Chapter Three
Rose was unable to get her mind off of the conversation with Elizabeth the rest of the day. Richard ate dinner with his children every night that he wasn’t out and that evening, she found herself looking at him more often, wondering what he was thinking when he looked at her. It wasn’t until then that she realized they had never had any real conversations. She knew a lot about him, but he knew very little about her. She didn’t see passion or interest in him when he did speak to her.
Richard asked her how her day went when he saw her, but the conversation rarely went past that. She made up her mind during dinner to change that and gauge his reaction.
She took her seat next to Samuel, smiling as the children talked excitedly to each other about some kind of adventure they had had. They were very good at making up stories that made them sound very courageous and bold. Their imaginations were boundless.
When Richard came in to sit at the head of the table, she felt a bit nervous. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.
“Good evening, children, Rose. How is everyone today?”
“It was a good day, Daddy!” Samuel was the first to speak up, but the greetings from Frederick and Charlotte overlapped his. He laughed and looked at Rose.
“They are very excited today. Did you take them on an adventure?”
“I don’t really need to,” Rose responded, looking at the children fondly. “They make their own adventures. We did go for a walk around the grounds and through the garden. I’m sure they can think of some very exciting things they saw while we were out.”
“Oh yes! There was the biggest caterpillar I’ve ever seen on the walkway, daddy, the very biggest one! We thought it was going to get us, didn’t we, Charlotte?” Samuel bounced in his seat.
“You thought it would.” His sister replied. “I knew it was just a regular caterpillar.”
“Then why did you run away from it?”
“Because you were scared and I didn’t want you to feel alone.”
Richard threw back his head and laughed at the remark. “That’s very sisterly of you, Charlotte,” he said.
“Well, he was, daddy, he was scared. He ran and ran and we had to go get him.”
“It was going to get me!” Samuel insisted, even though both adults could see by the look on his face that he was teasing them all. “It was so big, and it was really fast for a caterpillar.”
Both Rose and Richard were laughing by this point. Rose looked up to see Richard looking at her, and the look on his face made him laugh even more.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t talk about monster caterpillars before dinner?” He said. “We don’t want you to get an upset stomach.”
“Oh, I’m not gonna have an upset stomach.” Samuel continued, shaking his head soberly. “I would have just smashed it.”
“Oh, Samuel!” Charlotte protested. “That’s not what you’re supposed to do! You should leave it alone!”
“I did leave it alone! I was saying I would smash it if it came after me!”
“But then why did you run away from it?” It didn’t look like Charlotte was going to let the conversation end. “You were scared, and you ran away, but now you say you would just smash it.”
“I would have!”
Charlotte shook her head and opened her mouth, to say somethin,g but her father interrupted her.
“I’m sure you would have saved the whole family if the caterpillar had grown so big and attacked you, Samuel. But let’s talk about a different adventure, shall we? What else did you do today?”
“We saw three birds we’ve never seen before!” Charlotte decided to answer that time. “They were very red, and they were up in the cherry tree. Samuel was going to throw a rock at them, but Rose wouldn’t let him.”
“Good for Rose.” Richard replied. Rose flushed and then felt silly for responding that way. He’d complimented her before, but now that Elizabeth had sparked her curiosity, she heard the compliment differently. “We don’t throw rocks at birds, not even ugly ones.”
“Oh, daddy, there aren’t any ugly birds.” Charlotte rolled her eyes at her father’s silliness. “They are all beautiful, even plain ones.”
“That’s very nice, honey.” Richard smiled at her. “You are very kind-hearted.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
Richard looked at Rose. “How was your day today?”
“The children were very good. They paid attention to their schoolwork and learned a lot. They are so smart.”
Richard nodded. “Yes, they are. I’m proud of each of you.”
They all three responded with, “Thank you, daddy.”
“How was your day?”
Richard shook his head. “All boring business, I’m afraid. Nothing much to speak of. I begin to wonder if I’m in the wrong business.”