"You look lovely, Julie. Truly." Rose pinned down the last strand of her hair and kissed the top of her head. Julie sighed and kept staring at her own reflection. She indeed looked rather nice despite having nothing but mixed feelings about this whole situation. Tommy had asked her many times if she really wanted to go through with it.

"The only thing I am worried about is that what if you do fall in love with someone?" Julie would say say back. She was afraid to take away his freedom and free will. Marriage wasn't a casual everyday experience, it was a lifelong pact you had to commit to. Every time those words fell from her lips, Tommy took hold of her hand, smirked and shook his head before leaving her alone again in her own thoughts.

Julie stood up, checked every little detail of her dress for the last time and followed Rose out of the room. The men were already waiting at the city hall. With her heart pounding in her chest they stepped onto the tram, on their way to a new future. It seemed to take forever, but forever was also not long enough. Looking up at the building, the wind blew through her coiffure lettering her hair fall down for the most part. Julie didn't seem to mind, she wanted to get it over with as fast as possible. Taking Rose by her arm they walked inside the building where her future husband and witness were also nervously waiting. Tommy stood up.

"You look lovely." He said with his thick Irish accent.

"You don't look so bad yourself." She jokingly responded to try to calm down her nerves. As the wedding officiant opened the door the bride and groom both took a deep breath before heading inside and entering a new life. It was a short but loving ceremony. Julie still felt the touch of Tommy's lips tingling on her own. Driving off towards Tommy's pub, Helga had organised a small dinner with only their closest friends. They all embraced the newly wed couple, all with nothing but a wish for their happiness.

"You look worried, Rose." Julie said to her later that evening. Twirling the wine in her glass she looked up at her friend and tried to smile.

"I am not really good at hiding my feelings from you, am I?"

"I know you too well for that. It is either that man or it has something to do with work."

Both, Rose thought, but only gave in to her second guess. "Anyway I am not going to spoil your evening with it." She took a sip, letting the alcohol burn in her throat.

"I know I am about to lose my job. And for a moment I didn't seem to care, but I have to do it for Lucy."

The next morning as Rose entered the workplace, Julie was already sitting behind the sewing machine. She looked more relaxed, again with a healthy complexion on her skin. She was safe now, secure and had to move forward.

"You can have this room all to yourself," Tommy had said to her when they went to bed, "I am not going to ask you anything. I just want you to feel at ease." She looked him straight in the eye and smiled out of pure gratefulness. She thanked him out of the deepest parts of her heart, kissed his cheek and closed the door behind her.

Mrs. Woodbridge peaked her head around the corner of the shop and signed for Rose to meet her.

"She is suddenly better again?" She asked with a bit too much suspicion in the tone of her voice.

Rose nodded her head. "But you wanted her back, didn't you, Mrs. Woodbridge?"

"What I want is for people to take their work seriously. Anyway, have you thought about the job offer, miss Smith?"

Again, she nodded her head. Laying in bed the other night after her argument with Jack she did have some doubts about it for a second. But then she remembered it would perhaps be even more suspicious is he turned them down when she had already worked for so many other well known families. They weren't going to find out, she was sure of it.

"Yes, ma'am, I have and I want to tell you that I am going to do it."

"Good girl, miss Smith. Good girl."

Having seen so many grand houses, Rose was still shocked by them every time she stood before one. Holding her sewing kit close to her chest she marched up the steps and knocked on the door. A young man opened it. Reckoning he was not much older than herself his facial expression already looked grim and tired, as if he had already lived most of his life. He looked her up and down and raised his eyebrow. "Can I help you?'"

"Yes. My name is Rose Smith. I have come to see Mrs. Huntington. I work for Mrs. Woodbridge."

"Wait here." He slammed the door shut in front of her and her stomach dropped. Perhaps Jack was in fact right about it being a bad idea. As the door opened again it was now an older woman who came to greet her. Within seconds Rose knew it had to be Amelia's mother for she looked almost identical.

"Miss Smith. How good it is for you to come."

"Thank you, ma'am." She was led inside and followed Mrs. Huntington to the drawing room. The whole house seemed to be decorated in everything white or at least light coloured. Everything looked so clean and neat, making her almost afraid to touch anything or even walk over the floor. The drawing room also looked so well organised that Rose began to wonder if they even lived here. Amelia looked up at the guest who was entering the room. She closed her book, put it on the table beside her and, to Rose's surprise, even smiled at her.

"Do you know my daughter, miss Smith?"

"Of course we know each other, mother," Amelia answered , "We've met when miss Smith was working for Mrs. Dawson. By the way, I was the one who wanted you to put some magic into our wardrobes." She looked the seamstress up and down.

"Well I am glad to be of service."

"Of course you are."

Discussing designs whilst having some tea, Rose was allowed to sit down onto the white couch. She took out her little scrapbook and tapped her pen onto the paper.

"Mrs. Woodbridge has told me you were interested in undergarments and new dresses am I right?"

"Undergarments for us both," Mrs. Huntington said, "But now it is Amelia's time to have some new dresses. She was thinking about five. Three day and two evening dresses."

Rose's eyes widened when she listened to their expectations of her. She had only six weeks to finish both the designs and the garments themselves. Six weeks of pure exhaustion were lying ahead of her. Inwardly, she wanted to do nothing but scream, yet she managed to pull off a perfectly fake smile. Within minutes her whole notebook was already filled with special details requests both ladies wanted for their garments. The scribbling even made her hurt her hand.

"Good," Mrs. Huntington eventually stood up and stroke down her dress, "I will have the laundry room prepared for you."

"Oh but mother, don't you think miss Smith needs good lighting? Perhaps she can work in the library. Father won't be back until she is finished."

"I really do not mind the laundry room, ma'am." Rose protested, "I can work basically everywhere you put me."

"Don't be absurd, miss Smith. I can also use the company. I have to do so much university work it is getting harder and harder everyday to sit in the silence of that dusty old room."

With her mother agreeing on it Rose couldn't do anything but agreeing to it. As a workplace, the library was of course much better than a dark and cold laundry room. As long as she could concentrate it should be fine. As a child you were always told not to speak unless you are being spoken to and it seemed like a fairly good and reasonable rule to apply on her time here. Never say anything about yourself, only when asked and even then say as little as possible. Rose installed her necessities onto the desk in front of the window and a servant helped her move the sewing machine up from the servants' quarters. Both lighting and space were perfect, perhaps even better than at old Mrs. Dawson's place and the chair was nothing but pure comfort. Amelia sat down on the opposite side of the room and watched closely at Rose's every move. Luckily after only an hour she left without having said anything else towards her new 'servant'.

As the sun slowly started to set, Rose tidied up the place, wished everyone a good night and finally inhaled the fresh scent of the evening breeze. Her heart longed for him and without thinking twice she found herself heading directly towards his place. It had already turned dark once she arrived and her hands trembled whilst opening the door of the building. Her footsteps were slow and felt heavy whilst moving up. Almost at the right floor, a group of young men rushed down followed by the sound of Jack's voice in the background. One of them, with the same color of red hair she had herself, looked up once more and yelled. "Next time you can't leave us in the lurch, Dawson." They laughed and rushed down the stairs.

He was beyond surprised to see her. Still standing in his doorway, he waited, not quite sure what to do. He couldn't quite recall from her facial expressions if she was angry with him. Yet she was here and that was all that mattered. As she rushed up to him and fell into his arms, a sigh escaped from both their lips. His embrace felt so pleasant compared to the cold of outside.

"Let's get you warmed up." Was all he said after planting a soft peck on the top of her head. She pulled away from his touch and looked up, meeting his ocean eyes. It was the place she'd be happy to drown in. Kissing him gently on the lips, Rose followed him inside. Glasses with remaining bits of alcohol still stood on the coffee table together with a big pack of cigars. The room still smelled like the smoke coming off them and some remains of their ashes were scattered over the floor.

"I am not interrupting something I hope?" She asked although she knew his company had already left.

Jack shook his head and took off her coat before putting it over the side of his couch. "No they just left to go out for dinner."

"You don't want to join them?"

"I still have some work to do and someone to call."

"Jack, you tell me that I work to hard, but what about yourself? It worries me how much responsibility you carry with you over something so big. Don't you have someone with whom you can share your workload?"

"Ernest. But as you know, he doesn't take things so seriously as I do. Although he believes himself he is the master of the universe. Anyway," He quickly changed the subject and took hold of her hand, leading her towards the bathroom, "Why don't you have a nice bath whilst I finish everything." Then there was the ringing of the telephone, echoing through the walls of the apartment and she was now alone. Rose stared at the tub in front of her. It did look like a product directly sent out of paradise. She had never known such luxury other than the bathtub at Mrs. Adams apartment which she was allowed to use once a week. But this one even had taps with running water. Leaning over the edge, she looked closely before turning on the switch. She could see the steam forming inside of the room and she took off her clothes before slowly stepping inside. One foot after the other, she had never felt water so comfortably warm in her entire life. She laughed as her whole body was now finally starting to heat up. Then there was silence, apart from Jack's voice in the background. She tried to listen to it, but it somehow sounded like a totally different language.

It was one of her favorite things to do when Oliver was only a baby. Her alone time with her little brother as she bathed him before his bedtime. His little hands would grab her fingers as she tried to put soap in the crooks of his arms his legs. She felt safe in the gaze of his green orbs. As he was clean she'd wrap him up into the softest blanket she could find, hold him close to her chest and sing lullabies in her ears. Then she'd wait until he had fallen into his land of magical dreams. She always felt at ease with Olly, as if she was able to block out the outside world and also protect him from their father. The devil who still haunted her more than she wanted to admit.

The sound of the creaking door caught her by surprise. With one eye open she watched as Jack walked in.

"Rose?" He whispered.

"Yes?"

"Good. I thought you were asleep."

"Weren't you having a phone call?" Leaning her head on the the edge of the tub she watched as he stripped down into his nakedness. The dim light of the bathroom made the contours of his body look so smooth. He almost looked like a sculpture. It scared her how in awe she was of this man who was nothing but a stranger for almost all of her life.

"You were right, Rose. I work hard enough and they can bloody well wait." He got into the water himself, leaned back and let out a groan of delight. Rose grabbed the bar of soap next to her and ordered him to turn his back towards her. She let it run gently over his back, his shoulder and then down to his chest. He finally leaned against her chest. Skin on skin, together in the comfort of each other's company.

"I have thought about the other night, Rose. And I have come to the conclusion that I acted like a complete idiot," Jack confessed, "Of course I can't tell you what and what not to do and I am sorry."

"You are forgiven, Mr. Dawson." She traced her fingers through his hair, wetning it with her touch, "It is only a few weeks. A few weeks of secret rendez-vous."

"Well I can get used to it." Jack laughed, "How was it today?"

"Both good and bad. Your friend Amelia was surprisingly attentive towards me. I am even allowed to work in their library, but I do believe she is keeping an eye on me. I just feel she wants to catch me doing something she can gossip about. I always wonder why you people have so much to do yet you always seem to be so preoccupied with the lives of others."

"We have everything yet nothing at the same time, Rose, that seems to be the whole problem. We are all so bored that we try to find pleasure in the failure of others. And if they don't fail we try to make them fail in the eyes of our friends and family. That's why I fled towards Europe a few years ago. To go somewhere where nobody knows me."

"Do you miss it?"

Jack nodded his head, "Everyday. I loved waking up every morning not knowing what was about to happen and what kind of people I was going to meet. Taking life as it comes at you is the most freeing thing there is in my opinion, although many people have called me crazy. Even tonight, when I was on the phone, I realized that this isn't me. This isn't the life I want to live, but I have let myself get lost into the world that is expected of me." He remained quiet for a bit before taking a deep breath, "Why don't we go, Rose?"

"Go where?"

"Anywhere we want to. Why not pack our stuff and leave this horrible place behind. Once we settle somewhere for a while, we'll inform Oliver and he can visit us."

It sounded like both the most ridiculous yet most brilliant plan Rose had ever heard. She wanted nothing else but to be free and explore every part of the world and perhaps he was her ticked to her the tone of his voice she could hear the seriousness of it. He turned around and looked her straight in her eyes, his hand cupping her cheeks. She was at a loss of words.

"I am dead serious, Rose. We can leave right now if we want to."

"I know, I know." A nervous laugh fell from her lips. All of sudden if felt as if the heat of the bath had doubled. She scratched the back of her neck and placed the lavender soap back in its place.

"You don't want it, do you?"

"Of course I want it, Jack. I want nothing more but to leave this life of mine behind. The only thing is that I am afraid it will be too suspicious. Apparently some people are already suspecting something about us. It will only confirm it if I don't show up at work and you have suddenly disappeared into thin air. What about your grandmother? Won't she be heartbroken when you are suddenly gone?"

There was some truth in her remarks. The love for his grandmother was one thing he couldn't simply drop out of his hands. She'd be heartbroken. Also, knowing the power of his family they'd probably try to go after him. Not to forget the conformation of Amelia's surmise if Rose stopped coming all at once. Two months. Two months would be enough to settle everything.

"I'll be honest about my departure. Hopefully they'll let me go much easier." Jack said.

"And I'll simply hand in my resignation." Rose responded.

"And all will be well."

"And all will be well."

Jack leaned towards her and submerged her whole body with his kisses. As a foolish teenager in love, Rose screamed and giggled almost so loud she thought the whole apartment complex was able to hear her. He eventually helped her out of the now freezing water, led her towards his bedroom and closed the door behind him. The outside world did not exist for them anymore. Only two bodies, coming together as one.