Chapter 6 - ROSAMUND RESIGNED
Chadworth expected Rosamund to be relieved.
He was wrong.
That evening she placed an envelope on his desk.
He looked at it.
“What is this?”
“My resignation.”
His stomach dropped.
“No.”
Rosamund almost smiled.
“You cannot reject a resignation.”
“I can attempt it.”
“Please don’t.”
Chadworth stood.
“Rosamund.”
She looked at him.
He had never realized how tired she was.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
“I failed you.”
She nodded.
That hurt.
Not cruelty.
Truth.
“You did.”
He swallowed.
“I’m sorry.”
“I believe you.”
“That’s all?”
“What else do you want?”
“I want to fix it.”
Rosamund’s eyes softened.
“You cannot fix trust by deciding you want it back.”
The sentence landed.
He sat again.
She continued:
“You believed Sabina because the accusation fit something you were already willing to imagine about me.”
Chadworth started to defend himself.
Stopped.
Rosamund noticed.
Good.
She said:
“I’m an employee living inside a house where everyone else has more money and power than I do.”
“I never treated you like—”
“You investigated me without speaking to me.”
Silence.
“That is treatment.”
He looked down.
She was right.
---
“Why didn’t you tell me about Sabina?”
Rosamund’s face tightened.
“I tried.”
He looked up.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
He remembered.
Rosamund had asked:
Are you certain the girls are comfortable with the wedding?
He had laughed.
Said children feared change.
She tried again a month later:
Lorelai seems anxious around Miss Sabina.
Chadworth answered:
Sabina is adjusting too.
Then Gemma had stopped joining dinner some nights.
He blamed adolescence arriving early.
So many small signals.
Translated into harmless explanations because harmless explanations required less action.
Rosamund said:
“After a while, I stopped believing you wanted the full answer.”
That was hard to hear.
Still true.
---
“What about the girls?”
“They have you.”
“They want you.”
Her eyes filled.
“I love them.”
“Then stay.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if I stay now, they may learn that I have to absorb betrayal to remain close to them.”
Chadworth went silent.
Rosamund continued:
“I want them to see that you can love people and still leave a job when trust breaks.”
He hated how much he respected that.
“When?”
“Two weeks.”
“Too soon.”
“Three.”
“Six.”
She actually laughed.
“Four.”
He nodded.
“Four.”
Business negotiation with the housekeeper.
May you like
He had lost worse.
---
