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

Chapter Fourteen

"I suppose, we shall have to wait and see what happens," I said, continuing to dust off the books without thinking too much about the end of my trial. The end of the two weeks was approaching faster than I thought they would, and I didn't want to think about it coming to an end when I felt I had done little to earn a permanent place with the family.

"Don't sell yourself short, Rosie. You'll be fine, the twins have grown to love you, especially Charlotte and the house has never been cleaner now that the chores are spread between three of you. Between you and me, you are certain to stay on."

"I'll believe it when it happens, for now, I need to finish dusting the books and then track down Charlotte. I promised I would do her hair for her tonight."

"That's actually why I'm here. Mother thought you might want these, seeing as you lost most of yours in the river."

From his pocket, Robert produced a package wrapped with string. He handed it to me and watched as I untied the string and removed the brown paper, revealing a small pile of hairpins that resembled the few I had left. I ran my fingers over the pins before quickly stuffing the package into the pocket of my apron, making sure there was no chance for them to fall out whilst I finished cleaning the room. There were still plenty of shelves to clean and with Robert having appeared out of nowhere, it felt as though it was going to take a long time.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll let you get to it, Mother wanted me to check in with Miss Jenkins, though I'm not sure I want to step into the lion's den."

With a small smile and wave in my direction, Robert turned and walked away, the sound of his shoes receding as he disappeared down to the kitchen. Sighing, I snatched up the cloth and continued to dust the room, moving from book to book and shelf to shelf until not a speck of dust was left on any of the books. Why I had been asked to clean the Library was a mystery to me seeing as it hadn't been used in so long and it seemed unlikely that the party would gravitate to a room full of books. Had I not been confined to the kitchen for the evening, I would gladly have spent that time going through the books and trying to decipher just what they were saying.

Knowing the prospect of spending the evening in the Library was across the sky as likely as Matilda allowing me to go to the party, I stuffed the cloth in my pocket and left the room, climbing the stairs to Charlotte's bedroom to get her ready for the evening ahead. The cloth and hairpins in my pocket slapped against my legs as I climbed the stairs two at a time, my legs starting to ache the further up the stairs I climbed. Reaching the landing, I crossed the hallway towards Charlotte's room, pausing just outside of one of the large windows that looked out onto the trees.

The sun was just starting to set beyond the horizon, turning the sky a pale pink as the sun slipped behind the trees. Clouds were dotted sporadically across the sky, each one a deep purple colour as it reflected the fading sun. Shadows of the trees lined the edge of the woods, with the river just catching the reflection of the sky. One of my favourite things to do at the factory was to stare out of the small gap in the dormitory and watch the sunset. We were usually able to catch the end of the sunset during the Summer months, but in Winter we always missed it. That sunset was our connection to the outside world, we knew other people would be looking up at the sunset the same as we were. It may have been insignificant to others, but to us, it was a sign that other people were out there.

Leaving the window and the sunset behind, I knocked lightly on Charlotte's door and let myself in, catching her dart from one side of the room to the other and throw herself onto the bed. I struggled to contain my laughter as Charlotte sat on the edge of the bed, acting as though she hadn't just run across the room. Whether she had just been doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing was none of my concern, I just had to get her dressed and looking presentable for the party.