The following morning, Rose did not waste time with a bath.
Nor did she have time to eat breakfast.
She was up and out of bed before Sally even had a chance to wake her. And she was slipping into a dress before Sally was able to suggest a bath.
“But… you have not… a bath is the best way to start… is that the same dress you wore yesterday?” Sally stammered as Rose swept past her.
“Come, Sally,” Rose called. “We have much to do.”
“Do?” Sally hurried after her.
“I want to start by calling a meeting of the staff,” Rose said as she walked quickly down the hallway. “All of them.”
“Whatever for?”
“You’ll see,” Rose said with a huge grin on her face.
Rose had been thinking about the current roster of duties the staff were given each week: the specific responsibilities of each, who was doing them, the time assigned, and so on. It wasn’t all bad, per se, but she thought it could be done better.
Once the staff were lined up, she explained to them the few simple changes that she was certain would be more efficient.
“Now, be honest with me, what do you think?” Rose asked the dozen or so butlers and maids lined up before her. She was beaming with pride, so proud that she had taken this on and that it was a huge success.
“Ah… Your Grace…” A nervous old man raised his hand.
“Ah, yes…” Rose sucked through her teeth. “Mr. Carter, yes? Our Head of Staff.”
“That is right, Your Grace.”
“You had something to say?”
He looked down the line of fellow servants for support, getting from them a few nods of encouragement. “Forgive me for saying, Your Grace, but His Grace can be rather particular with these things.”
“What do you mean?”
“He has a way of doing things,” Sally spoke up for Mr. Carter. “His Grace is very…” She laughed. “As Mr. Carter said, he is particular. He does not like change.”
The staff were quick to murmur their agreement.
“Oh…” Rose hesitated, questioning for the first time if maybe she was getting ahead of herself. She was new here, this was herhusband’s home, and would it be so wrong to take a few days and settle in…
No. Do not give in. If the Duke did not want change, then he should never have tried to marry my sister.
“I am sure that he does,” Rose spoke up, projecting herself with an air of authority. “But my very presence here proves that even the Duke is capable of change. Does it not?”
To that, a few of the servants chuckled, while others shuffled nervously and refused to look at her.
“Besides, this is my home now, and until told otherwise, this is how it’s going to be.” She smiled at them all. “Now, onto the chefs…” Rose turned to the end of the row where the three household chefs were standing. “I took a look ahead at the weekly menu, and I have just one or two things I was hoping to change…”
“Your Grace…” Sally was in her ear. “His Grace isreallyparticular about what he eats.”
“As am I,” she said, before turning back to the chefs.
And it didn’t stop there.
For the next three days, Rose did what she could to make this new house feel more like a home. From redecorating some of the rooms, to having changes implemented in the garden, to evenrunning her eye over some business contracts she happened to come across. Rose made herself useful in ways that felt familiar.
Was the Duke going to like it? Did Rose even care?
