𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𑁍 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 (Hetty Feather)

𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𑁍 1

So life went on.

Days bled into weeks, weeks bled into months, and soon, it became six of them since Rose had been Ida.

But some things were still the same.

Will and Rose were still going strong, and Ned was more happy for them than disdainful. Harriet and Mathias, too. Sheila and Rose were still at odds and so was Vince with the boys, but that was never going to change.

But none of that really mattered.

Rose missed Ida more and more everyday.

Yes, she loved Will, and Ned, and Harriet, and all the other boys but... it wasn't the same.

They weren't a mother.

𑁍𑁍𑁍

After an assembly about how most would be leaving the hospital soon (six months), Rose and Sheila went back to the kitchens. They had been put back on kitchen duty because of Ida's leave (or firing), and now were there almost everyday.

So Rose was in the kitchen, sitting at the table alone, blindly peeling potatoes.

"Rose!"

Her name made her ears quirk up, and she looked round, seeing Nurse Winterson.

She ran up to her and she whispered hurriedly. "Ida came to the back gate."

"Ida? What- when?" Rose asked. "You saw her?"

"She couldn't say," Winterson explained. "She asked me to give you this."

She gave her a small bit of paper, which no doubt had a letter scrawled on it.

"Keep it hidden," Winterson warned as Rose took it eagerly.

"Thank you," Rose told her as she walked off, running into the pantry to read it.

There were tears in her eyes as she opened it, and she knew she would cry, even just reading it.

Dear Rose,

I want you to know that I'm safe and well. I've been living in the workhouse, and even though it's really hard, I made a promise to myself. Every time I hear the church bells over the noise of the city, or catch a glimpse of the busy river, I think of you.

But thanks to the kindness of the gatekeeper's wife, I hope to move on from here. Wherever I am, wherever I go, I want you to know that I'll always think of you.

I'll never stop loving you, Rose.

Your dear mother,

Ida-

"Ida?"

Sheila's voice made Rose jump up and snatch the letter to her chest.

"Don't you dare snitch!" She snapped.

Sheila scoffed. "You know, just because you have a little sweetheart now, doesn't mean you're protected from everything."

Rose walked past her, purposefully slamming their shoulders together as she did.

She ran up the steps and out the kitchen, still clutching the letter.