Will and Testament // Sequel to the Rosie Grey series

Chapter Fourteen

The moment the front door had been closer, we were set upon by several small children.

Mrs Davidson offered me a sheepish smile and then proceeded to try and round them up into one of the other rooms so they weren't filling the hallway. I could barely move for small children. I stood awkwardly in the entranceway, unsure how to act or behaviour or even what I should do beyond standing there. From the other room, I could hear the clamour of children and couldn't but wonder if they were all Mrs Davidson's or if some were just visiting.

Evelyn appeared at the top of the stairs with a smile on her face, oblivious to the amount of noise coming from the other room.

"Hello!" she exclaimed running down the stairs.

I smile. "Hello."

"You can take your hat off and leave it there." She gestured to a coat stand by the door. "We can put your case in my room."

"Alright." I removed my hat and placed it on the stand before following Evelyn up the stairs, glancing briefly towards the drawing-room where the noise was coming from.

"Don't worry about them. My younger sister thought she would invite some friends over too, something about feeling left out." Evelyn shrugged.

"How many siblings do you have?"

"Four. An older brother and sister and then two younger sisters. I'm the middle child."

"Must be better than an only child."

Evelyn laughed. "I guess. It can be a bit annoying, though. But I have my own room."

I shook my head and laughed before following Evelyn up the stairs and down a thin hallway with doors lining the wall. Some of the doors were propped open and I peered in when I passed. One had two small beds inside on either side of the wall with a singular nightstand in middle. Neither of the beds had been made and each one had a small teddy bear on it; I deduced that the room had to belong to Evelyn's younger sisters.

We passed a washroom and another closed door before coming to a room at the end of the hallway. Evelyn opened the door to reveal a small room, most of the space overtaken by a large bed against the wall, just beside a window that looked out onto the city. A small dresser leant against the other room with a large painting above it. There wasn't much room for anything else, the bed took up too much space.

"We'll have to share the bed, we wouldn't be able to fit another one in here," Evelyn said, a blush rising in her cheeks.

"That's fine." I smiled.

"Martha and Frances have been told they're not allowed in here under any circumstances and that they're to leave us alone." She looked at me with a reassuring smile. "You can put your case on the dresser, then I can introduce you to Nancy."

I nodded and stepped into the room, tiptoeing around the bed to reach the dresser where I gently placed my suitcase on top of it. Leaving the case latched, I made my way back around to Evelyn who gestured for me to follow her back down the hallway and towards one of the other rooms with a closed door. She raised her fist and knocked lightly, eliciting a quiet response from within.

Evelyn opened the door and gestured me inside, I followed but it felt odd to do so. I had never spent the night at another person's house before because I had never been invited so I had no idea what the rules or etiquette of that sort of event would entail. There had to be rules about what I could or couldn't do and just walking into someone else's bedroom, especially someone I didn't know, just didn't feel right. It was all a little too uncomfortable for my liking.

Inside, a woman several years older than the two of us sat at a small writing desk that faced out of the room. She looked up when she saw us and smiled, placing her pen down on the table and standing up from the chair. Her blonde hair had been pinned up on the back of her head and she wore what appeared to be a hobble skirt, white blouse and a jacket.