That afternoon, Miss Jenkins set me tasks in areas of the house she knew Robert wasn't likely to be. I was more than certain she was having Esther track him so the two of us would never end up in the same room as one another. The whole thing felt strange and a little over-dramatic considering Matilda was the only one who seemed to find any fault with our chance meetings. Why that seemed to be such a cause for concern to everyone else was beyond me, Robert was the only adult member of the Ealing family who treated me as an equal rather than a servant.

Nevertheless, there was little I could do about it rather than move from chore to chore as though I was a sheep being herded. Spending so much time on my own, cleaning shelves and sweeping the floors gave me a fair amount of time to think, which was something I had never had much time for. I couldn't help but notice just how much my life had changed in only a short period of time, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was doing something wrong.

I was having fun for the first time in a long time, I was with a family who didn't spend all of their time -minus Matilda- tearing me down at every opportunity. My life had an air of normalcy to it, an air of normalcy I had never known before. I was happy, but it felt wrong. It felt as though I shouldn't be feeling happy, be glad to be away from the factory whilst the other girls were still there, still suffering at the hands of the foreman. To anyone else, it might have been ludicrous, but I felt guilty for enjoying my freedom.

Despite how crazy it might have seen, I kept thinking of ways to help the others, ways to get them out of the factory, but none of them were possible. Although I thought the Ealing family may have some trust in me, there was still an inkling at the back of my mind that they wouldn't believe me. Even after the crazy things that had already happened in my time serving the family, this one topped them all. There had to be a way for me to help the others without having to reveal everything, I just didn't know what it was.

"You've been washing the same dish for almost ten minutes now, everything all right?" Miss Jenkins asked, returning to the kitchen from the dining room, where she and Esther had been serving dinner to the family.

"Fine, just got a little distracted, that's all," I replied, placing the plate onto the side.

"Master Zachariah will be going to bed in about half an hour, so you should finish washing all of those. He's been talking non-stop about how happy he is that you're the one putting him to bed. Whether or not he goes to sleep will be another story, he is very enthusiastic." Miss Jenkins shook her head and grabbed a towel and the plate I had just put down.

"How did Matilda take it? Kicked up a fuss I presume?"

"No, actually, she seemed relatively happy about the whole thing. In fact, she said she was glad you had found something to do in the evening, though that might have been an insult."

"I'm surprised she didn't kick up a fuss. Odd that I'm to stay away from Robert, but she would rather I spend time with the twins rather than hide down here. I would have thought she prefer I keep out of the way."

"I wouldn't read too much into it, Rosie. She'll move onto something new soon enough. For now, keep out of her way and she won't able to say anything about you. The rest of the family have fallen in love with you so don't rely too heavily on how Miss Matilda behaves, that's just who she is."

"I suppose."

"Now, hurry up and get those dishes washed, Esther will be down here in a minute with the cutlery from supper and you'll have to wash that up before you go and see Master Zachariah."

"Alright."

Pushing any thoughts of Matilda to the back of my mind, I continued to wash the dishes that Esther bought down from the dining room, stacking them off to the side for Miss Jenkins to wash. Out of the small window above the sink, I watched Samuel slink across the grass towards the stables, the fading light casting a shadow. Whenever I saw Samuel he was on his own, but he never looked sad about it, it looked as though he was glad to be on his own, doing work I assumed he enjoyed. He was always humming to himself, swinging his arms, acting as though he wasn't doing work at all.

I watched him cross the grass, just disappearing out of view as I finished washing the dishes that had been laid before me. Watching him disappear, I wished Samuel could have spent more time in the house, spend more time around the rest of us rather than be isolated the way he was. I didn't quite understand why Miss Jenkins was so cautious around him, or why he decided to keep out of the way so often. I never thought it was fair, the way he was treated, but I suppose I never really understood the reason behind it all. There was so much we didn't know after being the factory, and this was one of them. In a way, I was glad I didn't know the reality of the situation, perhaps being ignorant was the best thing.

When I finished the washing up, Miss Jenkins tapped me gently with a cloth and sent me up the stairs to put Zachariah to bed. I had had prior experiences with putting children to bed in the past, we used to take turns at the factory putting the younger ones to bed, but this was a whole other story. The children at the factory were always exhausted after the day's work, Zachariah was always full of energy. Getting him into bed and making him stay there was going to be a challenge, but it was as though I could turn it down. He still had the drawing.

Pushing open his bedroom door, Zachariah was sitting on the edge of his bed, his eyes fixated on the door. He was practically jumping up and down, the drawing in his hand. The moment he saw me, his eyes lit up, forcing himself off the bed where he took off running, wrapping his arms around my waist. I smiled, wrapping my right arm around him and then gently pulling him off.

"Right, you, bedtime. Where is your nightshirt?" I asked.

"Under here," Zachariah said, running across the room and grabbing his nightshirt from under his pillow.

"You get that on and I'll sort out the bed."

"Okay!"

Zachariah left the drawing on the bed, taking the nightshirt and himself to the far corner of the room where he quickly changed from his shorts and shirt into the long shirt. Whilst he was changing, I went around the side of the bed, pulling out the blankets that were tucked so tightly underneath I almost fell over trying to untuck them. Why they had to be tucked so far underneath the mattress was a mystery to me, I suppose it looked nice, but it was a rather large inconvenience.

Once he had changed, Zachariah dumped his clothes onto the top of his chest of drawers before clambering over the bed to settle in under the blankets. He looked so small compared to the size of the bed, it seemed a little idiotic to me to have such a small person in such a large bed, with most of it going to waste. Not that I would have been complaining, the idea of having such a large bed all to myself would have been welcomed, especially since I have spent most of my life sharing a bed with someone else. The idea of falling into a bed larger than myself and having so much freedom would have been welcoming if it were a possibility.

"Could you read me a book?" Zachariah asked, peering over the top of his blanket.

"I'm not the best reader, you know that," I said, tucking the blanket around his small body.

"I can help! There's a book called The Coral Island that Mother said she would read to me. It's over there." He gestured to the bookshelf, his finger pointing at one of the books on the shelf. My eyes scanned the shelf, spotting any book that looked as though it bared some resemblance to the title.

"This one?" I asked, holding up the book.

"Yes!"

Grabbing the book tightly in my hand, I approached the bed and watched as Zachariah shuffled himself along, giving me enough room to sit on the bed next to him. I perched myself on the edge of the bed, swinging my legs up so I could get close to him. The mattress almost enveloped me as I got myself comfortable, Zachariah nestling himself into my side, so he could read the book. In the factory, we always made up stories to tell the younger ones to get them to sleep, especially on their first night. We didn't know or remember what other stories existed outside of our walls.

Zachariah held one side of the book whilst I held the other, the two of us leaning over the pages to get a better few of the words. I had no idea what most of them wore, being able to only read a few of them on my own. It felt rather pathetic, having a five-year-old guide me through the book as though he was teaching me to read rather than myself being asked to read the book to him. Nonetheless, I let Zachariah guide me through the first few pages of the book, watching how he pointed out words that he didn't even understand.

Together, the two of us managed to muddle our way through the five pages of the book. We would have gone further, but Zachariah's concentration was waning, and I felt myself growing tired even if it wasn't that late. Once we finished the fifth page, I wedged a ribbon between the two pages and closed the book, looking at Zachariah who was pressed even deeper into my side, his eyes half-shut. Smiling slightly, I slipped myself off the bed, lowing Zachariah onto the pillow. He buried himself amongst the blankets and within seconds he was asleep.

I placed the book on his side-table and slipped out of the room, taking the drawing off the edge of the bed as I went. The hallway outside was darker then it had been when I had entered, the sun slipping from the sky and covering the whole room in a pale pink, almost red glow. Pressing my back against the door, I stifled a yawn, trying to shake the tired feeling from my body. The day wasn't over yet and there was no doubt in my mind that Miss Jenkins would have some sort of work prepared for me.

"First one to go to bed, first one awake and now the first one to almost fall asleep at half past eight," Robert said, coming into view at the far end of the corridor.

"It seems the book not only put Zachariah to bed but me as well," I said, jokingly.

"You read to him?"

"Well, it was more like he read to me, but he went to sleep so I suppose that's worth something."

"I think that's the fastest anyone has ever put him to bed, so I commend you on that. Even Mother struggles to put him to bed at the best of times."

"Well, I shall take that as a compliment, though it seems we may have put each other to bed judging by how tired I am."

"What's that?" Robert asked, pointing to the sheet of paper in my hand.

"Zachariah drew me a picture, to say thank you for helping him the other day."

"You've certainly made an impression on both of the twins, they love you and after how easy it was for you to put Zachariah to bed, I'm sure Mother will love you too."

"Matilda is a whole other story, though."

"Stop worrying about my sister. She's not the one who makes the decisions, she never was, and she never will be. If my parents are on side, your position here is guaranteed. Focus on doing the job to the best of your ability rather than what everyone else may think of you, Matilda and Mr Warrington included."

Robert was right, though I still couldn't shake the sense of dread that was building up within me. Matilda might not have been the one making the decision, deciding my fate, but at any moment she could do something that would bring it all crashing down. When I first arrived, Robert mentioned how easily Matilda had managed to get rid of all the other maids they had had before me and that was what scared me. She had gotten rid of others before me, so what would stop her from coming up with something to get rid of me? Something told me she would stop at nothing to have me removed, especially after her earlier threat.

"Are you expected to return to the kitchen for something else to do?" Robert asked, pulling me from my thoughts. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, but I expect he already knew the answer to that question.

"Yes. I doubt Miss Jenkins will give me the evening off just because I put Zachariah to bed. Besides, I had an earlier night last night, so I need to make up for it."

"I think you've already made up for it. You cleaned the entire drawing room on your own this morning as well as a whole manner of other tasks, honestly Rosie, you have nothing to prove after yesterday, especially since it wasn't your fault."

"It's fine, I'm not as tired as you might think."

"If you say so, though you are a little pale." He paused. "Before you say anything, I'm just saying that to get you to go accept the fact you don't have to prove yourself, you are genuinely quite pale."

"I'm always pale," I said, laughing to myself.

"Hm. We'll see what Miss Jenkins has to say about that."

I knew I couldn't fight him on this one. Robert's face showed me he was determined to get me out of doing any work, under the guise that I happened to be paler than normal. I found the whole thing to be a little ridiculous, but I wasn't going to argue. Miss Jenkins hardly seemed like the type of person who would give someone time off just because they looked a little pale, so I had my doubts that Robert's plan was going to succeed. Although I had been up longer than anyone and had done more work, I didn't mind doing other tasks that may have been asked of me. Working gave me something to do.

Robert and I walked down to the kitchens together, neither of us saying anything as we went. I wanted to turn around and tell him that he was being silly, that there was no need for me to have the rest of the evening off, but I knew he wouldn't listen. It seemed to me that whenever Robert had an idea in his mind, he was going to carry it out, even if the success was unlikely. His determination was something to be admired, but I wasn't looking forward to watching it all come crashing down around him, especially if Miss Jenkins was the one bringing it down.

As we entered the kitchen, Miss Jenkins turned from the sink to face us, the plate in her hand almost dropping to the floor. It was unusual for any of the Ealing family to be in the kitchen, let alone two in one day. All we needed now was Matilda and Charlotte to join us, though that was as unlikely as the foreman admitting to what he had done.

"Master Robert, what are you doing here?" Miss Jenkins asked, placing the plate onto the table and glaring at me as if I had done something wrong.

"I bumped into Rosie after she had put Zachariah to bed, I thought I would come and see if there was anything I could steal," Robert said.

"There are some spare tarts in the pantry if you want them, but don't eat all of them," Miss Jenkins said, looking at Robert. She then turned to me. "How was Zachariah? He was so energetic at supper I thought you'd still be up there."

"He was fine, we read the start of a book together and he eventually nodded off."

"The reading appears to have put Rosie to sleep to," Robert said, stuffing a tart into his mouth. I hadn't even noticed he had left the room.

"That may be the case, but she still has work to do as I am sure you have other places to be."

"I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear that I don't have anywhere else to go, hence the strawberry tarts. I was actually wondering if I could have a word with you, specifically about Rosie." Miss Jenkins turned to look at me with a glare that could have sent the foreman running had the two of them ever met.

"Go on," Miss Jenkins said, as though was expecting the worst.

Why she assumed I had done something wrong in the first place surprised me, anything I might have one wrong was purely accidental and Robert had proven, more than once, that he wasn't likely to tell anyone if I were to do anything wrong. Her quick assumption unnerved me slightly. It was as though she didn't trust me, as though the persona she had been given me over the previous days had been nothing more than a front, covering how she really felt. If that were the case, if everything I had been a cover-up, I wasn't too sure I wanted to know what she really thought of me.

"It's nothing bad, anyone who can put Zachariah to bed that quickly deserves praise in my book. I just wanted a second opinion on whether Rosie looks paler than usual, I noticed it upstairs and she refuses to believe me."

"I told you, I'm always pale and I always have been. I don't know what you're getting at, but other than feeling a little tired there is nothing wrong with me."

"Hm, it might be the lighting, but I think I'm inclined to agree. I was going to give you some tasks to complete this evening but if you do have an illness coming on, no doubt caused by the bucket incident yesterday. Nonetheless, we cannot risk this growing into something worse so I'm going to send you to bed, Esther won't mind doing a few extra jobs for me."

"There's nothing wrong with me."

"That may be the case, but it is better to be safe than sorry. You've been up longer than anyone so take the extra few hours in bed and I'll wake you up tomorrow, don't get up before then."

Knowing I wasn't going to be able to fight it, I left Robert and Miss Jenkins in the kitchen and headed up mine and Esther's room. A small candle had been placed on the side table and was flickering softly, illuminating the room in a warm glow. Sighing, I changed out of my work dress and into my nightdress, slathering my arm in burn paste before climbing under the blankets and into bed. I could hear the low hum of conversations coming from the kitchen and tried to block it out before eventually falling asleep, hoping nothing more was to come of the situation.

I didn't want to go back to feeling useless.  

~~~

A/N - Chapter Eighteen is here! I'm concerned about how far we're burning through the book, but we are roughly halfway there now which is scary in itself... I don't know how to feel xD 

Also, unfortunately, my laptop broke the other day so whatever I had written of Chapter Nineteen is gone (luckily this was saved as a draft before hand). My plan is to get Chapter Nineteen finished on time, but I will keep you updated if that fails.

Moving on! What did you guys think of the chapter? Am I the only one who finds Zachariah adorable? He's just too cute! What about the ending? Do you think Rosie is sick or just weirdly pale?

Comment below!

Dedication - This chapter is dedicated to calmwolf who is just a great friend of mine and I can't believe I have never dedicated a chapter to hed before! Go follow her, my dudes!

First Published - January 22nd, 2019