There's No Place Like Rhodes (Book 2)

Epilogue: Saturday Afternoons

Karen had arrived in Chicago at the beginning of November, but it'd taken time for all the proper documentation to be drawn up, signed and land in the correct hands. Finally, on December 20th, Rosie was formally discharged from Schofield Sanatorium.

Next, her and Rosie worked hard to set up the neglected house in Groveland Park. Once Howard released her funds, Rosie used as many connections as she could to find staff to manage the house while Karen cleaned it in the meantime. It had taken all winter to bring the place back to life, even with Ben's unexpected offer to volunteer his free time over the weekends. Eventually, it all came together.

Then the hard part came about: they had to learn how to live with each other. Karen already knew Rosie as a blunt woman. She'd been like that since they'd first met and it led to them snapping at each other on occasion, Karen giving as good as she got.

Rosie extracted her claws fully when she felt any weakness of the body that she didn't want to admit to. Karen tried not to take it personally. Rosie wasn't any worse than Arthur grouching all day when he'd been feeling miserable. Besides, she suspected Rosie mostly feared Howard finding out of any illness and getting sent back to the care facility. Because of this, and despite their arrangement, Karen had had to earn Rosie's trust.

A day came when Rosie fell ill with a light cough, too exhausted to get out of bed. Karen had dismissed the servants for the rest of the afternoon. She'd made Rosie herbal tea and soup, keeping her company for the remainder of the day. When she fell asleep, Karen had stayed near, reading a novel and checking on her frequently.

A few days later, when Rosie regained her energy, she'd stumbled through expressing her gratitude, but Karen had brushed it off. As she saw it, she'd only been doing what she'd been hired to do. From that day on, Rosie was more at ease and the rest of their living arrangement went smoothly.

Once the house was fully established, Rosie turned to teaching her how to interact properly in polite society in order to serve as her companion during their weekly outings. Just in time too, as they'd started to receive invites over the summer, once rumor of Rosie's return into society had circumvented the gossip mill.

Actually, the number of outings had grown into a menace lately, which included the one they were leaving from this afternoon...

"I don't know why we bother going to tea with those ninnies," Karen said, following Rosie into the carriage that awaited them. "It always ends up in you insulting the hostess."

"Howard requires me to make an appearance once a week, as you well know." Rosie spread her skirt as she settled back in her seat wearily. "Being dismissed from their company guarantees the shortest amount of time while meeting his quota."

There weren't as many visits from Howard Dorsch as Karen had originally expected, but he did drop a call to the house once or twice a week for a brief chat. The conversations had recently bottled down to Karen confirming Rosie's health was fine, her handing the phone off to Rosie, who snapped out a few crisp words to her brother before hanging up.

As of late, Howard seemed to have given up on checking in. Whether that was because he'd fully accepted Karen as Rosie's caretaker or because he was too preoccupied with his nearest, newest grandchild from Clark and Felicity, she didn't know.

"Besides," A mischievous twinkle glittered in Rosie's eyes. "I do so enjoy rubbing in their faces that I am still alive."

"Hell, I don't blame you. Some of them women piss me off with their own veiled insults. Least you got the decency to lay it out straight." Karen leaned back in her seat. "Either way, I'm sure ready to relax at the house for the rest of the day."