s family members appreciated Isabella getting both estates.

“You have an interest in Ronda?”The woman asked as she took Rosalie’s debit card and swiped it.

Rosalie took the card and ticket from her.”I grew up in L.A. so I have known about her my whole life but just recently I met someone who knew her and it got me interested in learning more about her. The internet was flooded with articles about her family suing over the will and I only found a few articles about her life and her artwork.”

“It is a shame that such a wonderful person’s legacy is overshadowed by greedy people.”The woman said.

“Do know why she cut her family from the will?”Rosalie figured someone working at Ronda’s museum would know.

The women smiled sadly.”Ronda’s husband was a horrible abusive man. When her children were in their teens she got the courage to leave him. Well her children refused to believe that their father was a bad man and excused the abuse they saw as their mother being a difficult woman. Her husband told the children that Ronda didn’t actually leave he kicked her out for cheating on him. The children sided with him and only contacted Ronda if they needed something. She tried to have a relationship with them but they were extremely hateful towards her.”

“That’s worse than I thought.”Rosalie hadn’t really known what she thought but definitely not what really happened.”How did she get into sculpting?”

“She was living at a women’s shelter trying to get on her feet because she had nothing when she left her husband. While at the shelter she attended a painting class that Molly Harold was giving. During those classes the pair became friends and Molly actually invited Ronda to live with her. Ronda made her first sculpture in Molly’s studio. It’s on loan from the owner of her estate and displayed in the first room you will enter.”The woman explained.

“I didn’t realize the pair were so close.”Rosalie liked that she figured out the two women’s connection.

“Ronda lived with Molly for the rest of her life. Ronda was Molly’s main caretaker when her cancer became incurable.”The woman said.

“Did you ever meet her?”Rosalie wondered why Molly’s family didn’t take care of her. She died when Isabella was 11 so if she was that sick she wouldn’t have been able to care for Isabella but there was still other family that could take care of both of them. How did the Denali get involved? Rosalie was hesitant to research them because it seemed like a breach of trust.

The woman smiled brightly.”I went to a talk she gave towards the end of her life. Afterwards I stayed behind and got to talk to her for a little over a half hour. She was so charismatic. Everyone hung on her every word. When she talked it felt like she was imparting priceless morsels of wisdom in every sentence. When I retired I immediately came here to see if I could get a job. I just wanted to be involved with her somehow. Even if it was just handing out tickets to people so they could experience her greatness for themselves.”

“I met someone recently that made me feel the same exact way. She was the person I told you that knew her. I wonder if that is who they learned how to talk like that from.”Rosalie felt exactly like the woman described when Isabella talked. The only thing Rosalie didn’t like about the visit was that she wasn’t able to record and listen to everything Isabella said whenever she wanted.

“I could see her inspiring people. She definitely inspired me.”The woman told her.

“You said that the estate donated a piece. Does the owner have a lot of involvement here?”Rosalie figured it was Tanya or one of the sisters that were involved not Isabella.

The woman nodded.”The estate is the reason we have stayed open this long. We don’t make enough off of visitors to keep the doors open and even with fundraisers we wouldn’t be able to cover costs. I think it’s because people can see her work without having to pay that keeps them away. The estate has stepped in every year and covers not only the cost to run it but they offer us many benefits to include free health insurance, holiday pay bonuses and an emergency fund for employees to use. Martha one of the cleaning ladies broke her foot and the estate covered all her personal expenses including one of her daughter’s college tuition while Martha couldn’t work because she was the bread winner and worked two jobs to support her family. The estate didn’t even ask her to pay anything back. They just told her that Ronda would have done it if she was alive and left it at that.”

“That’s kind of amazing.”Rosalie thought that might have been Isabella who was responsible for that. It would make sense if she was honoring Ronda to help someone in need.

“This is a great job. It makes me sad that I stayed at my other one so long.”The woman said.

“I can see why you love it.”Rosalie knew that she would love working at an Isabella Swan museum.

“I’ll let you get to looking around. They are a couple guides walking around if you have any questions about things.”The woman told her.

“Thank you for your help.”Rosalie returned the woman’s wave and made her way into the first room. Looking around Rosalie noticed that it was dedicated to the beginning of Ronda’s career. Her first stop was to look at some paintings that were labeled as ones she made when attending painting classes at the women’s shelter. Rosalie thought they were pretty good for a beginner but understood when she saw Ronda’s first sculpture why the woman focused on that medium. The subject was a woman holding a baby. Knowing Ronda’s history Rosalie could almost feel the heartbreak in every line. It was obvious that Ronda missed her own children. Rosalie wondered what type of person Ronda’s husband was that he could turn a woman’s children against her.

“It’s a powerful piece isn’t it.”A male voice said.

Rosalie turned her attention to the man seeing he was an employee with the name tag that said Brad.”It is. I was just thinking that I could almost feel the heartbreak coming from it.”

“Every one of her pieces almost sings with emotions.”Brad agreed.

“I met someone who took private lessons from her. That person was focused on Aphrodite and three of the handful of pieces I saw of theirs were of the goddess. The one I saw up close was so lifelike that it was like looking at a divine being. I want to say I felt almost unworthy of seeing it.”Rosalie didn’t think Isabella would care if she talked about her art if she didn’t use her name.

“That’s odd to hear that because Ronda didn’t teach private lessons. Only the group ones at the various women’s shelters. Can I have the person’s name?”Brad asked.

“I would rather not say but I will tell you that they gave me proof they were telling the truth.”Rosalie fully believed Isabella took lessons from Ronda.

“That’s disappointing but not everyone wants fame. Even Ronda wasn’t that big of a fan of exposing her private life to the public.”Brad told her.

“She was rather famous though wasn’t she?”Rosalie thought that Ronda didn’t mind fame because of the big pieces she did all over the world.

“She was very famous but she protected her private life the best she could. Her children made that hard for her but in the end she kept a lot of things close to her chest.”Brad said.

“It makes you wonder what she was protecting.”Rosalie knew there had to be a reason for a famous artist not to talk about her personal life.

Brad leaned forward and lowered his voice.”Don’t tell anyone around here I said this but I think that she and Molly Harold were in a romantic relationship together.”

“You think she was a lesbian and was in a relationship with Molly?”Rosalie kept her voice low as well. Finding out that Isabella’s grandma was in a lesbian relationship with Ronda was extremely shocking.

“I have done a lot of research on the pair of them for my college classes and based on everything I have found it points to them being in a long term relationship. Especially because they started living together a month after they met and remained roommates for the rest of their lives. They were also never linked to anyone romantically.”Brad told her.

“I just found out about their connection from the woman at the front desk but based on what I was told by her and the little information I got from the person who studied with her it kind of makes sense.”Rosalie could understand why Isabella who was completely antisocial was close to Ronda if she had been her grandmother’s lover.

“I wish there were a way to confirm it. Not because I want cause a scandal.”Brad quickly added.”I want them to be celebrated for who they were and how brave they were to stay committed to each other during the time they were alive. We don’t have enough people in my community that we can look up to in the art world that aren’t overall horrible people or they let themselves follow the path of self destruction. Those two women did a lot of good in the world and it would mean a lot to have them represented.”

“I’m with you on this. We don’t have enough good role models in the art community for people like us. From everything I learned about the pair they were people we could be proud to claim.”Rosalie would have liked to have such a positive lesbian role models growing up.

Brad’s eyebrows shot to his forehead.”You’re a lesbian?”

“I have been one my whole life.”Rosalie didn’t care that she was telling someone about her sexuality. She just had never said anything before because she wasn’t interested in anyone in particular. After meeting Isabella Rosalie realized that her crush was likely the reason for her lack of interest.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone.”Brad said confirming he knew who Rosalie was.

“I don’t care if you do. You could probably earn a few bucks with the information if you wanted.”Rosalie bet Brad could make a ton of money off the story.

Brad shook his head.”I’m not that kind of person. I won’t say anything. It’s not my place.”

“Thank you Brad.”Rosalie was touched this stranger would protect her secret.

“It’s no problem. So what got you interested in Ronda?”Brad asked.

“Like I said I met someone recently that studied under her. I didn’t get a chance to talk to that person about her but it had me wondering who Ronda was and what kind of impact she had on that person’s life.”Rosalie was thinking Ronda had more of an impact than she originally thought.”How about you?”

“I went on a school field trip when I was 8 to Kennedy Park and saw the installation she had there. Everyone else were all about running around and playing but I just wanted to see every single inch of it. My teacher had to literally drag me by the arm away from it when it was time to eat lunch. As soon as I finished I ran right back over to it. I became obsessed with art after that. I’m not a good artist myself so I focused on art history. My phd thesis was on Ronda. When I graduated I got a job here.”Brad explained.

“I understand what it’s like to be so inspired by someone that you plan your future around what they do. When I was 12 I learned about Isabella Swan. I just couldn’t wrap my head around someone so young achieving all she did. The more I looked into her the more I was inspired to be like her. That sparked my love of technology and even my love of restoring old cars.”Rosalie was finding it nice to be able to swap stories with Brad because she truly believed that he wouldn’t say anything.

“You don’t have to tell me anything specific but what was she like?”Brad asked.

Rosalie took a moment to think of a real answer not the brushoff answer she gave her family.”Initially I was a little intimated when she was introduced to us. She has to be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. Then when she spoke she was extremely smart. Everything she was telling us was incredible. After the visit was over my opinion of her was even higher than it was initially. She proved to me that I was right to put so much of my focus on her because she is an exceptional person.”

“I’m jealous you got to meet her. She is the owner of the largest private art collection in the world. She owns a lot of masterpieces from all throughout history.”Brad said.

“I didn’t see any of her art collection.”Rosalie made a note to ask the sisters about Isabella’s art collection. It seemed random that someone like Isabella would invest in art but Rosalie was coming to understand that Isabella had a lot more depth than she was led to believe.

“That’s too bad. It’s actually rumored that she has been buying up all the Molly and Ronda pieces that come up for sale.”Brad told her.

“She is a local it would make sense if she likes art for her to be interested in them.”Rosalie wasn’t going to tell Brad about Isabella’s link to the pair no matter how nice he was.

“True. It would be a dream to be able to spend as much money as I wanted on artwork. Based on public records Isabella has spent billions on her collection. Could you imagine having that much cash to spend on art?”Brad asked.

“I may be considered wealthy but I don’t think I will ever be able to afford to spend that much on art.”Rosalie wasn’t a huge fan of art but after visiting the museum she was coming to understand why people were. Finding out that Isabella was a huge collector Rosalie was thinking about signing up for some art history classes to learn more on the subject. Rosalie was also thinking of giving Isabella the painting of her grandmother’s that was hanging in the sitting room of the Cullen’s home. She doubted her parents would notice it was gone because it wasn’t them who bought it. The person who decorated the house did.

“It makes it hard to hate Isabella for being that wealthy because she earned all that money through hard work. If she was just a spoiled heiress I wouldn’t respect her as much.”Brad said.

Rosalie held back a wince thinking about how she earned her own money.”She definitely works hard. She only showed us three rooms filled with her inventions and I was told that her house has over a hundred rooms total that I bet are filled with even more of her stuff that she hasn’t released to the public.”

“I don’t know what I would do with that much space. Maybe turn one room into a trampoline room.”Brad mused.

”That would be fun.”Rosalie agreed. She opened her mouth to say more only to shut it when she felt her phone vibrate. Pulling it out of her pocket she was met with a text message from an unknown number. Unlocking her phone Rosalie pulled it up.

“Rosalie it’s Kate. Cancel your plans for tonight. You are coming here at 6pm to have dinner with us. Make sure you bring some Milk Duds. They are Isabella’s favorite candy but Tanya has her on a strict diet so she never gets to eat them.”

Rosalie send a reply saying that she would be there then put her phone back in her pocket.”What other stuff does the museum offer?”

“Would you like me to show you around?”Brad asked.

“I would love that.”Rosalie found she liked the idea of being shown around by Brad. The man was nice, treated her like a regular person and knew all about art. Walking to the next room Rosalie found herself nervous and excited. She was nervous because she was sure that she was the only person joining the sisters and Isabella for dinner. This was likely another test. She hadn’t made much progress on the car as she only had gotten it the day before. Even though it was nerve wracking Rosalie found her excitement was overwhelming those nerves. She was going to have a private dinner with Isabella. Meaning she would have private access to the woman. This was a huge deal. The sisters were showing her a lot of trust by inviting her. Rosalie wondered what Isabella thought about her coming over. It was obvious that Isabella wasn’t the one who was sending the invite. Rosalie gave a mental shrug. Regardless of what happened she would be herself and tell the truth about anything she was asked. That should impress all four women she was sure.