The Factory Girl // Book 1 in the Rosie Grey series

Chapter Ten

The current dragged me further downstream, pulling me under as I fought to keep my head above the water. I flailed against the surface, reaching out to try and grab hold of anything to stop me from flowing too far from where I had left Zachariah on the bank. Nothing seemed to work and every time I grabbed hold of something, it was torn away from me by the force of the water. The longer I fought, the harder it was to stay afloat, the energy I had started out with had faded. The time I had to get out of the water was diminishing along with my strength.

Trying one last time, I jumped up against the back, reaching out to grab hold of anything that could pull me out of the water. My fingers scraped across a tree root, just missing the opportunity to snatch on to it and haul myself to safety. As I fell back into the water, something grabbed hold of my wrist and tugged me hard out of the water. Once most of my body had been pulled from the water, I used my left arm to pull myself the rest of the way up the embankment. Collapsing on the grass, I started to cough up all the water I had swallowed. My lungs and throat ached as the water spurted out of my mouth and on to the ground in front of me.

"You're alright, you're alright," Robert's voice said, his hand on the small of my back as I continued to cough up vast amounts of river water.

"I'll take it from here, Robert. You should go and check on your brother," Miss Jenkins said.

"Very well." Robert's hand lingered on my back for a moment before he got up and walked over to Zachariah, leaving me and Miss Jenkins on the embankment.

"Let's get you inside so we can warm you up," Miss Jenkins said, her arm wrapping around my damp shoulders and pulling me into a standing position.

With her arms still wrapped around my shoulder, Miss Jenkins led me away from the river and back towards the house. Behind me, Robert's voice faded into the background as Miss Jenkins kept me close and steered me through the side door and into the kitchen where Esther was waiting with a blanket in arms. Miss Jenkins forced me into one a chair that had been pushed close to the burner whilst Esther draped the blanket over my body, though it became damp rather than doing anything to warm me up.

"What on earth happened, Rosie? I asked you to clean the parlour and the next we know Samuel is running in here telling us you had gone into the river after Zachariah," Miss Jenkins said, putting the kettle on the stove to heat up.

"I-I saw Zachariah go into the t-trees with his ball, decided to follow him when he fell," I said, my teeth chattering and my throat hoarse and scratchy from coughing up the water.

"Why did you not come back to the house? Or asked Samuel to help? Anything would have been better than going into the river yourself, that water is rough on the best of days."

"T-there wasn't time. By t-the time I got b-back to the house, he m-might have drowned."

"Well, we should be thankful you were there." Miss Jenkins turned to look at Esther. "Go and fetch another blanket, this one is going to do nothing if it is already damp. Oh, and a towel as well, that might be better suited to the current conditions."

"Of course," Esther said, removing the current blanket from my shoulder that had become damp and disappeared from the room and out into the hallway.

Miss Jenkins set about being her usual whirlwind self, grabbing teacups from a cupboard and pouring the now boiling water from the kettle into a teapot. I sat at the chair watching her move around, my dress sticking to me and small goosebumps forming along my arms. The small flickering fire did little to warm me or dry off my clothes so, I sat there, shivering from the cold and waiting for Esther to return with the towel and blanket. My lungs and throat still burned from the water and every now and then, I would cough up a small amount of the water I had swallowed, using the sleeve of my dress to soak it up.