"Kitty and I will be back this afternoon. There is no one booked in for any meetings today and I know I can trust you to schedule them if anyone comes in asking. Beyond that, it should be a rather quiet day. Christopher said he would stop by later and Matthew is working not too far away so if you run into any problems, they are to be your first port of call. Don't try to fix the problem yourself and don't break anything," James said as he slipped his arms into his jacket.

"I know, I know. So what happens if one of the shelves fall and I get crushed?" I asked.

"Your mind works in mysterious ways, Rosie Posie." He poked me on the nose.

"Don't do that."

"James," Kitty warned.

"I'm coming. Remember, don't break anything."

"Just go."

James scrunched his face up and buttoned up the front of his jacket as Kitty wrapped a scarf around her neck and held the door open for him. A cold breeze blasted into the room and I instinctively pulled my shawl tighter around me to fight it off as they disappeared out into the cold and leaving me alone in the shop. The cold air lingered in the shop a little while longer, but the snow had yet to fall on the ground and I had started to think it would never fall. James had said it was cold enough, but God thought he would disrupt my plans to build a snowman just a while longer.

With James and Kitty gone and the entire shop to myself, I grabbed the small canvas and selection of pains I had bought from the house and settled myself against the cushions of the sofa. I had known it would be a slow day and with the shop organised in its entirety, I would have had nothing to do had Christopher not suggested I bring along something to paint. Had he not mentioned, I would have started to re-organise the shelves again, or eaten all the slabs of toffee I had hidden in various places when James wasn't looking.

He hadn't been all that agreeable when it came to re-organising the shelves and so he never noticed when I slipped slabs of toffee in places he would never check. Were he to find it I'd have to explain myself but he had never been the most observant of people so I had my doubts it would ever be discovered.

I pulled a pencil out from my dress pocket and started to lightly sketch something on the canvas to fill in with the paint. Even with all the time that had passed, I couldn't paint without having a sketch to follow. A basic outline of where I needed to go and what I had in mind always worked better than swiping the paint on the canvas and having no direction in where it would lead. I had always preferred sketching to painting, but it had certainly grown on me since I had done it more often.

The pencil seemed to glide over the canvas as I drew the faint outline of a small stream running alongside trees, some as tall as buildings. Small clouds dotted the sky and I drew the markings for the sun in the top corner. Once the basic outline had been drawn, I pushed myself off the sofa and left the canvas on the table and stepped into the small backroom and through the door at the far end. It opened onto a thin alleyway with walls encasing it. The privy stood at the end, but a small pump had been placed so we could have water. I used the pun to fill up a small glass jar of water before carrying it back to the shop.

The shop had reminded empty whilst I had been outside, so I placed the jar on the table alongside the canvas and crossed to the other side of the room. I bent down to one of the drawers we used for storage and pulled it open, reaching into the back of it and pulling out a slab of toffee. The bell above the door sounded as I closed the drawer and turned around.

"Doctor Ealing, how may I help you?" I asked, swallowing the anxiety that had started to rise when I saw him.

"This may seem like an odd question, but you happen to have any scrap material lying around? I'm low on bandages and need some more for the day," he said.

"We might, I'll see what we have."

"Thank you."

I dropped the toffee onto the sofa and returned to the backroom when I seized the metal bucket, we placed the scraps into until they were taken home. James kept a few of them behind in case he needed them, though he never appeared to so the bucket always ended up being emptied and then refilled time and time again. With any luck, James had left something behind that could be of use to Doctor Ealing. I wanted them out of the office as soon as possible so I wouldn't have to have any conversation with them beyond the usual greetings.

Doctor Ealing had stepped a little further into the shop when I had returned with the bucket, but Robert lingered in the doorway as though he didn't want to come in. I didn't blame him, things between us hadn't ended as he wanted them to, and he had every right to hate or to never speak to me again. If he ever said a word to me, I'd be surprised.

"There we are. There might be something in there of some use, but I can't guarantee it. Most of what James doesn't use ends up back at ours in the end. No idea why," I said, placing the bucket in front of him.

"I'm sure we'll be able to use something, thank you."

The room fell into an awkward silence as Doctor Ealing crouched down to the bucket and started to route through the scraps for anything that could be used as a bandage. Most of the fabric appeared a little impractical for bandage use and James rarely used cotton unless it was for some form of nightwear. I had my doubts they would find anything, but I wasn't one to judge, especially since judging would involve actual conversation and I intended to limit that as much as possible. If he found something, great, if not then it wouldn't be my problem.

Whilst Doctor Ealing rummaged through the bucket, I settled myself back onto the sofa and leant over the table to start painting the canvas. I tried to focus on what I was doing as I put small blobs of paint onto a wooden pallet I had found outback. Doctor Ealing knelt over the bucket and appeared to be taking as much time as he possibly good as I grabbed a paintbrush and dipped it into the paint to start concocting the image on the canvas. I had always found it difficult to concentrate when there was someone else nearby, even if they were not watching me work outright. It had been drawings that got me my second infraction and although they couldn't punish me for it, the fear still existed.

I tried to ignore Doctor Ealing, who appeared to be moving slower than usual, and Robert who still lingered in the doorway as I swiped the paintbrush across the canvas and watched the blue streak appear against the bright white. The first brush stroke could either make or destroy a painting, one wrong stroke and the whole piece of work could be worthless. I managed to make several more strokes on the canvas before Doctor Ealing interrupted me.

"This will do, thank you, Rosie." He clutched onto a pile of white cotton he had found at the bucket of the barrel.

"You're welcome, Sir. James doesn't tend to use cotton all that often, but I could ask him to save it for you. It will be cheaper than buying directly from a factory."

"If your brother doesn't mind."

"He won't, as I said before, it will just end up back at ours. I'm sure he'll be glad to be rid of it."

"Well, thank you. That will be of great help." He paused and glanced down at the handful of cotton. He appeared to be in deep thought.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" I set the paintbrush down and stood up, running my hand over my skirt.

"Not so much something we need help with, but there is something I wish to discuss with you. We didn't get the chance yesterday and I would like to at least clear some of the air between us before Elizabeth returns on Monday."

The penny had dropped. Since Doctor Ealing had entered the office, I knew it had to be about something other than needing extra bandages. During the time I had worked for him, he had never visited a tailor to collect material and I had my doubts about why he would be doing it in the first place. Now he had put it out in the open and I knew I should have seen it earlier. Although I knew he lied about his true intention for visiting, I should have known he would bring up what had happened.

Christopher may have been right about not worrying about any of it, but how could I not worry when Doctor Ealing was forcing me to confront it? The excuses I had been trying to create in my mind for a month were finally going to be put to the test and I didn't know if I could handle that. I could tell him to leave, that we had done business for the day and I had other customers to attend to, but no one visited the shop. No one walked in whilst Doctor Ealing had been searching through the bucket and no looked as though they were to walk in during our meeting.

I had no excuse but to talk to him, though Robert appeared just as unhappy about the idea as I felt. He lingered by the door with his arms hanging by his side and he appeared to be chewing on the inside of his lip, something he always did when he happened to be in deep thought. There was little doubt in my mind that he wanted to be anywhere but in the shop. He most likely would have taken someone on their death bed than me. I didn't blame him.

"I suppose we were going to have to discuss it eventually," I said.

"Father, we have patients to see, shouldn't they come first?" Robert said, speaking for the first time since he had walked through the door.

"I know you don't want to be here, Robert. Why don't you take these and complete our rounds, as usual, I'll see you back at the office later." Doctor Ealing handed him the pile of cotton.

"Fine," Robert grumbled. He tucked the bandages into his pocket and grabbed Doctor Ealing's briefcase. He didn't even look in my direction as he left the shop. The letter I had written to him, those two words, did nothing.

"Ignore him. He hasn't been very good company of late, for various reasons. He thinks this union between himself and Maisie Blacklock has come about too quickly, though I'm inclined to agree. It has been very sudden."

"We all know why that is."

"Hm, I think we do."

He smiled slightly and gestured to the empty spaces on the sofa beside me. I nodded and he settled into one. The start of the painting on the table felt as though it was watching me, begging me to pick up a paintbrush and continue it rather than engage in a conversation I didn't want anything to do with. Robert had the right idea of leaving. I wished I could have followed him, but I had agreed to talk to Doctor Ealing and it would be discourteous of me to back out now.

Doctor Ealing rested his elbows on his knees and leant forward, he pressed his hands into the palms of his hands but said nothing. Even though he did not speak, I could see there were hundreds of thoughts going through his head at a fast pace. Most notable, how he intended to broach the subject at hand. He had never been one for talking, especially about personal matters or things that required any form of emotion. Medical discussion he appeared fine with, not so much with anything beyond that.

"You want to talk about why I left, don't you?" I said, finally facing up to the reason he had sat down.

"I do. Not in the reason you might think, I don't want to punish you for making a decision that was clearly the right thing for you, but I want to understand why you didn't feel you could talk to me about something that troubled you so much you felt the need to escape in the middle of the night."

"It wasn't just one thing, it was a lot to contend with and I didn't know how to tell you. I thought writing it down would have been easier."

"Why didn't you come and talk to me? Tell me things were getting too much? I could have done something to help. I may have been your employer, Rosie, but I'm not as intimidating as you might believe."

"I know that truly I do. It was less to do with being intimidated and more to do with how others would perceive me were I to tell you. Miss Jenkins and Esther were less than impressed with my knee injury and the fact that I could no longer complete my chores, especially since it came so soon after the influenza and my shoulder. That on top of the two infractions was enough, James and Matthew both said I would be better off with them and it seemed better than getting a third infraction. I decided that if I was going to leave, I would do it on my own merit."

"It certainly was a difficult month or so. I don't blame you for deciding to go, especially as your brothers were so willing to the idea. I just wish you had been more open about everything, especially regarding Elizabeth and her use of the cane on your leg." I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Don't be so surprised, it wasn't that difficult to deduce. You had a very obvious strike mark on the back of your leg and Robert told me she had been holding the cane slightly aloof when he walked in."

"Right."

He had known.

All that time, all the fear I had about telling him and getting into trouble for making up rumours about his wife and he had known. Yet he never said anything. He had allowed me to get so caught up in my own thoughts and so worried about what would happen were the truth to be revealed. If he had said something, just one word, perhaps things wouldn't have been easier if he just told me he knew the truth. Why he felt the need to keep his knowledge to himself was a mystery, but I had a feeling it would not remain that way for long.

"Robert and I both made our own conclusions about what happened, as you well know. We wanted you to be the one to mention it, but I understand why you didn't. It would have been one thing to admit someone had struck you, it would have been enough to tell me it had been my own wife."

"I didn't want to get into any trouble."

"I understand that I really do. It seems leaving did you the world of good, though. You seem happy, happier then I remember at any rate."

"I am. I like being able to-"

"Be a child?"

"Yes, exactly."

Doctor Ealing smiled at me and let out a breath of air, sinking back against the sofa as though the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. For the month I had been gone, I had been labouring under the illusion that he had hated me for leaving so suddenly and that coming face to face with again would mean having to create excuses for why I left and trying to defend my actions. Yet he appeared to understand just why I felt as though I couldn't stay, and he didn't hate me for it, he had just been confused. I had been confused too.

If he had been simply confused on the matter, I hated the idea of how Robert felt towards me. I had offered Doctor Ealing a longer explanation in my letter, telling him it had all been too much for me and yet I had given Robert two words. Two words hardly seemed right when he had given me so much since the first time we met. I had robbed him of the one thing he wanted; a real explanation. He deserved more than the feeble two words I had to offer him and if he would give me the opportunity, I would offer that explanation. Yet, I feared he would never wish to speak to me again.

"Robert will come around, you'll see. When he stops being so sullen, he'll come to understand you were better off leaving."

"Easier said than done."

"Speaking of my son, I should probably go and find him and let you get on. Thank you again for the cotton and I suppose I will see you on Monday."

"It seems so."

He smiled slightly and took his leave, pushing himself up from the sofa and letting himself out. The bucket of scrap fabric stayed in the middle of the floor and I couldn't seem to find the strength to move it, so that was where it stayed. I sat forward on the edge of the sofa and pressed my knees into my thighs to try and comprehend just what had happened with Doctor Ealing. It had all happened for the good and yet I felt just as confused as when he had first walked in.

The situation with the Ealing's only appeared to be getting more complex as time went one and nothing seemed to be able to fix it. In the factory, life had been simpler. We knew not to form attachments to people in case they got hurt and ultimately dismissed and everything just felt that much simpler. Life away from it was ever so much more complicated. New feelings, new experiences and a barrage of things I never quite expected as I had never been old enough to fully understand them.

I may not have understood all that much, and I may have been more confused then I had ever been in my life, but I knew one thing.

I had to speak with Robert.

~~~

A/N - We're back with Chapter Four and I am working on Chapter Twelve (I've fallen a little behind because of my ONC entry, but I'm getting there xD). I promise the weekly updates will continue alongside the other stories I have.

Also, if you haven't seen it already, the Wattys book is up and there are so many new rules! TFG applies this year and I would love to enter it, but I need to edit. If any of you guys want to help me out, please go back through TFG and point out anything that needs changing, it'll mean a lot!

Anyway, what do you guys think of this chapter? How do you feel about Robert? Should Doctor Ealing have done more about Mrs Ealing and the cane? 

Comment below!

Dedication - This chapter is dedicated to worlddomination2798 who has been voting on both TFG and TSG recently! Thank you for reading!

First Published - February 11th, 2020