The Serving Girl // Book 2 in the Rosie Grey series

Chapter Twenty-Six

Esther and I were woken early the next morning to begin the preparations for Mrs Ealing's sister's visit. In my six months of working for the family, no one had even mentioned her name and yet there appeared to be a flurry of activity on the day she would visit. It felt like Matilda's birthday all over again, yet this time Mrs Ealing hovered around every room and even ventured down to the kitchen to lecture Miss Jenkins on the cooking for that luncheon. Neither Doctor Ealing nor Mrs Ealing had ever ventured to the kitchen and they had never tried to instruct of lectures Miss Jenkins on her cooking. No one dared do such a thing for free she would chase after them with a wooden spoon.

Robert and Matilda had been instructed to help the twins with their outfits for the luncheon to allow Esther and I to get on with our work so everything would be perfect. When I passed Robert in the hallway, he had been draping a pair of pressed shorts over his back and looked less than impressed with having to dress Zachariah. I knew how he felt, the times I had been instructed to help Charlotte were too many to count and it had never been an easy task. She had a habit of throwing herself on the floor in a tantrum when she couldn't get what she wanted. It looked as though Zachariah had been prone to the same thing.

I scuttled past Robert and down the end of the hallway as he flung the pair of shorts over his shoulder. Mrs Ealing stood at the far end of the hall, her eyes narrowed at me as I approached her before making a turn towards the dining room. Avoiding Robert in the house happened to be easier said than done as he always seemed to appear when I least expected it. In order to keep with Mrs Ealing's rules, I had to come up with an excuse and escape to a different room. I knew he wanted to ask me why, but I never gave him the opportunity, not even when we were in the office. However, he hadn't been the only one to notice that I had started to avoid him.

"I saw that," Esther said as we laid the dining room table. Miss Jenkins had banished both of us from the kitchen after Mrs Ealing's visit and neither of us were too keen to return. We took as long as possible to set the table.

"Saw what?" I asked.

"You ignoring Robert just now. You've been doing it for days now and you haven't been very subtle about it. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Rosie." She gave me a pointed look and pulled a rather sharp knife out of a drawer.

"Alright, alright, just put the knife down. I don't trust you." She placed the knife on the table with the other cutlery. "Mrs Ealing told me to stay away from Robert or I would get a second infraction."

"So you're ignoring him? Does he know this?"

"No, of course not. I knew if I told him he would confront her about it, and I didn't want to be the person to destroy their relationship. Besides, maybe she has a point. I spend too much time talking to Robert when I should be working, so this might not be a bad thing," I lied.

I knew that that wasn't the case. Mrs Ealing's threat didn't make any sense, but I had to lie to myself in order to go along with it. I knew she would carry out her threat and give me the second infraction if she saw me talking to Robert and I didn't want to risk it. If avoiding Robert would be all it took to keep my position until I made my decision over whether I would stay or not, then so be it. If it came to it, I would have to tell Robert the truth about what his mother had said but I didn't want to do that unless it ended up being necessary. If they fell out, if Robert refused to speak to his mother again, I didn't want to be the one responsible for that.

My mother always told us to never leave a discussion on an argument or an insult because we didn't know what the future would hold. She always made sure we were friends by the next morning and that none of our arguments ever carried on longer then they had to. I didn't want to be the one to break up the Ealing family and then have something happen, leaving their final interaction to be one of negativity. I knew all too well how quickly circumstances could change and how hard it is to come to terms with the last thing said to a person before fate intervened. Whatever might have happened, Robert didn't need to know.