By Avia Ustanny, Outlook writer
Rose and Tom Tavares-Finson recently celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary. - - Winston Sill photo
THE ADOBE hues in which Rose Tavares-Finson has painted the walls of her home is the perfect backdrop for the art collected so assiduously by her husband, attorney Tom Tavares-Finson.
Her home is pin neat and she admits that it is the work of the women who the family employs, but, every bit of the layout is her choice and it is beautiful to see.
Canadian-born Constantini has combined elements of Jamaican, touches of Mexican and something else that is certainly pure 'Rose' to create a charming and comfortable surrounding for a family which includes step-children Christian and Leah, tiny daughter Capri and son Roman who was born in November 2003.
For husband Tom Tavares-Finson, home is an oasis, compared to life in court.
The defence attorney is a favourite among those accused of narcotic trafficking. He was also defence attorney for international artiste Sean Paul who was 'busted' for bad words.
Tavares-Finson, once an active politician in the Jamaica Labour Party, was also legal representative during the West Kingston enquiry in which 38 civilians were shot and injured during the July 7-10 security forces operation in West Kingston.
Antique hunting is one of the few hobbies in which his wife still fully indulges, because the last three years have been spent nurturing their babies full-time. In one week, when her husband went to Europe, she changed all the bedroom furniture, surprising him when he returned.
Simultaneous with her marriage to Tavares-Finson in March 1998, Constantini also put on hold her modelling and acting career, also deep-sixing her role in the local soap Royal Palm Estate which catapulted her to fame.
The multi-talented woman, who speaks four languages including French and Italian, fluently, sounds very Jamaican and explains that she has always had the ability to adapt to the accent of a country very quickly.
Rose's parents, Luciano and Carmela Constantini, are Italian. She grew up in Montreal, Canada, where she started modelling at 13, making good money until she opened her own hair salon, specialising in hair colouring.
She first came to Jamaica (Negril) at age 21 and loved it. Rose moved to Jamaica in 1995 when Jamaica as a location for film shoots was very popular.
Recruited for Royal Palm Estate, she really enjoyed the four years which she spent with this soap. But, marriage put paid to all that.
"Our friends saw the electricity between us even before we did," she recalls, saying that there were others who advised her that Tavares-Finson was not a family man and that he was 'out all the time'.
But, she discovered that this was not so and, in fact, their courtship very much included time spent with Leah and Christian, children from his first marriage.
"I love his intellect, his humour and his capacity to bounce back," she says.
Tom Tavares-Finson took Rose to Paris where he proposed under the Arc de Triomphe. They were married in March '98.
Now, Rose is in charge of a rather boisterous bunch. "I have been really blessed. I have heard of the horror stories (with step-children). It has really been good and I think the feeling is mutual."
She is over the moon about their accomplishments. Leah was accepted to four different universities all, offering scholarships, and Christian is well on his way to "a career in law, I think," she enthuses.
Good health
Apart from hoping that they will all continue to grow in good health, she hopes that Capri and Roman will also achieve as much as their elder sister and brother.
Capri, born three years ago was named after the isle where Tom and Rose spent their honeymoon. Roman was so named because the Romans were the subject of a novel which she read while she was pregnant and also caring for Tom's mother who was ill and in the hospital. For her, this nation epitomised strength.
Deliberately, she tries to create an alternate universe within the confines of home, for her husband who also makes the effort not to bring the angst of the courtroom home.
Rose confesses that she loves to cook, though she does it more for their parties than any other occasion. The Tavares-Finsons entertain as often as they can, their friends including many of the art aficionados who share their interests.
"If he wants to entertain his political buddies, I say tell me what you want. I will cook," Rose states, adding, however, that she prefers to keep her events to 40 people, "where I am not growing crazy."
Commitment
Tavares-Finson, who we discover dressed in T-shirt and shorts, emerging from the TV room and cricket, told Outlook what he admires most about his wife his her commitment to motherhood.
"She is a dedicated mother to her kids. The fact that she had a strong family background was also one of the things which attracted me to her."
For him, the best time of day is family time, when the couple wake at 5:30 in the morning and spend time together until 7:30 when the toddler and Roman start snoozing again.
Rose finds time to go to the gym which she loves, and developing fundraising strategies for National AIDS Committee which she says is doing 'exciting things'.
Rose, once the writer of 'Appalonia's' column, in the Jamaica Herald newspaper, also hopes take up her social writing again. But, just seven months after Roman was born, she cannot think of doing much more than nurturing her children until they no longer need 'round the clock attention'.
Although one day she hopes they will travel widely and acquire the linguistic skills that she has, their place right now is at home under her watchful eye and 'wings'.
It's the Italian way of doing things.
