Love & Reputation (HC #3.5)

9: Spill the Tea

Please note, I have added about 1500 words to chapter 3 (the one with Greer) which provides more context on Alex and Rosemary's relationship when they were kids. Please so give it a read! xx Flo 

Rosemary rolled over in her bed, staring at the decorative moulding on the ceiling above her. She had become quite familiar with the design across the course of a sleepless night, and looking at the detailed leaves now only filled her with resentment. It was not the plaster's fault though; it was hers.

With a sigh, she pushed back the covers and slipped out of bed, ringing for a maid to help her dress. Part of her – a large part – considered calling up for tea and hiding in her room all day, but that would not help. That would only put off the inevitable.

There was a faint knock at the door.

"Come in."

One of the maids entered quickly, her gaze fixed on the floor as she dipped a curtsy in greeting. Then, so quickly that Rosemary might have thought she imagined it, her eyes flicked up to scour Rose from head to toe. And then she was staring at the floor again, her cheeks warmed by a blush.

Rose's heart gave one forceful thump in her chest, and she swallowed. "The cream dress please Anna," she managed to say.

The moment the last of the buttons was clasped at the cuff of her wrist, Anna was curtsying and scurrying from the room, leaving Rose blinking into the space the woman had occupied. The maid's strange behaviour could not be related to the dress – it was a rather pretty off-white colour with embroidered pink flowers at the hem – which left only Rose as the reason for the awkward behaviour.

And her newly tainted reputation.

"Goodness," she said, her words barely loud enough for her own ears, "News does travel fast."

For a brief moment, she considered staying hidden away for the day. But then that would tell the world that she was ashamed of something.

"And I am not ashamed."

Rose took a fortifying breath, feeling the fabric strain across her ribcage, and straightened her shoulders, before reaching for the door handle and stepping out into the hallway. She found Anna, still outside the door, with her head bowed in whispered conversation to another maid. Struck still in the doorway, she watched as Anna covered her mouth to stifle a giggle, and then turned her head to cast a surreptitious glance at the door to Rosemary's room.

Instead she found Rose watching her.

The maid let out a squeak of surprise, and ducked into a curtsy. She needn't have bothered, however; Rosemary was already moving.

With every step that put the gossipy maid behind her, she seemed to encounter another member of the household staff. Maids, footmen, the butler... each new appraisal turned the nervousness that had been swirling in her stomach into a pool of dread. She fixed her chin high and refused to meet anyone's gaze, striding deliberately through the house. She barely paused when she reached the sitting room, the doors flying open as she stepped inside.

Fours sets of wide eyes found her face, staring at her as she loomed in the doorway. Her mother sat closest, her lips parted as she blinked at her eldest daughter. Her hand rested on her younger daughter's knee, and as Victoria leant forward to smile widely at her, Rosemary was fairly certain she saw their mother's grip tighten. In the armchair furthest from the door was Greer, her hands folded lightly in the lap of her green dress. And then, perhaps most horrifyingly, on the chaise on Rosemary's left sat Cordelia Kilroy, whose surprise at Rose's sudden appearance had transformed into something far more terrifying; a small, secretive smile.