A Broken Promise

Chapter 16

When she entered the kitchen it was a mad house.

"Oh, Ms. Dawson, thank goodness you're here.  What are we going to do?" Ruth was sitting behind Ms. Levitt while Mrs. Charles was talking on the phone in quiet tones. Georgia looked back at Ms. Levitt and saw the she was holding a bloody towel to her hand.

Putting two and two to together she quickly went over to the stove and turned off the burners then walked back to Ms. Levitt and sat in front of her.  She looked faint. "Ms. Levitt, can you hear me?" Georgia asked softly.

"Yes, my dear." She reached out with her good hand and rested it on her arm. "It's good your home."

She felt tears come to her eyes at the welcome. "That's nice to hear." She squeezed her hand. "It looks like I arrived just in time.  Tell me what was for dinner." Taking in her hand and her condition she knew that there was no way she would be able to handle the preparation of dinner.

"Oh dear, I had forgotten about dinner." She looked over her shoulder at the steaming pot and tried to rise but Georgia placed her hand firmly on her shoulder forcing her back down. "We'll take care of that but can you tell me what you had planned?"

"There's a menu," she waved her hand vaguely, "but who will cook it?"

"I'm no Ms. Levitt but I'll manage," Georgia said as Mrs. Charles approached them.

"It's time to go Ms. Levitt." Mrs. Charles said as she and Ruth each took an arm.  "My son is here to take you to the hospital.  Mr. Charles had to take Mr. Mailler so we had to call in reinforcements."

"But dinner," Ms. Levitt objected.

"It's fine Ms. Levitt, Ruth will help me and no one will be the wiser." It took all three women to get her out the door and into the car.  Mrs. Charles went with her while Ruth stood next to Georgia as they watched the car leave.

"What do you know about cooking?" She turned to look at Ruth.

"The basics." They looked at each other seriously and then started to laugh. "What will we do?" Ruth finally asked a few moments later, out of breath. Their laughter had been the release of worried energy and had lifted Ruth spirits.

"Oh, I can cook but I'll need help. I'll have to be upstairs and downstairs. Where are the others?" There were generally two other maids.

"They're upstairs unpacking. You're in your old room by the way." Ruth moved back into the kitchen and picked up her cleaning supplies. "I'll get the blood cleaned up, that should be first."

"And I'll have a look at the menu."

"It's good to have you back Ms. Dawson.  We all missed you when you left." She looked at her hands as they played with a sponge.

"What is it you want to say Ruth?  I would like the air between us to be clear."

"Oh it is, none of us believed any of what Molly said, about you attacking Mr. Mailler."

"I didn't attack him but I did kiss him Ruth. She wasn't lying about that." She had to be honest with the girl.

"But why? And he didn't seem very angry that night, at least not with you."

"I consider you a friend Ruth so I'll be as honest as possible. There was a very good reason for my kissing Mr. Mailler. I can't tell you what it was but he knows why and let's just say it saved him from an awkward position."

"But it put you in one?" Ruth was watching her closely.

"All I stood to lose was my job. There would have been a lot more lost if I hadn't kissed him"