The next morning, I awoke in a far better mood then I had been when I went to bed the previous evening. The prospect of my afternoon off was always enough to brighten my mood, and that Sunday was no exception. Whilst Esther preferred to spend her afternoons mending her stockings or holes in her dress, I always spent mine down at the river and trying to improve my reading skills. Even with the weather starting to turn, my trips to the river were always my favourite part of the week.

Pushing the blankets off my legs, I rolled my right shoulder and stretched my left arm behind my back. My shoulder felt better than it had the previous day with only a small amount of pain running down my arm as I moved it. To me, it was a sign that things might just start working themselves out. If my shoulder no longer caused me pain whenever I moved it, then I could continue my chores the next day without the risk of damaging it any further; or dropping another bucket of water. I was optimistic that things would finally start to return to a sense of normalcy.

I stretched my neck out slightly before climbing off the edge of the bed and crossing the room to the chest of drawers. Esther muttered something in her sleep and rolled onto her side as I tugged open the drawer and produced a pale pink dress that I wore to Sunday service. Mrs Ealing wasn't too impressed at the thought of me getting a Sunday dress alongside two work dresses and a pair of boots. Although Mrs Ealing was none too happy, Matilda gladly handed over one of her old dresses so I wouldn't end up attending service in my grey dress.

Esther rolled over once more as I tugged the dress on and fastened the lace

of my boots as tightly as possible to keep them secure. Pinning my hair up in a knot and jamming my bonnet on my head, I left Esther to her sleep-talking and headed down the stairs towards the kitchen. Sunday's were always the quieter days in the house as everyone slept in until it was time to leave for the service. Whilst most Servants attended their own service in London, the Ealing's attended an open service where all were invited, servants and masters, alike. Esther said Mrs Ealing was none too happy with the arrangement, but there was nothing she could do about it.

With the house wrapped in a blanket of silence and Miss Jenkins most likely still in bed, I grabbed a small glass from one of the cupboards and filled it up at the sink. As I sipped the water, I glanced around the kitchen, spotting the laundry against the wall where I had left it the previous day. My stomach groaned and ached slightly as my eyes drew to the piece of cherry pie on the table, most likely leftover from the previous night. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast the day before and although I had concluded that eating during the work hours was just a waste of time, eating on a Sunday seemed like a good idea.

"That's yours from last night. You're welcome to have it for breakfast if you wish. It's a Sunday so I won't judge you," Miss Jenkins said, stepping into the kitchen.

"Cherry pie for breakfast? I don't believe I've heard of such a thing," I said, smiling slightly.

"I have. Esther and I have indulged in some treats the day after Christmas, it would have been a shame for the leftovers to go to waste."

"My brothers and I did the same thing, though we usually did it when Mother and Father were still in bed. I expect they knew what we were up to, we were never very subtle about it."

"I'm trying to figure out if your brothers were a bad influence on you or if you were just a trouble maker."

"A bit of both, I suppose."

"Sounds about right. Go on, take the pie. I won't tell if you won't, not that I have anyone to tell."

Miss Jenkins nudged the pie across the table and crossed the room to pull a fork out of one of the drawers. She handed me the fork and gestured to one of the chairs around the table. Smiling, I took the fork and slid into one of the chairs that sat an odd angle. I grabbed the edge of the plate and pulled it towards me. Whilst Miss Jenkins busied herself with getting the morning tea ready for the family, I tucked into the cherry pie. My stomach groaned in appreciation as I almost inhaled the entire slice of pie before Miss Jenkins had boiled the kettle.

Not wanting to give her any more work, I pushed myself up from the chair and turned to face the sink. I quickly washed up the fork and plate and turned back around to face Miss Jenkins. Whenever I had a free second, I did it find it enjoyable to watch Miss Jenkins work. She had the most work to do out of the three of us and she never complained about it, at least I never heard her. Instead, she would quietly get on with the baking and preparing the extravagant food for the family whilst preparing the pitiful meals we ate in the kitchen. She prepared luncheon and supper for the Ealing's and for Esther and I but she never had a bad word to say about it.

I might have complained about having to clean the Library or wash, dry and press the laundry, but that was nothing to the work Miss Jenkins did day in and day out. As I watched her, I knew I had no right to complain over how I was treated or the work I did when she was squirrelled away in the kitchen with Esther and I being the only people to talk to. Although I didn't want to stay a servant for the rest of my life, I hoped that I could one day be as calm and graceful as she was.

"Will you go and wake Esther for me? She becomes a terrible judge of time once it gets to the rainy months," Miss Jenkins said, placing two silver trays on the table.

"Of course, she was muttering to herself when I came down."

"Hm, she does that."

Leaving Miss Jenkins to finish preparing the Sunday trays – usually just a mug of tea and the morning paper for Doctor Ealing – I climbed the stairs up to our room. The hallway was still dark despite the hour as dark clouds filled the sky and blocked out the sun, the few candles that lined the walls flickered. The kitchens and the corridors seemed a lot gloomier with Winter on the horizon, everything was dark and cold. It made the entire space appear more uninviting than it usually did. A little colour wouldn't hurt, but I doubted Mrs Ealing would allow me.

I pushed the door to the bedroom open and crept across the floor, watching out for the creaky floorboard just to the left of the door itself. Tip-toeing over the floorboards, I reached out and lightly touched Esther's arm. She muttered something and tried to roll over but simply moved her body slightly to the right in an attempt to wiggle away from me. Grinning to myself, I lightly shook her arm to try and wake her, but she simply scooted further away until she was pressed up against the wall.

Esther was hard to wake on the best of days, let alone on a day she was allowed to sleep in. Waking her was always difficult. Crossing the room, I grabbed a cloth from the chest of drawers and dunked it into the bucket of water we used to wash our faces before bed and in the morning. I shuffled across the room with the dripping cloth and held it over Esther's face, stifling a giggle as small droplets of water dripped down. As she wiped the back of her hand across her face, I gripped the cloth a little tighter and twisted it, watching the torrent of water rain down her face.

She squealed slightly and sat up, jumping off the bed as the water ran down her face and dropped off her chin. The collar of her nightdress was soaked and the mattress we slept on was spotted with water from the washcloth. Wiping her hands across her face she turned to look at me.

"What on earth was that for?" She exclaimed, dropping her hands to her sides and splattering water across the wood.

"You didn't wake up when I shook your shoulder," I said, biting my lip to keep from laughing.

"Did you not think to call me? I don't want to get Influenza, it's freezing up here and being soaked isn't going to help."

"I apologise, I didn't think," I muttered.

"Never mind, I'll ask Samuel to light the brazier in here so we can get a little bit of heat up here. I'd like my toes to stay where they are." She glanced down at her wet nightdress before looking back up. "Go and tell Miss Jenkins I'm coming, I need to get out of this and let it dry."

"Alright."

I left Esther to change and retreated from the room and back down to the kitchen where Miss Jenkins added the last of the tea instruments to the tray alongside the morning paper. Whilst she finished up, I pressed my hands against the back of one of the chairs and watched the clouds move across the sky through the small window. Everything outside of the kitchen looked so dull and drab and it made the kitchen look the same way.

When I was a child, Mother would never let a room become so dark and cloudy. Winter would approach and she would fill the house with as much colour as she could, even going as far as to paint the walls bright yellow. To her, the light was everything. She said that if a room was bright and cheerful, a person was as well. For years I never quite knew what she was talking about until I went to the factory. There, everything was grey, and dark, and miserable and It made us all feel the same way for as long as we were in those walls. I wished the kitchen was a little brighter, a little happier.

"Your friend Mathias delivered our paper this morning, it seems he's gotten himself a little Sunday job," Miss Jenkins said.

"How did he seem?" I asked.

"Quite well. He seems to be doing remarkably well with the prosthetic arm Mrs Lewis got for him."

"I'm glad, I haven't seen him that much recently."

"He mentioned being in London most of the time, you should keep an eye out for him when you next go to the office." She paused. "Esther will be taking the tea trays this morning. When she is done, we will set off for Church."

"Very well."

I knew it was coming, but I didn't mind all that much. With my shoulder looking as though it was on the mend, I didn't want to do anything that may have jeopardised that and carrying a tea tray might have put that at risk. Instead, I took a seat on one of the chairs and stared at the tea trays as Esther traipsed down the stairs, grabbed a piece of toast and grabbed the first tray by the handles. She quickly left the room with the tea tray and the toast stuffed in her mouth whilst I tapped my nails on the table and tried to distract myself from the boredom that would no doubt set in the longer I sat at the table.

Luckily for me, it didn't take long for Esther to complete the rounds and pass out all of the tea trays and before I knew it, the three of us were walking up the gravel path and towards London. Whilst the family took the carriages, the servants would always leave early in the morning and arrive just before they did. Sometimes, we were joined by the twin's Nursery Maid, other times it was just the three of us. I preferred the walk in the Summer when there was a fine breeze the sun shining in the sky. Winter was just wet and cold.

Walking to Church that morning felt like walking into the icebox without any clothes on. The wind felt bitter against my skin, causing small goosebumps to form whilst the clouds overhead were dark and looked as though they were going to burst open any moment. The further we walked, the tighter I drew my shawl around my shoulders to fight against the chill and the cold air. There was little doubt in my mind that the church was going to feel the exact same way; cold, dark and gloomy. church was dull on the best of days, but least in the Summer, there was the light coming through the stained-glass windows and creating patterns on the floor to keep me occupied.

Esther, Mrs Jenkins and I arrived at the church just before the Ealing's had, Robert gave a small smile as he climbed from the carriage whilst Mrs Ealing simply ignored me. I wanted nothing more than to escape into the church and get out of the chill, but the Ealing's always wanted people to see them outside the church with their servants. Robert said it had something to do with keeping up appearances.

"Rosie, is that you?" Matthew's voice cut through the noise and low whispers of those around us as we stood outside the church.

"Hello, Matthew," I said, watching him emerge from the crowd with a red-haired woman and a small child in tow.

"Doctor Ealing, nice to see you. If it's alright with you, I'll visit your office on Tuesday so you can look at my hand," Matthew said.

"That's fine with me, Mr Greyson."

"I want my treehouse!" The boy complained, stamping his foot on the ground and folding his arms over his chest.

"And you'll get it, eventually." Matthew crouched down so he was level with the boy. "Sebastian, this is your Aunty Rosie, can you say hello?"

"Don't want to."

"Sebastian, be polite."

"It's fine, Matthew, honestly," I said, smiling at him. Matthew nodded to show gratitude before he pushed himself up.

"Rosie, this is my wife Lily," he said gesturing to the red-haired woman.

"It's nice to meet you at last. Ever since he saw you at the start of the week, he hasn't stopped talking about you."

"It's nice to meet you too."

"Shall we go in?" Doctor Ealing said, looking a little uncomfortable by what was going on.

No one said anything, they knew better than to argue with him when it came to church and Matthew didn't look as though he wanted to get on the wrong side of Doctor Ealing. I glanced at Esther who shrugged her shoulders as we followed the Ealing's into the building, the air just as cold inside as it was outside. Despite the Ealing's volunteering to attend church with their servants, they would never go as far as to sit with us – something Mrs Ealing was adamant about – so they went to the front of the church whilst the three of us slid into some pews near the back.

Matthew, Lily and Sebastian joined as at the back of the church, with Sebastian looking none too pleased to be attending church; I didn't blame him. We didn't have to attend church back at the factory as we worked every day no matter what the holiday may have been. Finding out I had to attend church with the Ealing's was a little bit of a shock and not something I was all that pleased with. I would have rather spent the morning cleaning the house from top to bottom then to sit and listen to the priest. His voice was dull and monotone, and the church was too cold to concentrate.

Although I may not have been paying attention, I still had to stand when necessary for the hymns and mutter along with everyone else during the prayers. Matthew, however, wasn't having all that much luck with Sebastian who refused to stand and looked as though he was about to burst into tears whenever the priest started talking. Miss Jenkins would look over at tut at Sebastian whilst Esther and I had to fight down the urge to laugh whenever Matthew dragged him to get him to stand up. Sebastian was almost the spitting image of Matthew when he was a boy, even in church.

When the collection plate came around, Matthew handed a penny over to Sebastian who refused to put it into the plate and Matthew had to wrestle it out of his grip. Miss Jenkins, Esther and I also put pennies in, a small piece of the money I was paid for my work. I wasn't paid much, but after six months I had collected a fair amount and never forgot to put a penny in the plate, even if I didn't care all that much for what the priest was saying.

"I'm sorry about Sebastian, he has really poor concentration skills when asked to sit down for long periods. Reminds me of someone else," Matthew said to Miss Jenkins as we stood outside the church. As he spoke, he glanced at me and raised an eyebrow as I fought down a laugh or insult.

"I completely understand, the twins also struggle to concentrate when asked," Miss Jenkins replied.

"I can only imagine it's worse with two then it is with one. Nonetheless, it's only one day a week so I'm sure he'll improve, right little man?" Matthew ruffled Sebastian's hair and grinned at him, but Sebastian said nothing.

"He spends so much of his time outside, he never sits still when asked. I'd hate to imagine what he will be like in school next year," Lily muttered.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, darling."

"We should go and find Doctor Ealing, find out his plans for this afternoon," Miss Jenkins said.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could borrow Rosie for the rest of the day. I understand she should have this afternoon off and we're meeting with James and his wife Kitty for something to eat. I'd love for Rosie to join us, James really wants to see her."

"That'll be up to Rosie seeing as it is her time off."

"I don't see why not, I'd have to see James eventually and I don't see the point in putting it off any longer," I said, running my thumb over the burn scar on my hand.

"Very well, I'll let Doctor Ealing know."

"I'll have her back before dark, don't worry."

"I expect you will. Rosie, we shall see you later." Miss Jenkins took a step forward and leaned close to my head. "Enjoy yourself"

"I will."

Miss Jenkins stepped back and lightly squeezed my upper arm. Esther gave me a small smile and wave before the two of them disappeared into the crowd and I was left with my brother and his family. I may have agreed to have something to eat with James, but the mere thought of seeing him again was terrifying.

~~~

A/N - And here we are, Chapter Nine! Just to let you guys know, I have three chapters written for future updates and I'll be working on the forth very shortly! I've been writing a lot lately but having these chapters done means I can do uni work and the chapters aren't written at the last minute xD

Anyways, to the chapter! Rosie having cherry pie for breakfast is what I dream of xD Also, we're back with Matthew! How do you guys feel about his wife and son? Sebastian seems like a handful! Was Rosie right to agree to meet James? Do you think it will go well?

Comment below!

Dedication - This chapter is dedicated to KimTracey2 who voted and commented on The Factory Girl and it meant a lot to me :)

First Published - July 23rd, 2019